"Not every story has a happy ending, but that doesn't
mean it's not worth telling." This
is a line from page 179 of the book, during a stunning scene where our
protagonist Lucky is stargazing with his love interest Digory (and fellow
Recruit) and telling him stories from mythology commemorated in the
constellations.
It struck me because THE CULLING itself is so unrelentingly
brutal and we know most of our characters are not going to get happy
endings. Because out of the five
Recruits selected for the Trials, only one will get a position in the elite
ranks of the military – and the rest will be sent to work camps – or
worse. And there’s an added sick bonus –
each of the Recruits has two Incentives. These are loved ones who will die if
the Recruit doesn’t outperform the other Recruits. It’s bleak, folks.
I’ve seen THE HUNGER GAMES comparisons, and yes, the
similarities are there. There are three
sections in the novel. Section one, The
Recruitment, is similar to The Reaping. Section two concerns the Recruits
training and Section three is all about The Trials (which reminded me a lot of
MOCKINGJAY mixed with that horror movie SAW).
But because there are only five recruits (instead of 24), we
get to know much more about each.
Lucky’s fellow Recruits are all distinctive characters with fascinating
backstories – though the one we spend the most time with, Digory, is such a
mysterious figure, he’s the one we find out the least about.
We don’t get a detailed explanation of this dystopian society
arose to inflict the cruelty it does, but there are big hints. I’m currently watching the series THE WALKING
DEAD, and I kind of imagine THE CULLING’s world as something that could grow
out of the type of place Woodbury is under the Governor’s leadership.
In any case, this novel is not for the faint of heart, but could
hit your sweet spot if you enjoyed the non-stop action and horror of Ilsa Bick’s
ASHES series.
THE CULLING hits stores March 8, 2013. Find out more about it at the author's website.
FTC disclosure: Egalley from publisher
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6 comments:
Oh, I'm glad to read your review. I've seen reviews that give it an unfavorable comparison to Hunger Games, but if we get lots of characterization, that makes it more appealing to me. Great to know it's for fans of action and horror!
I'll probably have to give it a miss. I loved Ashes but wimped out big time with Ilse's Shadows...I think I'm still recovering :)
I did see the similarities to Hunger Games too, but I think there being fewer characters makes it different like you said. And yikes, it was brutal. I found myself liking it in spite of myself. Thanks for the review.
Brutal is right, but I still enjoyed it.
The reviews for this have been all over the place. I'm still super curious. I rather like the brutal dystopians, if they make sense. Better than the ones that never kill off any important characters.
MOCKINGJAY meets SAW? Similar to to ASHES and THE WALKING DEAD? That's fantastic. I was lukewarm about this book since, like Molly said, I heard unfavorable comparisons to the Hunger Games. But I like characterization and I love horror.
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