It took me a while to get into this book but I’m glad I stuck with it. I really enjoyed the characters and the main struggle. Glade Io is a pretty standard main character. She’s likable but a bit flawed in her absolute belief in the Authority. Still, I felt it was true to her character that she wouldn’t immediately believe those that oppose the Authority. It’s that struggle (Glade’s ability to parse the truth) that really drew me in.

The Ferrymen of Charon are your standard rebels or resistance. They just want to protect their families and have enough to live a decent life. Coopier inherited the leadership of the Ferrymen when his brother Loose died. The Ferrymen have come up with a plan to take out the Authority, but they need a Data Point and set about kidnapping a few (Glade and Sulia). This is where things finally got interesting for me. Glade’s 16 years of believing in the Authority are challenged by the Ferrymen (how they act & what they show her) and her world begins to crumble a bit.

Back at the Authority, Glade continues to train under Don, her long-term mentor. The story has set up a love triangle and love triangles are not my thing. It rarely works for me and it doesn’t work here. Despite that, I like Don and his own inner struggle – to trust Glade, hold true to the Authority, hate the Ferrymen.

The main premise of the tale is that specially trained people with a very specific personality (a little sociopathy, still maleable, highly intelligent, etc.) can work with specialized tech to read another person’s brainwaves and then snuff them out. Yep. Snuff out hundreds to thousands of people from afar. Planetwide but sometimes from other planets. I couldn’t help but shake my head at this. The writing could have made this a bit more believable but it was real loose and ridiculous.

Also there were small things that just didn’t ring true. The Authority monitors the Data Points during training… yet not during an actual culling? Some of the Data Points take up communicating silently through their tech and yet it’s not a common practice and is apparently unmonitored? Unlikely. Also, Glade is considered rather important and yet they don’t monitor all her movements all the time through her tech? It would be so simple to do…. So because of all these small things like this, I often felt the writing was lazy instead of giving us a story with solid, realistic rules.

On the other hand, the emotions of the characters and how some of them grow throughout the story kept me engaged. Even Sulia, who is a jerk, might have something more going on than just what we see on the surface. Because of the characters, I look forward to Book 2. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Stacey Glemboski did a great job with this book. She had distinct voices for all the characters and her male voices were believable. I really liked her voice for Coopier’s little brother and for Sulia when she’s being nasty. There’s plenty of tense emotions in this story and Glemboski did a great job portraying them. There were no technical issues with this recording. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Ramona Finn. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

The Culling - Ramona Finn I've had this in ebook for...forever, and only recently made it a priority. Being able to listen to it really helped that decision, and I'm so glad I did! I've enjoyed a lot of dystopians lately, but many seem to be lacking originality and only a few have become instant favorites. I wasn't expecting to love this one so much when I started, but quickly found I couldn't wait to listen to more each time I was forced to put it down! Well written, and I loved Stacey Glemboski's narration style!

 

 

Today’s stop is for Sian B. Claven’s The Culling. We will have info about the book and author, and a great excerpt from the book, plus a great giveaway. Make sure to check everything out and enter the giveaway.

Happy Reading :) 

 

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Twenty Elders came to their rescue. Twenty cities across the world were established. Twenty cities across the world were safe. Twenty cities middle children went to Nirvana.

In a world enveloped in darkness, where demons surround every inch of the globe. Twenty safe Zones have been set up and are protected by the Lord, and his Elders. Each year one Zone sends out their next generation of Middle Born Children to reach Nirvana and spend the rest of their lives with the Lord.

Only once outside the Zone, they are left to wonder if faith alone is enough to protect them from the darkness of the world.

 

 

 

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Chapter One – The Culling

 

Whatever was making the noise scuttled through the trees swiftly, and moved before any light could touch it. Sonja stood under a tree, just off the clearing, and declared, “I am a Reclaimed of the Lord and I do not fear you.” Silence surrounded them. The five watching Reclaimed dropped shoulders in relief. Sonja smiled and said, “See, we have nothing to …” She didn’t get to finish her sentence, as something launched itself at her from behind, wrapping something long and black around her waist and dragging her into the forest and out of sight.

   

 

 

 

 

 

Hailing from Johannesburg South Africa, Sian B. Claven has enjoyed stories for all her life, whether she was reading them or making them. She has written for as long as she can remember, but Ensnared is the first book she decided to publish. Moving towards writing more for the horror / paranormal thriller genre, Sian has subsequently published the first two books in The Butcher Books series, Tatum and Kallista. When Sian isn’t thinking of ways to terrify people, she enjoys writing science fiction stories, poetry and rather long and gushy birthday wishes. When she isn’t working on her writing you can find her knitting, scrapbooking, reading, or playing Xbox. Sian previously reviewed for The Blithering Bibliomaniacs and still reviews in her private capacity. She clearly doesn’t know what the words rest and relaxation mean, at least not in the traditional sense.

 

 

Links

 

Website *** Blog *** Facebook *** Facebook Group *** Twitter *** Instagram *** Amazon *** Goodreads 

 

 

 

 

 

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Follow the tour HERE for exclusive content and a giveaway!

 

 

 

The Culling - Ramona Finn Glade Io was taken from her home at a young age to be trained as an assassin. Glade’s job is to cull out people that have murderous or violent tendencies to help make the world a better place to live.

When Glade is kidnapped by group of people that is known as the Ferryman she soon learns that everything she has been taught and raised to believe by The Authority may be a lie. After being kidnapped Glade starts to question her whole life and The Authority. Glade has to be very careful in her investigation of The Authority as it could cost her, her family.

You know you would think that I would get tired of reading Dystopian novels after a while but I don’t think I could ever get tired of this genre. Each book is unique its own way and each and every author adds their own distinct touch to each novel just a little something that makes them all different in some way or other. I love the world building in dystopian novels.

It bugged me to no end as to why Glade didn’t question The Authority more than she did. Why didn’t she trust them less? I mean for the things that The Authority did to her but on the other hand I guess she trusted them and believed in them for the things that The Authority put her through. I guess if they did to me what they did to her I would believe in them too. I am not saying that she didn’t question what they taught her to believe because she did.

Glade is one tough cookie to have lived through what The Authority put her through and come out with her mind still intact. Most of the characters were really great people but there were a few that I didn’t care for very much and some I think are probably good but are sort of brain washed and just need a little help. But there are some that you could probably never help or change their ways. Some people are always going to be out for number one.

I really enjoyed reading The Culling and it will stay with me for a long time to come. The Culling is a fast read but it is one that you want to take your time with and absorb all that you can. I couldn’t believe that ending it just blew me away I was like no, no, no way. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.