Review: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

• Pub. Date:November 2011
• Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Pages: 336
• Series: The Pledge #1

http://www.kimberlyderting.com/

"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"

First Sentence: The air crackled like a gathering thunderstorm the moment the girl entered the chamber.


Review: I was thrown  into a world full of danger and dark secrets.  I loved The Pledge and couldn't tear myself away from it. I literally finished it in one sitting. Derting is an amazing writer and the characters, the world building, the alternating point of views everything was pulled off very well.

Charlaina ( Charlie ) can understand all languages which is pretty awesome except for the fact she lives in a world in which it is against the law to know a language above your class and if you do you get executed. Charlie was as real as they can get, she was a believable character with fears and faults. I also adored her relationship with her little sister, who also like our protagonist had secrets which needed to be hidden.

Then there was Max he was full of surprises and very swoon worthy. I didn't know what to make of him in the beginning but I enjoyed learning more about him side by side with Charlie.

One thing I have to admit as much as I loved pretty much all of the characters including the evil queen, I fell more in love with the world Derting created. It was interesting to read about a place in which women are the rulers while the men are on the sidelines, then there was the fact that you are only allowed to speak the language of your class and you can never escape it. I would personally never want to live in a world like that but it was the world in which they lived that really engrossed me to the point where I did not want to put the book down.

Overall this is a must read if you love Dystopian novels, although it does dip a little into the fantasy genre as well.