I had mixed feelings regarding the first book in this trilogy
The Testing. I loved the first half; the educational twist on the dystopian genre was refreshing. But then the second part happened. And I didn't like that. I was reading a poor copy of
The Hunger Games, and sadly,
Independent Study did not break away from
The Hunger Games pattern. Oh, no. Charbonneau stuck to her guns and replicated
Catching Fire perfectly. Cia has just survived
The Testing, and now, after thinking she's finally safe, she has to do a load more tests and stick herself in life threatening situations. So, basically Katniss competing in a second Hunger Games then? Furthermore, to really lack and sense of originality, Cia is going to become the face of a revolution. Seriously Charbonneau? You're slipping a bit of
Mockingjay too? I only assume, due to the strikingly ridiculous similarities (although I feel copying is more apt) that
Graduation Day will be
Mockingjay all over again.
Charbonneau had a lot going on in Independent Study,
yet nothing ever seemed to happen. There were lots of characters and so many
odd names that it was hard to keep track of who was who. Additionally, the
majority of the time the characters appeared for one or two paragraphs and then
vanished completely. They weren’t needed, so why were they there? The excessive
amount of characters that served no purpose seriously impacted my enjoyment of
the novel.
During The Testing and Independent Study
one character I constantly liked was Michal. My opinion didn’t falter at all
while reading. But then Charbonneau ruined everything. She killed Michal. 98%
into the novel everything’s going well, and then BOOM. Michal is dead.
And I find myself asking why. Why is he dead? Why is my favourite character
dead? It’s Finnick all over again. Why do author’s perpetually do this? From
Suzanne Collins to Helen Fielding. Do they get joy from killing their best
characters? Or is it merely a tool to create suspense and action, to shock
readers. Perhaps they find themselves stuck, not knowing what to do, thinking ‘well,
it’s a bit boring at the moment; I’ll just go ahead and kill someone. And not
just anyone, one of my best someone’s in the whole damn series’. Authors
need to stop doing this. Meaningless death doesn’t make a book more
interesting. It appeals to me in no way.
I won’t be reading Graduation Day; too many things
annoyed me to persist with the trilogy. Reading a book or series should not be
a measure of persistence, and sadly it was. I would not recommend this book, or
the trilogy for that matter. If you want something similar then I highly
recommend you opt for The Hunger Games. I'd love to know what you think
of this book, so please let me know in the comments.
'Independent Study' by Joelle Charbonneau
2 Stars
Labels: 2 Stars, Book, Dystopian, Independent Study, Joelle Charbonneau, Published 2013, Review, The Hunger Games, YA, Young Adult
