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He stays. To learn what of the world his father has sheltered him from. To grow and prepare for what will come. To think and consider the consequences, the way his father accused him of forgetting.

And for Cia. For a little girl who looks up to her big brother, relies on him, wants to make him proud and follow in his footsteps. For a ten-year-old child who holds onto that same Testing prep booklet he stole with all the might her little fingers can muster.

But now -- now-now, I mean, at the end of The Testing, not the end of this story -- Cia doesn’t need him anymore. Or at least, she’s not there to hold him back. She’s gone, a place he dreamed of going and that even if he knows it was dangerous he still can’t help being envious of. The thing that tied him to Five Lakes has moved. Zeen’s priorities may move with her.

#annika reads #Joelle Charbonneau #The Testing #Testing Trilogy #The Testing Guide #The Testing: day 10

Zeen wants to run, to make his way into the world on his own and find his own destiny, if the government won’t give it to him.

His father finds him packing, speaks to him calmly. Tells him what he told -- or rather, will tell -- Cia. That he doesn’t remember his Testing. But he knows that it’s about more than just knowing the answers. That the smartest people in his school classes didn’t make it out.

That he’s grateful that Zeen wasn’t chosen. Because as smart as Zeen is, he is also passionate, headstrong, driven by emotion. Those aren’t bad qualities -- but they’re not the qualities The Testing wants, and they might well have cost him his life.

#annika reads #Joelle Charbonneau #The Testing #Testing Trilogy #The Testing Guide #The Testing: day 10

This scene of expectation and hope and then crushing disappointment is so reflective of Cia’s own graduation experience. She too slipped away from the festivities, trying to hide her bitter disappointment. Zeen tried to comfort her without seeming like he was comforting her, and she tried to pretend she didn’t need comfort.

#annika reads #Joelle Charbonneau #The Testing #Testing Trilogy #The Testing Guide #The Testing: day 10

Ah, little Cia. Even ten years old, she is brilliant -- and not just in school but in seeing people. She sees Zeen’s preparations when others overlook it. She heard their parents talking, their mother worried that Zeen will leave them and their father worried that Zeen won’t be happy if he stays. Not that any of them have a choice, but.

Zeen tells Cia he’ll be happy regardless. He doesn’t believe it, but he says it. It’s easier than explaining the hurt of hearing his father is planning for him to fail.

#annika reads #Joelle Charbonneau #The Testing #Testing Trilogy #The Testing Guide #The Testing: day 10

In the little prequel short story tucked into the end, we follow Cia’s older brother Zeen, starting at that same moment of graduating from school, desperately hoping that he’s done well enough to be chosen. We know the answer, of course; we read the future-book. But he doesn’t.

He’s so proud to be first in his class, so eager to be chosen, so determined to be ready. He even stole a prep book from his teacher’s desk -- he’s ashamed to have stooped to that, but not sorry.

He wants it so bad he can taste it, so bad it hurts, so bad it’s eating him. And he deserved it -- but also, no one deserves to go through that.

#annika reads #Joelle Charbonneau #The Testing #Testing Trilogy #The Testing Guide #The Testing: day 10

books read in 2015 | the testing guide by joelle charbonneau

Your passion is one of your greatest assets even as it is your biggest flaw. You always lead with emotion and think through the consequences later. It's the reason you'd never have survived The Testing.

#the testing guide #the testing trilogy #joelle charbonneau #ya lit #my edits #f: the testing trilogy #books read in 2015

The Testing Guide (Review)

Title: The Testing Guide

Series: The Testing (Book #0.5)

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Publication: 2013

Rating: ★★★

Summary: It's an honor to be chosen for The Testing. But it's not enough to pass The Testing. Cia will have to survive it. The Testing Guide is the short story prequel to The Testing, the first novel in the stunning and epic Testing Trilogy.

Review: This is a short story prequel, so I won’t be doing a full review for it.

I don’t have much to say about this, so I’ll make it quick. Considering this is more like…an extra chapter or something than it is a prequel, there’s not much to go on. So I’ve given it a “meh” rating, because it was pretty well written, and it set up the book itself very nicely; but it wasn’t perfect, and because it was so short, it didn’t really draw me in all that much. It just wasn’t that interesting, and a little too vague for be engaging. However, it was decent writing–so I’m stuck in the middle.

Overall, decent enough. Considering how short it is and the fact that it’s free, I’d say that it’s worth giving a read before reading The Testing.

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