The Pledge

Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.I gave this a good try, I really did, but when I hit page 100, I realized I wasn't connecting with our heroine or her friends at all. The dystopian element was interesting (a world where people are separated in class by what language they speak) but it wasn't enough for me. I can forgive not connecting with a character or weak world building, but I can't do both. Maybe I'll give it another try in the future since it had the misfortune of following an amazing stretch of books.

I enjoyed this book, it was fast-paced with a nice mix of dystopia and fantasy, but the characters were rather one dimensional. I liked Charlie but she didn't impress me as a protagonist. Instead, my favourite character was her four-year-old sister. Angelina, who was a real little sweetie. There was a gentle romance throughout the book, which was a nice change, and I liked the premise of the social classes being separated by language. it was only in the epilogue that the author hinted at a darker element, leaving the story open for an interesting sequel.

At first, I was hyped up about this book when I first saw it in my school's library. I started reading it and thought, 'Okay, this ain't half bad.' But by the time I was 3/4 of the way through, I found it hard to keep on going as I felt the connection between the main character and I wasn't that strong. I couldnt bring myself to feel emotions for that character. The overall plot was good but I guess the writing style isn't really what I liked or am used to. I'm giving this book 4 stars because the storyline and plot twist were good but the way the story was told and the way I interacted with the main character didn't feel real.

Captivating, I read it in a single go. The main character does have a very weak personality, but I imagine it's purposeful so the reader can fill her shoes. The setup about languages and classes- I really found interesting!

INTRO: I give it a 2.5.

Groundbreaking plot, disappointingly average execution. I was so hyped for this book when I read the description and bragged to my friends that I may have found the new Hunger Games or Divergent. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed many aspects of the book, but the book itself lacked substance. It's like eating a whole bag of jolly ranchers for dinner. It tastes so good and the sugar buzz tells you that it was all worth it, but the dull ache of hunger (and indigestion) afterwards leaves you questioning your decisions and...

I tried to keep spoilers at a minimum.

THE GOOD:
+ Modern day fantasy with a twist. Magic! (sort of.) Monarchies! Danger! Death threats! Women in power! Viva les femmes!
+ Post-dystopian class system.
+ The power of friendship and family.
+ Despite everything that I'm going to say below, the artist has a very enjoyable writing voice and a good handle on what narrative needs to be told when to move the story along. The dialogue was interesting and never dry. The scenes were easy to imagine, if a little under-described. The book was very character-centered and I appreciated it.
+ Multi-layered story. Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist.
+ Reluctant hero.
+ The bully becomes an ally.
+ The languages. Languages! This was the only thing that held my interest for so long. Language creates questions about allegiance, creates intrigue, creates division. Words have power!

THE BAD:
* Main character is Plain Jane Everygirl, who has Nothing Special about her, until it's discovered that literally everything is special about her.
* Character typing. There's never a chance to see characters bust out of their archetypes in a believable way. The "promiscuous" character is secretly the "seductive spy". The Prince Charming is the brother of a key figure in the resistance. There's not a lot of depth to it. There's no gradual development, no teasing to the reader of what's to come. By the end of the book you could have told me that the main character had an evil twin sister with the power to control the weather so she can defeat the chosen one with a band of elven swordslingers and I would have just accepted it as fact.
* Servant class. There's so much that could have been done here besides "oh they just clean people's houses".
* This book teases at the idea of gritty and dark but never actually goes into it. I understand that this is young adult fiction. But this had elements that could have been done better. The world is portrayed as one of those 'pristine on the outside, rotting on the inside' situations. But it seems to go back and forth. We see the main character working at her family restaurant. We see the main character sneaking into an underground club full of underage drinking and drugs. We see the main character going through all this taboo stuff, but it's so... fluffed. It's not edgy or dangerous, not for real.

At her core, I don't believe the main character actually believes that there's anything 'bad' about the world she lives in. She just goes where the plot calls for because she has no choice in the matter.
* Words have power... but only in people's minds?. For some reason the Pledge itself and the altercation between the politician's daughter and the main character at the beginning had me thinking that the words of everyone held power, as in, magical physical binding power. That's the suspension that I used to hold my disbelief back throughout the book, and reveal after reveal snipped at it. I... I don't know. I think I hoped for too much.

THE UGLY:
- Color coded. Blond hair and blue eyes is a marker of the royal family. (And of the rich.) As a POC reader I am used to this. But for a story that is this painstakingly politically correct and this multidimensional in terms of the conflict I expected more.
- Every character is a plot device. It feels like they come and go when the plot calls for it, and so a lot of the plot twists were either forseen miles ahead by me or came completely out of nowhere. Going to the club? Now you're under the influence of drugs. Now you're rubbing shoulders with all the right (and wrong) people. Trying to save the world? Here's everyone you've ever cared about, conveniently in the hands of your enemy even though you just spend all that effort trying to keep them safe. Their worlds are very limited to only the track that they must stay on to tell the story. I found myself wishing that I could see them in different situations. More witty banter between friends. More build up to the reveals. More description of the opulence the wealthy lived in, more description of the squalor the poor lived in.
- I really don't like the main character. She seems complacent in the system. All this inner grumbling about how bad it is, but she's just avoidant. She just looks away. She's not a revolutionary. She's not even an ally for the underdog. She's thrown into the revolution, she doesn't choose it. Even when it's in front of her face she doesn't want it. Why should her way of life change? It's hard, but at least she's not at the bottom rung.
- Why are the ethnic characters portrayed as so unattractive? Eden the only one who's "dark eyes" are mentioned so often, making me assume that she was East Asian. I'm so convinced that Brooklynn was latina that I can't even remember her original character description. But Eden had an ugly disposition and Brooklynn was hypersexualized. It was very offputting.
- The pacing of the book itself. The beginning was great, if a little rushed. The ending was a trainwreck. Who proofread/edited this? Didn't you have a team of people? Was it a team of all yesmen? Who dropped the ball here? Did no one tell you no?

CONCLUSION: I feel like I'm left wanting more. I'm so disappointed. This story was more bare bones than it should have been. It introduced a new world, a new way of living, a new perspective to draw me in and then used my attention to drone on about things that weren't important in the grand scheme of things. Like those sales signs we all hate that go "NEW! 50% OFF!" and in the very fine print "...only for item X after you jump through hoops Y and Z".

This had all the elements of success. THIS HAD ALL THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS! Maybe I'm disappointed because I know this author can do better. I'm an avid reader of nonfiction, YA fiction, adult fiction, and fanfiction. I can almost feel it when someone doesn't have a solid grasp on writing in general, or fleshing out characters, or running with a plot, or juggling multiple plot lines. This was not the case. This author has chops! She's not a novice! Perhaps this was the test canvas that the author needed to test out her writing chops or to get her name out there. This story was so transparent it was all I could to do not turn this review into a psychoanalysis on the author and her apparent white privilege.

Author rating gets a tentative 4. I wish her well and don't want one sucky review to tarnish her reputation. I'm sure there was more going on in her head that she didn't let out. I'll read the sequel to give her another chance. Maybe she took a loss and then found her stride. I recommend that she make some ethnic friends (WHITE EUROPEANS DON'T COUNT), drink some tea, and keep writing. Broaden your horizons. Something great is in there somewhere, this just wasn't it.

I'm gonna read the sequel and hope for the best...

Overall, a good story. But it was too fast. This was easily a story that could have been told over multiple books. Not drawn out exactly, but given more substance. More history that would connect readers to all the characters. Even the villain. The plot was sound but it and the characters needed more time to discover themselves. The readers needed more time to discover them. Even though I read the ending, it feels empty, hollow and incomplete. But some people are into that you know? I'm picky anyway.
Read it yourself and figure out if you like it.

such a great book. I couldn't put it down

Very interesting!! Love it!!

I was pretty excited about this book, it's presented as a dystopian world where the classes are divided by language, think Tower of Babel 2.0. And it is. But none of that matters.

I say none of it matters because the main character, Charlie, can understand all of the languages--any language actually, old forgotten symbols, etc. All of the classes also speak Englaise. Which renders the entire idea of classes divided by language to prevent revolution useless.

The massive holes in the language story aside, the story severely lacks any action or plot at all. It's is ridiculously predictable, topped with off the wall characters, a strange coupling, and the fact that the only person in the world that magically seems to matter to anyone is the main character...it's a dull read, and I was happy to done with it.

It's a great book can't take my eyes off and I am not a reader

I loved the plot and the characters, though small bits don't yet make sense. The one-dimensional queen and little sister (who would totally be using visual communication) were rather grating.

Beautiful Story ?

In this dystopian novel, society is divided by language - the difference social classes each speak their own language, using a common language only when they need to interact with each other. This makes Charlaina, who can understand all languages, a dangerous young woman. The last half of this novel really flew by, although the first half was a little hard to get through. I'd recommend this to fans of YA dystopian literature, but I don't know that it has much cross-over appeal.

It has a great premise, a breath of fresh air for a story idea. However I felt that the pacing was off, it was too short and left much to be desired.

When I first heard about this book, I thought it sounded interesting. I love reading about different social classes in books, especially when said books have nice covers. However, this wasn't enough to make me want to read this. It wasn't until I heard about Essence, the second book in the Pledge series, that I decided to check it out.

I guess you could say that I’m impressionable easy when I see a gorgeous covers.

The Good:

A world where Queens rule and social statuses are divided by the languages you speak is a fantastic idea for a story. And for the most part, I felt like Derting did a really great job execution this. That being said, if you’re expecting a lot of details surrounding the social classes, then stop expecting it...because it doesn't happen. The book is mostly about finding the next Queen. The present Queen wants to find the potential heir so she can bring the girl to her side, while the rebels want the potential heir to take over and bring hope to the people.

In terms of the characters, I think my favourite ones would be Brook, Angelina, and the Queen. Brook was smart, but also had some vulnerability to her and I think Derting only touched the surface of what this character could do to the story. I feel kind of the same way with Angelina, only because what we know about her powers. She seems a lot more powerful than Charlie. And smarter too. A lot smarter. So I liked her.

The Queen, however, was my standout favourite. I know, I know, it doesn’t make much sense considering the fact that she was a typical villain without much depth to her. But I liked her. She’s ruthless and petty and doesn’t care who knows it. The fact that she has a rule in place that you’ll be sent to the gallows if you look in the eye of someone of a higher rank while they are speaking their language is messed up. It was also enough for me to want to see more from her. You have to be pretty senile to push that kind of law. And by golly, senile is what she is. I loved it. The way the Queen maintains her power reminded me of the manhwa Witch Hunter, so I enjoyed that aspect of her as well.

The story, for the most part, is told in Charlie’s viewpoint, but sometimes we’ll get snippets here and there of what is happening with other characters like the Queen. I liked this, only because there were times when I’d start to get bored with Charlie and then bam, another character would start to talk about what’s happening with them. I do wish we got to have a chapter or two dedicated to Brook and Aron, but maybe they’ll be showcased more in the next book.

Another thing I liked was how the romance wasn’t as over done as I originally thought it would be. This is a YA novel in a dystopian world, so you know going into it that there will be romance with a hot guy. It’s expected. So I was afraid that the story might shift into lovey dovey territory instead of the main story about the Queen. Instead, the romance was enough to establish a connection between Max and Charlie, but not too much that it overpowered everything else. The fact that she still refused the Queen’s advancements, despite seeing what happened to Max spoke volumes. She loves the guy, but he wasn’t enough to make her listen to the Queen. I’ve read books where this would have been enough, so I was glad that this wasn’t the case here.

The Okay:

Sydney becoming an ally did make sense, but I wish there was more to this. She went from being a bully to being someone Charlie could trust. Like I said before, it does make sense considering her circumstance, but I kind of wanted to see more dialogue between the two girls.

The friendship of Charlie, Brook, and Aron wasn’t as fleshed out as I would have liked. Aron was pushed to the back-burner, even though it seemed like he was going to be the ‘I love my best friend’ type of character. He promises to always be there for Charlie, only he’s hardly in the book and you kind of forget about him. It’s kind of sad. Poor Aron. I really hope you don’t end up in a love triangle.

With Charlie and Brook, it kind of felt like there was a lot more brewing there and nothing happened with it. There was a scene when Charlie said that she felt sorry for Brook, because Max wasn’t paying attention. It kind of seemed like even though Charlie loves Brook like a sister, she does kind of look down on her. Brook was the hotter friend and one that gets all the attention from the guys, so you’d imagine that Charlie would feel some sort of complex over this, especially since Brook relishes in the attention while Charlie doesn’t. On the other hand, Brook seemed to have a lot of secrets of her own and was dealing with some other issues as well. I mentioned earlier that there is a vulnerability there that kind of goes over Charlie's head.

I dunno, it just felt like there could have been a lot more ‘drama’, for lack of a better word, when it came to their friendship.

The Bad

I liked a lot of things in the book. The writing is good, the romance doesn’t take over the story, and the characters, for the most part, are enjoyable. The only downside is everything is very predictable. As a reader, you’ll easily figure out who Charlie really is and why everyone wants her so badly. You’ll figure out who Max and Xander are and you’ll also realize why Brook does the stuff that she does.

It’s predictable. It’s also cliché in the sense that Charlie is the chosen one. Of course she is. And of course the hero, Max, only has eyes for her even though Brook is the better looking one. Of course. Of course. Of course.

Normally, this would bother me a lot. And I mean a lot. Yet, I didn’t really mind it here. I wanted to go for the ride and not care because I did enjoy the story. Plus, the ending made me want to read Essence, so I didn’t mind it too much. That being said, I have a feeling that Essence will be a lot better than the Pledge. This book seemed like a stepping stone for what’s to come.

Overall:

I’m glad I read this. Even though it was predictable and did feel like everything that happened was a stepping stone for what’s to come, the writing, the characters, the story was enough to keep me interested. I liked the book. It could be mixture of my desire to read Essence and my love of pretty covers, but even still I liked the book. Now I just have to wait a month to see what happens next.

Please no love triangle, please no love triangle, please no love triangle.

4 stars

A phenomenal story about the power of language, and the strength of the weak, "The Pledge" takes the reader through a caste system that has every likeness to those class systems we see around us every day. The extreme nature of this story's class system will keep the reader at the edge of their seat, rooting for the underdog, and looking to join the fight.

In a world where language divides people, everyone speaks a common language but there's a specific language for each caste and under pain of death you have to look away and not acknowledge their speech. Over all of this is a queen, who is aging and has no heir. In this world is Charlaina or Charlie who can understand all languages, including written ones (pause for a moment for how jealous I am of that skill).She meets Max and her life changes forever, as does the life of the people in her world.There were times that this didn't quite work for me but overall it was a very interesting read, I'm curious about what's going to happen next and what's going to happen to her sister and her family. The end left me wanting more.

Needless to say, I was really stoked about this book, especially since I got a free ARC from a giveaway through Presenting Lenore. You know me and my undying love for dystopias. Unfortunately, The Pledge did not fulfill my hopes. It had some good parts and some rather obnoxious parts, which I will attempt to enumerate somewhat in this review.

The Good:
A society based on discrepancies in language is a very interesting idea, especially since, in some senses, this has been done in real cultures, such as how Russian royals used to speak in French. Intriguing, too, were the seemingly magical powers possessed by Charlie and the Queen of the realm. Why do only women have the capability to have such powers? I don't know, but, heck yeah, strong women! Actually, one of the few things I really liked about Charlie is that she spoke almost entirely in Englaise, because she didn't see the point of making things hard on people. Why not speak so everyone could understand?

The Bad:
While I liked the language differences, I had trouble accepting that people were incapable of ever learning a language they were not born with. This just isn't how language works so far as I know. Not being allowed to speak an upper crust language, I get, but being incapable of ever learning or speaking it?

Another thing I really didn't like was what transpired in one particular scene. Charlie and her best friend Brooklynn go to an illegal nightclub, despite being underage (woo, doubly illegal!). When let in, they receive hand stamps, much like clubs now have for those below the drinking age, only these are laced with drugs to loosen people up. Charlie feels some ill effects from hers, so she decides to wander around the building and finds a secret hallway. Discovered by a mysterious, vaguely creepy, secretive guy, she lets him put something else on her hand (supposedly to help, but what does she know?!?) and falls asleep trustingly. To be fair, nothing untoward occurred, but I just want to say that no one should ever do this. Charlie is a bad role model!

The Obnoxious:
While the overarching plot had some interesting things going on, the romance running through it was just completely stereotypical YA and barftastic. The words describing any encounter between Charlie and Max are reminiscent of such works as Twilight, Personal Demons, or Hereafter. Here's a sample scene of the two of them, just after their first makeout session: "I was still shaking when I finally turned my head away, ending the kiss. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done. My lips felt swollen and raw, and achingly cold in the absence of his" (265). The hardest thing she ever had to do? Really? Come on.

At this juncture, I do not know if I will be trying the sequel; I may have to just to figure out why a sequel needs to exist, as this seems to have wrapped up the existing plot threads. For those of you who enjoy melodramatic teenage romances complete with instalove and some dystopian business, The Pledge will satisfy your every desire.

en ingles aburrido ni siquiera conn traduccion

Read it in one night. So addictive!

The Pledge is the first book in a new dystopian trilogy. The concept is interesting and fast paced enough that I read it in one sitting, and the story’s fantasy elements set it apart from other YA dystopian books. The imaginative story is entertaining and full of adventure, which made for a pleasant fast read even though some of the character insight and dystopian world building details were sometimes lacking. I did enjoy it as much as The Body Finder series though, and especially the royalty / fantasy parts of the story.

The series opener introduces a cool concept in which the citizens of Ludania are separated by a language barrier according to class. Learning another class’s language or even looking another class member in the eye in acknowledgement of their language is a crime punishable by death. The ruler, Evil Queen Sabara, uses some fancy magic that keeps her around forever to continue to torment the citizens of Ludania. The heroine Charlaina (Charlie) is born with the talent to understand all languages. Her parents have asked to keep her talent under wraps to keep her safe and to keep a watchful eye over her gifted younger sis Angelina. Her secret is exposed when she meets Max and he recognizes she can understand his unusual language. This starts a sequence of events that cause Charlie’s world to turn upside down.

There are multiple character POV’s in the book, with Max and another character Xander sharing the spotlight with Charlie. Several other side characters are introduced, including a couple other potential love interests for Charlie, which made it hard to buy into the Max and Charlie romance completely. The side characters are somewhat lost in the shuffle of the fast moving plot. With so much action in the book, I hoped for a breather that would allow more focus on the magical origins and Queen Sabara.

The series has a lot of potential, and I’ll be interested to see where it goes, though it seems a bit twisted considering the epilogue. I would recommend this book to fans of the author’s writing, and those looking for something different in the dystopian category.

The more YA books I see being released amidst the continuing dystopia trend (a fad that seems to have a lot more mileage than I originally anticipated, although the sales figures are a more mixed bag), the more I find myself questioning what makes a book dystopian. With “The Body Finder” author Kimberly Derting's latest, the first in a planned trilogy, I hesitate to call it, for lack of a better term, pure dystopian since it mixes more fantastical elements into the story. This discussion aside, what elements that the book uses that are clearly in a dystopian vein are unsuccessful.

The setting, the country of Ludania, is frequently described in terms of its oppressiveness and constant threat of danger but neither of these things were shown on the page. For a supposedly highly guarded society, there was a lot of freedom allotted to its residents. There seemed to be no real adult supervision of the secret club visiting teenagers, except for a few guards now and then, but when one of the characters is described as using heavily guarded security check-points as an opportunity to practice her flirting techniques, it sort of detracts from the sense of fear and urgency. This is an issue I've had with a few dystopian YA novels in recent times. We're frequently told of the dangers and need for constant vigilance but what we are presented with is a series of plot convenient instances and loopholes that detract from the atmosphere needed to create a truly tense story. A strong sense of urgency and fear is a must for dystopian set stories, in my opinion. On top of all this, Derting includes a more fantasy oriented element that is the driving force behind the central premise of the story. Charlie can understand every language, a dangerous skill in a world where social groups are broken up by which language they speak. As a student of semi-dead languages, this premise was a potential gold-mine for me, and I think there is a genuinely interesting world to be built from the idea of using language as a device of socio-political matters. Unfortunately, this book isn't it. The strong idea is never fully built upon, a matter made all the more frustrating thanks to the complete lack of detail given when it is used. The book was a step away from saying “It's magic, we don't have to explain it”, which is never a good answer.

The characters are as shallow as the plot, in particular the heroine Charlie and the first designated love interest Max (there are at least 3 men in the story who I thought could be potential love interests because they are constantly described by way of their handsome looks and enticing aura by Charlie. She may have claimed that her friend Brooklynn was the boy crazy one but she seemed just as single-minded). Neither rises beyond the stock YA romance traits, with Charlie's passiveness being extremely grating but not as much as Max's frequently rude, condescending and smug behaviour being written off as okay because he's so enamoured with a girl he's known for barely a few weeks – the book has a very short time-line – and makes her so weak at the knees I'm surprised she could perform basic human functions. It's yet another YA where the breeding pair fall into the typical gender roles. Maybe it's because I'm jaded and I've been reviewing these sorts of books for what feels like an era, but when the romantic hero, who has only personally known the heroine for a couple of weeks (there are references that he's had his 'protective' eye on her for longer), and he says “All I want is to keep you safe... it's all I've ever wanted”, alarm bells go off in my head. His case isn't helped by his frequent grabbing of Charlie as if he's allowed to do this because we all know they're going to end up together.

“The Pledge” is a slow, mediocre book that shows a glimmer of promise for the rest of the series in the final few pages, but it's not enough for me to feign further interest. To see such potential wasted is a disappointment, made all the worse by the continuing trend for the sort of romances that make me want to pull my hair out. While the prose itself is serviceable, the constant switching of narratives from Charlie's 1st person to several characters's 3rd person points-of-view felt unnecessary given the lack of distinguishing features given to them. My biggest issue with the book is that it's so shallow. Nothing is given the depth required to make the story fully engaging – the world building is slack, the characters are stock, the romance is tired and predictable and the much needed tension is nowhere to be seen.

2/5.

Whenever I pick up a new book, I usually get a good feeling on whether or not I will like it. Because of that, I expected to enjoy this book, but I was amazed at how much I truly did. The Pledge takes place in a dystopian world, a very popular setting today, but I thought this world was a little different than the rest. While most focused on a power mad, corrupted government, this focused on one evil and powerful queen looking for an heir whose line had been banished years and years ago to put her "Essence" in. Her Essence is her soul that has lasted centuries because of her putting in a new body generation after generation.The protagonist of the story, a Vendor class girl named Charlie, is special. Every caste in this book has their own language to seperate them, but Charlie understands them all, something she could be punished by death for. Her gift gets her caught up in the swirl of a rebellion and the evil monarch, as well as drawing the attention of a man named Max who she can't stop thinking about.The action is high; the book is fast-paced; the characters draw you in and make you care, and the romance keeps you on your toes. I can't wait to read the sequel.

The Pledge is a compelling and fast-paced futuristic young adult story. Charlaina, the main character of the story, has special language skills that no one else around her seems to possess. Society has split apart along economic lines, with people of different trades and social statuses speaking different languages, and the people aren’t even supposed to acknowledge that others are speaking different languages, much less understand them. Even looking at someone from a higher status while they are speaking in their language can result in a death sentence, so it is imperative that Charlaina not reveal her skill.

The style of writing and type of story reminded me in part of Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy. There were some similar elements, like special powers and an underlying social structure based on fantasy. On the other hand, The Pledge differs in that it has a slightly dystopian ambiance with a world history that resembles our own. I also think that it will appeal more to older teens because of its harsher moral environment.

What do I mean by harsh moral environment? Well not only does Charlaina make some very poor choices when it comes to who she hangs out with, she also puts herself into dangerous situations in order to be with cute boys (accepting a drugged tattoo as the price to get into a party, for example). She’s flippant about the dangers of being alone with strange men while under the influence of the drug tattoo, and then manages to fall in lust with two hunky guys who are both mysterious and dangerous, and that appeals greatly to her.

So, I guess in some ways it is really typical naive teenager behavior, even if it isn’t the best example of what to do. But what really surprised me was that she was willing to let herself become even a little out of control (via the drugged tattoo) when she knew her life was at stake if she showed the slightest sign of being able to understand other languages.

It has a different twist on the whole dystopian genre because it is a post-apocalyptic tale based in our world, but with the addition of a bit of magic and fantasy. That magic seems to be part of the reason for why the masses can’t understand each other’s languages, but not a whole lot of background is given as to how the society came to be the way it is or how the queen gained the power she has (don’t get me wrong, there is a small explanation, just not a whole lot of detail – a lot is left to the imagination).

There is an interesting twist at the end, leaving an opening for a sequel, but not making a sequel a necessity. Really there was a nice balance between wrapping up the various plot lines and leaving the reader with thoughts to ponder about Charlaina’s future.

The Pledge is a very fun read if you suspend disbelief and just take it for what it is. Those who enjoy young adult fantasy should love it.

I really enjoyed this book, even more than I thought I would. I've read the Body Finders books and thought this was going to be another book in the growing list of teen-dystopia series coming out, so I had vague ideas of what to expect, but the book did not match them... in a good way.

To be honest, while it has the science-fiction/authoritarian/political-upheaval vibe so popular in the teen fantasy genre now, I felt it transcended being lumped in with most of the books coming out lately due to the feel of the story feeling more like a futuristic fairy tale, its style borrowing more from a classic fairy tale than the post-Hunger Games trend. And it really, really works. It didn't feel like a rehash or a bandwagon of any of the genres, but felt fresh while recalling those literary traditions and genres.

I don't want to say too much about the actual story since I fear I will give too much away, but the heroine, the love interest and the storyline were all rather well developed and engrossing. And, as I see this was a series, it was nice to not see it relying on a cliffhanger, but being rather tidy about the current storyline, yet drawing you in enough to want the next book. That's pretty rare nowadays, so massive props to that.

Overall, probably in my Top 10 teen books out this year. And I've read a lot.

The Pledge was a struggle for me to read through, in several ways over several days. For all that I enjoyed the story while I was caught up in it and reading, once I'd set it down for the day, there would be a definite lull before I felt the urge to pick up the novel once again. I just expected more from this author and this novel, if I am being honest, for in several aspects Ms. Derting's world is a shallow reflection of the possibilities for the story. With the world rigidly segregated by class and by speech and led by a maniacal body-jumping Queen, The Pledge definitely has a fresh and unique spin on the current and oh-so-popular dystopian trend for young-adult novels going for it. And I personally found The Pledge not to be wholly a dystopic young-adult novel: the fantasy/magical elements are strong and a central part of both the novel and the characters themselves. The first area I was slightly disappointed in were the characters. For me, nearly 100% of these characters fell entirely flat. I felt like the third person omniscient point of view used for the Queen/Max/etc. did me no favors either: I had a difficult time investing in the story from such a removed perspective on the characters. The only first person narrative was for the main character and I disliked the shifts between - very disconcerting to read. Charlaina, the almost milquetoast heroine, never inspired true sympathy with me and her irritating insta!love situation with OBVIOUS love-interest Max did her no favors either. She never stood out to me: I didn't get (that) irritated with her, I didn't love her, I didn't want to hang out with her - my typical associations and categories for female leads. She's kind and unselfish, yes, but where's the personality? The vim, the pop, the individuality? Charlie was largely no different from a thousand other young-adult novel protagonists, and it felt like a chance wasted. The only stand-out about her is her hidden talent with languages, and her relationship with her mute little sister. Charlie's two best friends - Aron and Brooklynn - also fall victim to this same lack of dimension, Aron in particular. Brooklynn, the carefree and careless boy-crazy sexpot, gets the benefit of a nicely-done plot twist to flesh her out more, but Aron remains the same cardboard cut-out for the duration. Now, for another of my letdowns for The Pledge, the love-interest Maxmillian. I either wanted to kill him half the time, and spent the other 50% of his screen-time just trying to figure out the motivation of the character could possibly be. He's a trope-ish and cliched dark-haired mystery man with a hidden agenda who is inexplicable drawn to Charlie. I'm really, really weary of the whole overdone and lazy excuse of the"inexplicably drawn" line for young-adult romances: is it too much to ask for two characters to meet as friends and then gradually segue into a mature, believable relationship? Apparently, yes yes it is as I could never discern the reason why Max became so quickly and vociferously attached to young Ms. Hart. I felt very little chemistry between Charlie and Max as well. No pop, no sizzle and no line of dialogue really convinced me that these two were supposed to be with one another. I guess I liked them both well enough, but together they did not shoot sparks together. I honestly like them both on their own, independent - but that's probably my knee-jerk reaction to their oh-so-special instalove.As stated earlier, I felt Ms. Derting's worldbuilding left a lot to be desired, for me personally. Her world is set in a time described only as, "After the Revolution of the Sovereigns" but hardly any details about what that event/war was about are ever provided. Even in the present day of the novel, with the Queen facing even more rebellions, etc., no more details are provided for why the country is the way it is. It just bothered me from the outset - Icrave a well-rounded novel with a vibrant setting always. Barely sketched outlines seem to set the foundation of the country of Ludania, and I craved more setting, more substance for the locale/Kingdom/city themselves. The little details of life in Ludania are sometimes supplied: there are normal-ish pasttimes that readers can identify with: dancing, illegal drinking/drugging) to tie along with the more outlandish (read: magical) elements. I just missed the bigger picture details that Ms. Derting failed to include. Her country of Ludania never comes to life, never seems or feels like a real place to the reader and that is a shame. "The Pledge" from which the novel takes its name/series takes its name, is the required daily obeisance each person of the country must person as well as a reminder of their respective places in society - only the Queen is worth saving, protecting and pledging.I did love the language/communicative aspect for the novel. Sadly, Derting didn't go so far as to truly create and vocabularize the three languages of Ludania (Termani - the language of the elite/nobility, Parshon - the Vendor/serving class language and lastly Englaise - universal) - that we know so far - but relied on italics to stress the different languages. Derting does an adequate job of using words to isolate her classes/characters: this is a country of no trust and little love, where fathers turn in daughters and sons turn in mothers to the secret police. I liked some stuff from the novel well enough (words are power/distinction, matrilineal descent, but there was never enough detail or information for me to really feel completely satisfied with the story. It just felt half-done, or half-plotted out at points (Sydney? What as the point of her addition to the story? Xander - why did he turn? Why did "she" let him? No reasons provided!) and incomplete. I also felt vaguely disappointed by the ending. It felt sadly lackluster and almost dull after the 300 page build-up of raids, bombs, shelters, secret police, secret deadly abilities. . . but, if anything, this is the most forgivable of my problems with this novel - for there are to be two more sequels. If Ms. Derting doesn't fill in some holes, answer some questions, provide some information on her world's past/current situation, I'm going to be a very disgruntled reader. After all that, why is this still a 3.5 out of 5 stars? I did fully enjoy the style of the novel itself - Ms. Derting is a more than able wordsmith and I hope her next effort doesn't founder in the other aspects of her writing. It's also a fast-paced action novel, and I found the varied advenures kept me reading when the characters failed to do so. I will continue reading this series to find out what happens - and to see if Max, Charlie, Brooklynn and Angelina grow on me a bit more.

Unsichere ZeitenEine Königin, die ihre Nachfolgerin sucht und ein Volk, das unterjocht wird...Charlie wächst in einer Welt auf, in der man auf jedes ausgesprochene Wort achten muss und eine launische Königin regiert.Es gibt Rebellen die sich gegen die Königin auflehnen, doch ein Durchbruch will ihnen einfach nicht gelingen.Das Volk ist in Klassen unterteilt, und jede hat für sich eine Sprache. Nur diese Klassensprache und die Universalsprache Englaise dürfte Charlie verstehen. Doch dem ist nicht so. Sie versteht jede gesprochene Sprache, auch wenn sie eine nie zuvor gehört hatte, und dieses Können ist für sie ein Fluch, der sie schon öfters in Gefahr gebracht hat.Wenn je herauskommen sollte, dass Charlaine alle sprachen versteht, wäre das ihr Todesurteil...Als wäre ihr Leben dadurch nicht schon gefährlich genug, lernt sie zwei Jungs kennen, die um ihre Gunst buhlen. Jeder von ihnen stammt aus einem anderen Klassensystem mit einer anderen Sprache.Und zum Ende des ersten Teiles kommt etwas heraus, dass Charlie liebe nie erfahren hätte. Plötzlich scheint sie absolut niemandem mehr trauen zu können. Und was daraufhin folgt, scheint unfassbar zu sein und absolut unlogisch. Das Jugendbuch hatte etwas unglaublich fesselndes an sich und der Schreibstil von Kimberly Derting war genial, sodass ich regelrecht gebannt war. Und so musste ich bewusst immer wieder Pausen einlegen, damit ich diesen tollen Roman auch in vollen Zügen genießen konnte. Der Roman ist in zwei Teile aufgegliedert. Jedes Kapitel ist mit der lateinischen Zahl gekennzeichnet und der erste Buchstabe der Kapitel ist schön verziert.Die Handlungen werden aus mehreren Sichtweisen erzählt, wobei Charlie dabei natürlich die wichtigste Figur ist. Doch sowie die Protagonistin werden auch die anderen Blickwinkel immer aus Sicht desjenigen geschildert, sodass ich auch die Empfindungen der anderen Figuren mitbekam. Das wurde auch gut sichtbar, dadurch, dass die Abschnitte immer gut gekennzeichnet wurden, aus wessen Sichtweise nun geschildert wird.Das Ende lässt auf eine spannende Fortsetzung hoffen!

It has been almost a year since I purchased this beautiful hardback for my library. I read a lot of reviews first, and decided that this was one of those books I could save for a “rainy day”. You know… the books you save for dessert after eating your veggies of review books.It feels funny to hold a book on such a high pedestal for so long… and then actually read it. Since I had so many expectations, I’m going to review by comparing to them.Language plays a key role. Class is decided by which language is spoken. I knew this, and yet I was disappointed and relieved, both. I was sad because language is not really language – as in “people who speak different, learnable languages”. It was language as in… a sort of magic-induced thing where people are unable to learn different languages. A separation of the classes - more of a class thing than a language thing.On the other hand… there are really only three classes, or four. I had imagined a multitude of languages, which could be confusing. Rather there are the poor, the worker, the council and then royalty. And then outcasts. End of layers. Complicated enough, but not confusing. Phew!Charlie is a fun character. She sees through the classes. She doesn’t belittle those below her and she shows deference due to those above her without thinking they deserve it for any reason besides “the rules”. In such a strong system, it would be easy to pass the unfair treatment on down the classes, but Charlie helps everyone she comes in contact with. She’s awesome.She’s spunky, too, and stubborn and full of love for her family, for her parents & her sister. I love, LOVE her relationship with her four year old sister. Wow. There’s so much heart and devotion wrapped up right there. I love how the romance sneaks up and surprises Charlie. She resists her own feelings as long as she can, which is delightful. I don’t even want to spoil who HE is ‘cause it’s such a wonderfully sneaky romance that is intricately tied to revolutionary things. I quote her remembering his voice:“I loved voices, I always had. Words held meanings, but voices held emotion.” Pg 112What about Brook? What a fun surprise! Charlie has some great friends and connections around her.Yet, one of my favorite things about this story is the grittiness of it. It’s dark. The shadows are cast long, the candle flickers low, the music throbs like a heartbeat, my fictional fingernails got dirty reading this book. The cover is so perfect, now that I know how dark it is. Charlie is a distinctive blond in hiding, shadowed by darkness, obscured.The Pledge is a crazy-great name. It stands for the government, the revolution, the horrors and the hope. Then… it has a smaller, more personal, goose-bumpy meaning, too.My Rating: 4.5 - Great Book. En fin, I had bigger visions for The Pledge than what I found, yet I was surprised by the gritty fast pace. I am happy to read more books from this world because I have tons of questions about the royal female bloodline. What a great world full of great characters.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: This book bites off more than it can chew, making for a shallow read populated with a lot of stock characters.Opening Sentence: The air crackled like a gathering thunderstorm the moment the girl entered the chamber.The Review:The Pledge combines a future where America has fallen and reformed to be Ludania, a country ruled by caste systems and magical queens. The current queen, called Sabara, isn’t really Sabara but her mother. In fact, every queen Ludania’s ever had has been the same soul that simply steals the bodies of her daughters. In Derting’s world a revolution has already happened once, managing to install a President before Ludania realized they weren’t as self-sufficient as they thought. The other countries will only ally with a government ruled by a queen, which is how Queen Sabara became welcomed into power in the first place. Now the queen needs a female heir, having had sons who only had more sons. Only a queen can rule, and that’s the only body she can jump into.But revolution is brewing again across the country, with attacks both on the countryside and the Capital. Charlie’s learned to keep her head down and her mouth shut, both because the punishment for breaking the law is death and because no one can know she understands. Charlie understands every language, every dialect, without ever trying to learn them. And in a world where classes are isolated by the languages they’re legally allowed to know, her power could get her killed. By the queen’s command everything from stealing to meeting the eyes of someone speaking a language above yours is punishable by hanging. So Charlie doesn’t trust anyone, not even her two best friends Brooklynn and Aron.Brooklynn is the ditzy, boy-crazy best friend who’s father really doesn’t care where she is or what she’s doing. While there was a lot of potential in Brooklynn, especially as the plot gets drawn deeper and deeper into the subterfuge of the revolution, she’s a stock character to the core and used mainly as a plot device. Aron is the same way, the over-protective best friend who tries to take care of them. The characters that did feel fleshed out, besides Charlie, was her sister Angelina and the mysterious Max from the club Prey.It’s a good thing Max is a well developed hero, because the romance between them is the primary plot. Everything else, the revolution, the magic powers she has, comes in second. In fact, the plot of the novel isn’t really brought into the story until you’re halfway through, letting the backstory and characters attempt to carry the first half of the novel.I think part of the reason I couldn’t get into this story was that there were too many things going on. It’s trying to be a dystopian fallen-America as well as a paranormal romance but neither aspect is well fleshed out. The POV jumps between Charlie, who’s the main narrator, to Max, the queen and Xander. Mostly to add tension and move the plot along, but there’s no rhyme or reason for it. When the POV changes it’s pretty much a giveaway something’s going to happen, because even though Charlie’s the main character nothing really happens to her. Mostly it’s the other characters who do something which then affects Charlie, rather than our heroine doing anything for herself. And that’s one of my biggest character peeves.Anyway, The Pledge had high ambitions but couldn’t quite live up to them. There were things I liked, Max and the revolutionaries comes to mind, but mostly the story wasn’t strong enough to carry its own.Notable Scene:The skin at the nape of my neck tightened, my head clearing instantly as the drug that had been bleeding through my system evaporated in a blink. In fact, all of my senses were heightened as my eyes remained fastened on his.“I wasn’t sure you’d be here tonight.” His voice was low–almost hushed–despite the loud music pounding around us.“Yeah, me either. I wasn’t sure I’d be anywhere tonight.” I shot back.He raised one brow uncertainly. “Is this a bad time? If you’d rather be alone, I’ll go.”I could feel the restless crowd around us. If I’d really wanted to be alone, Prey would be the last place I’d be. But I suddenly felt trapped by his cool, flint-colored eyes. They were disquieting in a way I didn’t understand. My breath lodged in my throat, and I had the strangest feeling that I should look away from him. Yet I was captivated.“It’s–it’s okay,” I finally managed, and that tangled knotted deeper, taut threads of hesitant emotions. The feeling that he was to be avoided deepened.He frowned, but his lips quirked. “Good, because it was an empty offer. I had every intention of staying.”The Pledge Trilogy:1. The Pledge2. The EssenceFTC Advisory: Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of The Pledge. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a letdown from what I had heard and was expecting from it. I still enjoyed it, just not as much as I thought I would. I am in love with the concept of the world that Derting created, I just think it had some holes in it that could have been filled to make the story stronger.Each class had their own language, but there was also a universal language, known as Englaise, that everyone was aloud to speak. This just kind of confused things and made me wonder why the classes even existed. Why didn’t everyone just speak Englaise all the time? So if someone from another class spoke to you in Englaise, you could respond. But if they spoke in their language, you had to bow your head. If you didn’t it could result in immediate execution.The book was mostly told from Charlie’s point of view with occasional chapters thrown in from others. I found these chapters to be kind of random, although I did enjoy getting a peek into the minds of other characters, even if they were just tiny glimpses!I liked Charlie, she’s smart, strong, tough, and had a good heart. The only thing that bugged me about her was how easily distracted she was by Max. From the moment they met he consumed her every thought! As for Max, he really didn’t have much of a personality. He was nice enough, but so unoriginal. I felt the same way about their romance; it was just kind of blah.Two of the other main characters were Charlie’s best friends, Brooke and Aron.Brook was so annoying; I don’t know why Charlie ever put up with her!Aron was so sweet and didn’t get nearly enough attention, if you ask me. He and Charlie knew each other since they were kids. They walked to school together everyday where he would carry her bag, and bring her scraps of silk from his father’s fabric shop so she could make new clothes. You could tell he was totally in love with her and she never even seemed to acknowledge this fact. She was to busy swooning over Max.For a dystopian, the action was pretty disappointing. Stuff happened, it just wasn’t as exciting as it could have been. The action was either too quick or just lacking luster.This book is number one in a series, which you would never know by the ending. I thought things were tied up nicely and it could have definitely stood on its own. I honestly have no idea where the author is going to go with another book…