Recent Reads: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

The Pledge (The Pledge #1), Kimberly Derting

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

Age Group/Genre: Young Adult, Dystopic Fantasy

Publication: 11/15/2011, Margaret K. McElderry

# of Pages: 323

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Source: Books Owned - Hardcover

Synopsis from Goodreads:  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.

My Review:  My first Kimberly Derting book and she goes straight to my list of favorite authors. That should speak volumes. I've never read Kimberly Derting's Body Finder series and now I wish I had. She is a remarkable writer, and in The Pledge, she gives us a fantasy world complete with an evil queen, a stringent class system, and a brewing rebellion. Not to mention an incredibly dreamy love interest for the main character.

Seriously, I'm in love with Max. He doesn't beat Perry from Under the Never Sky, but he's right up there with him. He's uber HOT, with his dark hair and his dark eyes. And the way he leans in when he talks to Charlie. The little touches, the almost kisses. I was seriously dying the entire time I was reading this book. The romantic tension alone would have been enough for me to love this book.

I am a huge fan of the build-up. I love all the little things that finally lead to the first kiss. If the characters are making out ten pages in, it's just not going to work for me. Fortunately, The Pledge played with my emotions and made me wait for that moment.

Note: I'm always going to lean toward the more romantic of the dystopias, because if I can't get behind the love story, if I don't want to see two people survive their awful world and live happily ever after, then there's really no point for me.

Moving right along, Charlie is strong, resilient, and feisty. Exactly my kind of heroine. From the very beginning, you get the sense that she is unhappy with the way of the world, with the fact that she has to hide her gift for fear of execution. She's loyal to her friends and family. She also loves her little sister Angelina and would do anything to protect her. It's something to which almost everyone can relate. We all have those people in our lives for whom we would easily sacrifice everything.

I love pretty much everything about this book. The setting and the characters are all incredible. And I love words. I love the power words have. With the right words, the right tone, you can make another human being feel something: pain, happiness, sympathy. It's why I write. With The Pledge, Kimberly Derting has given us a powerful, suspensful novel that explores the power of language. It's wholly engrossing, mysterious, and romantic. Still, I kind of wish I'd waited until closer to the release date of part 2 as I now have to wait until January 2013 for the sequel. Oh well, I have no doubt the wait will be worth it since The Pledge was fantastic.

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