Saturday, March 28, 2015

Review: The Pledge (The Pledge #1) by Kimberly Derting!

In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.

Description taken from Goodreads 


My Review 

I’ve had this book for a long time.  I started it awhile ago, but put it down because I probably found a book that I wanted to read a bit more at that time.  Well, I finally read the whole thing and it kind of fell flat.  I really enjoyed Kimberly Derting’s other series, The Body Finder, but this one is just so ‘meh’.  It was very cliché.  I love dystopian books but this felt like every other dystopian to me.  There’s some kind of separation of the people and a twisted person in charge that can only be stopped by this one girl who just so happens to be very special.  We’ve all read these.  I wanted a little variety.

I also had trouble believing this world and taking it seriously.  A caste system with different languages?  It sounds interesting in theory and it really is but there’s just so many plot holes.  It started looking like the roads in Connecticut with all the potholes.  Just plain frustrating.  There are three languages in the land of Ludania.  Englaise, Parshon and Termani.  Englaise being the universal language, Parshon is next and Termani is at the top.  You’re only supposed to know your own language and you shouldn’t know the language above your own.  It just doesn’t make sense.  After some time you’ll be able to pick up on some things.  I mean I’m absolutely nowhere near being fluent in Spanish but I know certain words just because I’ve heard them so many times.  With something like this that has been effect for centuries, you’d think people would end up being fluent in all three languages.

The characters were all two dimensional to me.  Charlie, our MC, had no personality at all.  She’s like the ultimate Mary Sue character.  I don’t even know what to say about her or any of the other characters really.  The only person I liked was her little sister, Angelina.

And the romance, ugh, is just horrible.  Instalove.  I absolutely hate instalove.  There is no basis for the main relationship.  I don’t get it at all.

The only thing that really interested me was the monarchy.  And the history of the rulers.  The way Queen Sabara stays Queen Sabara.  That was fascinating stuff right there.

The Pledge was still an okay book.  I enjoyed it but just didn’t feel a connection with the world or the characters.  Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the second book more.

Characters 3/5
Plot 3.5/5
Feels 2/5
Writing 4/5
Overall 3.1/5


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