Scored Review

240 pages

Set in the future when teenagers are monitored via camera and their recorded actions and confessions plugged into a computer program that determines their ability to succeed. All kids given a "score" that determines their future potential. This score has the ability to get kids into colleges, grant scholarships, or destroy all hope for the above. Scored's reluctant heroine is Imani, a girl whose high score is brought down when her best friend's score plummets. Where do you draw the line between doing what feels morally right and what can mean your future? Friendship, romance, loyalty, family, human connection and human value: all are questioned in this fresh and compelling dystopian novel set in the scarily forseeable future.

Review:
For a dystopian novel this was ok and a little bit boring at parts. I loved the concept of scores determining a kids future. I think it was interesting that a friend's decisions could influence your own score. It was also intriguing to see the way kids reacted to the scoring software and how it changed their school and home lives. Imani is a main character who basically plays by the rules but eventually has to open her eyes to the other side of the scoring software. When Imani's teacher assigns her an essay for a scholarship she is tossed into the path of one of the "unscored,"Diego. This sets off a chain of events to where Imani discovers more about the scores than she thought possible. I wish there was more action and I didn't really feel like there was any kind of grand climax in the book at all. The ending was a bit open ended and it did leave me wanting to know more about what happens to Imani. If there is another novel I probably will read it just to see what happens next. I recommend this as a good quick read with a "big brother is watching" theme.