{Review} The Pledge (The Pledge #1) by Kimberly Derting

Posted by Donna
Release Date: November 11th, 2011
Finished Date: January 15th, 2015

Publishers: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Gifted
Format: Hardcover

Pages: 323

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

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.

The Review: Intriguing and suspenseful, The Pledge is a fantastic story woven behind a realistic fantasy/dystopia setting.

Charliana lives in a world that is divided by the language they speak and judged by status – the lower and higher class. If the lower class ever looks a member of the higher class in the eye while speaking their own language, the penalty for this is death. As Charliana and her family try to keep under the radar and work to the best of their ability to help her families restaurant stay afloat. But Charliana is hiding a secret. Somehow she can decipher any language or text from any other class, when she’s only supposed to know her own class’s language. If anyone finds out her secret, she knows she will be in danger.  So when she meets the mysterious Max who talks in a language she’s never heard before, her secret is nearly revealed, but what Charliana doesn’t know is that there is something much bigger going on and she and her family are in more danger than ever.

Why ‘o’ why did I not read The Pledge sooner? I seem to be wishing this more and more lately while I’m trying to tackle some of my own books rather around my review books. I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf since it first released – I remember one of my friends gifting it to me and me being so excited to read it and here I am like 3 years later JUST reading it. If you haven’t already guessed, yes I loved it. It was amazing and that was totally unexpected because I’ve read both of the first books of Kimberly Derting’s other series and yeah they were okay, but nothing like The Pledge. Nothing! I guess this is third times the charm right?

As I mentioned before The Pledge is a very intriguing read. From the moment I started it I didn’t want to put it down. Charlie’s world is dark and brutal and I immediately felt sorry for her. She has this gift that she can’t share with anyone other than family and being able to hear every different language, she had to be careful every minute of the day in case she slipped up. There is a lot of mystery to the story and surrounding Charlie and her family. It was pretty easy to see why the Queen wanted Charlie but then trying to discover how Max fit in to the story and who some of the other characters were and their reasoning’s, weren’t so easy. The story is full of suspense and there are so many good qualities to the story that makes it a truly enjoyable read.

So in all The Pledge is a totally awesome read and you must read it.