Welcome to my stop on The Letting Blog Tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule.
Title: The Letting
Author: Cathrine Goldstein
Publication date: December 15th 2014
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Pages: 335
Genre: YA/NA
Source: Copy for review
Purchase: Amazon
What if the Devil doesn't know he's the Devil?
This is the question Veronica "Ronnie" Billings poses to Phoenix, her sworn enemy, the leader of the Peaceful Revolution, and the one she loves.
Kidnapped by Phoenix's rebels, Ronnie learns how wrong she has been. She had no idea that her patriotism was wasted on a corrupt government. Ronnie was proud to be a Leader; taking hundreds of harvested girls to the Letting facility. After all, she was saving them from future Couplings and bringing them to the safety of the New World. Or so she thought...
Confused, Ronnie realizes the only way to discover the truth is to trust her heart. Together, Phoenix and Ronnie devise a plan to stop their corrupt government and preempt the dangerous rebel coup which is approaching. But when their plan goes awry, will Ronnie be strong enough to save Phoenix, her country, and herself?
How would it feel to find out that what you thought you were doing was patriotic and serving your country but was actually causing hundreds of deaths? This is exactly the predicament Veronica (Ronnie) finds herself in when she's caught by a group of rebels out in the woods, and her world has effectively been turned upside down.
In The Letting, humans have gone nearly extinct after heavily relying on technology to do everything for them - so much so they've forgotten how to have human-to-human contact. One of the reasons this book was chilling to me was that we are very reliant on technology right now. I've heard many people say they'd rather deal with a machine than another human being, such as using a self checkout line at the grocery store rather than having a clerk check them out. So many times I've seen each member of my family sitting in the same room but each of us are staring at our individual cell phone or laptop screens.
I was dying to know what kind of process the Letting actually is especially once I realized what the names of the cabins refer to. You're kept in suspense for a while as to what it entails because Ronnie herself has been in the dark about it. I liked not knowing because it allowed my mind to run rampant with all kinds of horrifying possibilities, and when I found out what happens to the young girls after Ronnie has prepared them at camp - well, it's terrifying to think about.
The way Ronnie talks about these girls "paying their debt to society" by being part of the Letting makes it sound like they've done something wrong and are being punished. In our society, that's what we say about people serving time in prison, that they're paying their debt to society. So it gave me chills when she talked about the girls this way without realizing what was going to happen to them.
Phoenix is the leader of the rebels who capture Ronnie in the woods, and he was a terrific character. I looked forward to seeing if the two of them were going to work together to bring down their corrupt government, and if they ended up working together, how they were going to do it and if they'd end up successful.
On the other hand, I hated Gretchen, Ronnie's friend. I think she's a coward and probably one of the worst friends in the history of friends. I have a hard time reading about weak female characters, and she's definitely one of the weakest I've come across in a while. Ugh!
The world Cathrine Goldstein has created in The Letting is terrifying because it's so realistic but also hopeful for the very same reason. Hope is something Ronnie struggles with as she comes to terms with how she's been used and how she plans to retaliate in order to save the lives she wasn't able to before. The Letting had me riveted, and I can't wait to find out what happens next.
My Rating:
Given my love for cities and all that is gritty, my new obsession with trees really has me stumped. (Sorry.) Maybe it's because trees are the inspiration behind my new YA/NA novel, THE LETTING.
Whatever the reason for my new infatuation, some things remain constant - like my love for: coffee (although sadly, it's now decaf); yoga; Luna bars (I am petitioning for them to bring back Chocolate Raspberry!); running in my neighborhood; Hemingway; Bukowski...and, above all, my husband and my girls.
I am the author of the bestselling novel, Sleeping With Mortals: The Story of a New York Mistress, and I'm also a playwright. I have my B.A. in English and my M.A. in Theatre.
Blog Tour organized by:
What a great cover? It's so mysterious and dark, with the fog anf the birds. Oh, I love it!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good one, thanks for sharing!
Athina @ Between my Lines
I think so, too. Love that cover - dark and perfect for this story. Thank you, Athina! :)
Delete[ Smiles ] It appears to be a very good book!
ReplyDeleteIt's very good - I really enjoyed it! Thank you, Renard! :)
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