Reviews

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

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kate4ez's review against another edition

3.0

Too many things happened for no real reason, things that should have happened didn't, and nobody behaved in ways that made sense based on how they acted in the first book.

lottevantol's review against another edition

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4.0

This series brings me back to my old dystopian book obsession. Def a good read

vieeeee's review against another edition

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5.0

One complaint: How can Cia trust Tomas so easily? How can Tomas not feel guilty, or rather, why didn't the author show it?How are they not fighting?

This makes me want to scream and cry. But I love it. And I am ready for the Rebellion.

smateer73's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was excellent. The plot moves so quickly and Cia is such a strong heroine. Her compassion, but also her intelligence makes her an excellent protagonist. The other characters are really good too, each with a well developed personality that really drives the plot. There are several shocking plot twists that will leave you racing through the book.

comfydino's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

michelle_chloe's review against another edition

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3.0

3/5 stars

“Because sometimes the best leaders are the ones who have no interest in leading. Those are often the ones who are most interested in doing what is right, not what is popular.”

This is the second book in the Testing trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau. We follow Cia in Tosu City, living her new life as a student at the university. That is, until she discovers some details about the testing.

After reading the Testing I immediately started this one. I enjoyed the first one so much that I didn't even read what this one was about. Of course, this became clear very soon. I really enjoyed this one too, but not as much as the first one.

Tbh, I think that this one and the third book could have been combined in one slightly bigger book and we still get the same information.

Something I thoroughly enjoyed was the campus and Tosu City. Every time something was described I could vision it perfectly. I loved reading about the city and where the students lived.

I'm currently reading the third one so I can finish my first series of the year!

batkat31's review against another edition

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Bored now...

I loved the first book. It was exciting, the main character was awesome and the plot was fast paced but solid. This book seems like it was written by someone else entirely. The world is over-explained (like all the fucking time) and the explanations seem to be there not to actually help the reader understand but to show how smart and knowledgeable Cia is.
In the first book Cia was introspective and smart but this book abuses that introspection. She used to think about who she was and how she could grow as a person and learn from her mistakes and now she just uses introspection to realize that she had the answers all along. TO EVERYTHING. If there is a problem, then Cia just thinks internally about herself and what she knows and if she thinks long enough the answer will magically appear every fucking time.

I got half way through when I realized I do not care and slogging through this is not worth it. This book tries to keep up the same levels of excitement as the first and fails miserably.