Everyone at some point is afraid of making the wrong choice --
Years ago I read The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau through the Kindle app. Unfortunately, since the sequels were not available in that format, I never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy until I bought all three used a few weeks ago. So I finally got to continue the series with Independent Study.
After surviving and passing the brutal conditions of the Testing, Cia enters into the elusive University to begin her studies. Despite the leaders' best efforts, Cia is aware of the injustices done to the candidates and is slowly recovering her memories through traumatic flashbacks and nightmares. After connecting with an ally from the first installment, Cia learns that there are people in the city and beyond that know what the Testing truly is... and not everyone is willing to sit back and watch it continue. Cia must hold her spot as one of the most gifted students the University has seen, with following the path of change she knows has to happen.
As someone who is often disappointed by sequels, I was pleasantly surprised with Independent Study. I would describe the first book as being somewhere between The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent in terms of both topic and reading experience. Good, enjoyable, but nothing super outstanding. This made me worried that the following books would suffer the consequence of having a great idea to begin, and then descend into a dystopian revolution that falls flat of the original idea. But that didn't happen. As Cia starts at the University, she both 1) continues doing tests and challenges in a competitive environment and 2) opens up to a school setting. Both score points for my enjoyment. It kept up the feeling of playing dangerous games that I felt was one of the highest points of The Testing.
An area I felt wasn't a strength were the characters. Cia seemed to flow too easily between her feelings of and trust in those around her. I was never really sure who she felt was on her side, or how she would react with others. It made the good and bad things that happened lose their impact. Going along with that, the introduction of University students not from the Colonies felt a bit thrown in. I am still not sure how they got to the same place as Cia and the others without having to go through the testing. Additionally, they were (to my memory) never mentioned in the first book, making it feel like a last-minute addition that wasn't fully thought out or very well-implemented into the story.
As hinted above, Independent Study is nothing particularly spectacular or groundbreaking. But it is certainly a fun and engaging read, that brings up a lot of good questions about justice, trust, choice, and sacrifice. I feel this would do best as a Literature circle read for middle school (or of course, just for fun).
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