Book Jacket:
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.
You can read an excerpt here.
Review:
As someone who was entertained by Kimberly Derting’s The Body Finder series, I was looking forward to seeing what this author could do with a fantasy setting – but sadly, this book vexed me to no end. If I hadn’t been reading an e-book, I probably would have thrown it against the wall.
The Pledge starts out well, with a retro-dystopian future monarchy and an interesting take on a caste system. I very much liked the idea of a world where the population is controlled by the language they speak – and who hasn’t felt the allure of wanting to understand someone speaking in a foreign language? Derting taps into that desire and makes it deadly, which sets the stage for a lot of fun. So there I was, reading right along, enjoying myself…
And then the main character progressively turned into a complete and utter idiot. Generally speaking, I’m not against a character who is rash or reckless, or who makes mistakes, but Charlie, our leading lady, acts in such an idiotic fashion as to be UTTERLY UNBELIEVABLE given the world in which she exists. Derting takes pains to establish a paranoid city where even looking like you doubt the Queen’s edicts could mean instant death, where neighbors are more than willing to turn each other in as traitors for the reward money, where everyone lives in fear. Add on top of that the fact that Charlie has spent her whole life hiding her ability, and you’d expect to find a girl who was wary, careful, and decently intelligent, considering that she’s managed to survive this long. Instead Charlie is an absolutely ninny, a naive idiot who traipses around betraying her ability at every turn, who never stops to wonder at the motive of the handsome stranger who suddenly takes an interest in her, who never bothers to ask her parents why they’re acting so suspiciously, who is just in general completely lacking brainpower and/or common sense. Oh wait, someone makes a point of hiding me somewhere safe? Well I’m just going to traipse right back to my HOUSE – the one place people absolutely know where to find me, the very place my parents made me swear NOT TO GO back to unless they told me it was safe – and I’m just going to sit there until the people looking for me find me. Oh, the handsome boy tells me he recognized me as valuable from the get go? Why, it never once occurred to me that he might be using me, but now that I know he’s been lying to me, I’m just going to BELIEVE HIM when he tells me of course he instantly fell in love with me, and his hanging around has nothing to do with my exceedingly high value. Oh, and my big plan for saving the day? I’m going to walk straight into the lion’s den, like a lamb to the slaughter, but then of course I’m going to be downright shocked when the lion decides to hold me captive… I mean, REALLY, Charlie? How I wish Katniss could slap some sense into this idiot…
On top of which, Charlie’s attraction to the handsome stranger, Max, is one of the most painfully egregious cases of insta-love I have ever read – and mind, I read a LOT of YA. Yes, of course she felt inexplicably drawn to the dark and scary yet alluring man for no other reason than plot convenience, but the utter helplessness of Charlie in the face of her attraction made me want to scream. At least Bella Swan stopped to think, gee, this could be a bad idea, seeing as he’s a vampire and all, but hell with it, it’s my life. At least Bella used her brain and made a CHOICE, unlike Charlie, who never seems to really mind that Max could be potentially dangerous not only to her, but her entire family, nor mind that Max carelessly speaks to her IN PUBLIC in a way that could mean HER INSTANT DEATH. All she can think about is how she can’t BEAR to take her hand out of his, how she just can’t summon the willpower to resist him. He could get you killed, you idiot! Honestly the way in which Charlie is a victim of her attraction made me downright loathe her.
Not to mention the plot is paper thin, at best. Conveniences pile up at an alarming rate, you can see everything coming a mile away, and there are more than a few ridiculously transparent plot shortcuts (hidden passageways! Magic that saves the day!) Add it all together and you pretty much have a story designed to drive me up a wall.
It all comes down to this: Tamora Pierce has ruined me forever for any story that employs this type of nonsense. I just can’t stomach a book where the leading lady acts in conveniently stupid fashion and becomes a helpless victim of her hormones, with no will or mind of her own. Still, it’s a shame this book was so bogged down by ridiculousness, because there was some nice potential lost in the mire.
Byrt Grade: B-
As Levar Burton used to say – you don’t have to take my word for it…
Derting (Desires of the Dead, 2011, etc.) keeps her story consistently engaging through vivid description and brisk pacing, propelling Charlie through her adventure.
I also tend to have some trouble with the whole “love at first sight” premise. Rarely is it done well enough that compulsion is visceral enough for me to believe it. This time it was a bit of a stretch…Although it was entertaining enough to keep me reading and not feel as if I’d wasted my time, I don’t know that I’d recommend this book. Though I suspect that it will probably go over better with a younger audience…
As someone with a fascination for languages, I envied Charlie’s power and I loved her journey to discover her roots and the true meaning of her skills. I have to admit though that I expected more swoon – the chemistry between Charlie and Max was fine, but nothing as sizzling as what went on in The Body Finder, Derting’s debut. But WHOA – way to nail the ending in a way that gives closure but also has me wildly anticipating a sequel.
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