Ann reviews The Pledge by Kimberly Derting.

Title: The Pledge

Author: Kimberly Derting

Series: The Pledge (1)

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: 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.

"I loved voices, I always had. Words held meaning, but voices held emotion."

I didn’t really know what to think when I started this book because I had just pulled it out of my TBR jar and my big sister put most of the books in to my TBR; so most of them I don’t even know what they are about. I did however like the sound of it from the blurb so it was one of the first I read this month.

The main character Charlaina (or Charlie as she likes to be called) was a complicated girl with a power that she has to keep secret or she risks losing her life. She doesn’t know why she has this power. At the beginning of the book she just glides through life like the other vendor children but throughout the book things happen that change that and she develops as a character. Her love interest Max also has a secret of his own and when he meets Charlie he realises she is special and pledges to protect her. He didn’t give up and defended her as well as he could. He is a very protective character.

The plot was very well developed and I didn’t expect what was going to happen next. The only bad part about the plot was that the ending was a bit rushed and most of the exciting stuff happened in like the last 4 chapters. 

The city Ludania was described really well even though it isn’t a real place in the world from the description I felt as though it came to life and was described thoroughly. It was really easy to picture the roads and the buildings and shops which made reading more enjoyable.

Overall it wasn’t one of the best books that I’ve read but it wasn’t one of the worst and if you like dystopian/fantasy books then you should think about reading The Pledge trilogy.

Tuesday Intros 4th August

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea where bloggers share the first paragraph or two of the book they are currently reading/thinking about reading soon. Every month we will each be reading one Classic book, and we will include the first paragraph in the first Tuesday Intro of each month. You can click on any of the pictures to get more information about the books mentioned.

Ann:

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

The air crackled like a gathering thunderstorm the moment the girl entered the chamber. She was just a child, but her presence changed everything. With effort, the queen turned her head on her pillow as she watched the little girl pad into the chamber on slippered feet. The child kept her chin tucked tightly against her chest as her fingers clutched the sides of her nightgown, clenching and unclenching nervously. 

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Mrs Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops, and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

Clare: 

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

The water is cold and ruthless, lapping against my cheek. Slapping me awake. Filling my mouth with the taste of salty solitude. I cough violently and open my eyes, taking in the world around me. Seeing it for the first time. It's not a world I recognize. I gaze upon miles and miles of dark ocean. Peppered with large floating objects. Metal. Like the one I'm lying on.

And then there are the bodies. I count twenty in my vicinity. Two within reach although I don't dare try. Their lifeless faces are frozen in terror. Their eyes are empty. Staring into nothing.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population, and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.

For some time past, vessels had been met by 'an enormous thing,' a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.