Imagine a world in which one has to pay taxes for each of their children (more than 1 child per family) and these taxes are so high that rather than pay them, people send their en masse to farms and workhouses where they are treated as slaves. I should think that people would consider birth control in this case, but apparently this is also something that has been lost in the transition towards a Dystopia society.

Maybe, just maybe, I would have bought it if only I saw what the government was doing, why all these people were happy to give their children away. But, even with all the help the government apparently provides (there are also groups who try to live on their own, but the general assumption is that this is not possibly) the people seem to be barely scraping through.

Enter Vera, and her twin brother. They are only months away of completing their lease and reentering the society (there should be some awkward silences on family dinners though). However, when their younger sister in one of the newly surrendered kids (which means her parents 'did it' again, as the sister was the reason why they were surrendered in the first place), Vera decides to take matter in her own hands.

I was not very much impressed by The Surrendered. It started interesting enough, although I had some questions about the worldbuilding. Relatively quick it became rather predictable. I won't spoil the story, but you've probably read it before. It was however still pleasant to read and a very fast read as well. Just not very original, and the world doesn't make too much sense.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really liked this book it was interesting and had some pretty awesome characters. My favorites were definitely Vee, Oliver who is Vee's twin, and my absolute favorite was Cason. One of my favorite things about this book is that it isn't love at first sight between Vee and Cason. He really didn't like her much at first, it took some time before they even kissed. And there relationship wasn't the main focus of the book. I also loved that there was no love triangle.

The reason why it only got 4/5 stars is that I would have liked to have Oliver more involved in the storyline. And also I didn't like how it ended, I don't see anything about this being a series. So I wish the ending had more of the end feeling to it. To me it felt like there was more story to tell. Who knows maybe there will be another book.

I felt really bad for Cason if you read the book you'll understand what I mean by that. Just say the Government really screwed up his young life. I also really couldn't stand Vee and Oliver's mother at all. To do what she did to her own children is just plain sickening. 

The Government is so awful, and some of the people working for the Government needs to be shot. What they do to some of the kids is so sickening. 

Like I mentioned in my update earlier today, is that if the parents don't have money to pay their taxes, if the have more than one than one of their kids have to go and work in different camps. The children get beat, some get raped, etc. 

I really liked Vee, but she does something stupid that really puts a lot of people in danger. There are people that die in this book but that's what happens when there's a war going on. 

I would definitely recommend this book to other readers, but if you don't like books were rape takes place then I would say to skip it. Even though the rape is not mentioned a lot and it takes place off the pages of the book. Vee does talk about it a few times, she was never raped through.

I was given this book to read by the author by the way of NetGalley. The rating is my own, the only thing I received was the book. And just for giving my honest opinion about this book.

Pretty interesting book so far. I am really glad I got approved on NetGalley to read this book. I really love the characters of Vie, Casey, Oliver, and Jane to name a few of the characters.

I would hate to have lived in this fictional place. It would have been very difficult for me to hand over one of my kid or kids. 

In this book the parents had to hand over one of their kids in order to pay a tax to the Government. From the ages of 10 to 16 they have to work off the tax for their parents if they don't have the money to pay it. 

I really love that Vee stands on her own but her mouth gets her or other people around her into a lot of trouble. And Cason I am already falling head of heels for him. 

More to come once I finish the book.

@Case_Maynard, @BlazePub, @XpressoTours, #Dystopian, #Young_Adult