The Pledge Review

320 pages

Words are the most dangerous weapon of all. 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.

Review (ARC): 
What an imaginative and adventurous book! Different classes with different languages worked well as a way of separating people and keeping them in their place. However, Charlie's ability to understand anyone's language gives us a better look at what the people within other classes are like and the unhappiness that runs throughout the lower classes. One thing that I especially enjoyed in this book was the return to the royal system. I think that is amazingly different from most dystopian novels plots. I enjoyed Charlie as a main character because she embodies strength and doesn't fall all over Max even when she finds out who he really is. Charlie maintains a mind of her own despite the oppression in her society and I admire her for that. This was a really interesting and fun to read novel and I recommend it to anyone who loves dystopian novels as much as I do.