I no longer have interest in this book so will not be reading and reviewing this title. Thanks for the opportunity.

Amazing character, wonderfully engaging plot that will leave you wanting more. I cannot wait for the sequel to find out what happens.

I've literally read this story non-stop since I first pulled it up on my kindle six hours ago. It was very addicting, and the book's events all led up to the small cliffhanger at the end and it's twist that I totally didn't see coming. Drayden was a very likable character and the emotions he struggled with felt realistic. There were some awkward lines like "Charlie’s muscular legs stretched his underwear tight, whereas Drayden’s baggy underwear sagged. With his stick legs, he just didn’t have enough body to fill them up. Charlie was so much more damn manly than he was." These thoughts distracted the reader from the intensity of the situation the characters were in and really detracted from the overall theme the book was trying to promote. Other than that, the book was really enjoyable if somewhat disturbing. If you liked The Testing, then you will definitely like this book as it is very similar to it (although thankfully free of any mutants or other weird creatures!) For its brilliant plot and likable characters, I would rate it at 5 stars, and as for the actual writing, 4 stars. I think I'll round it up to five because of Charlie's funny jokes.

I didn't know completely what to expect from this book, but when I finished it I had to take a day or two to reflect. Firstly, this book was amazingly written. Secondly, I could actually see something like this happening. This book got me interested, invested, and engaged with the characters. I find myself thinking about the book days after I've finished it, and I'm even more impatient to read book 2 (assuming there will be one, and I hope there will be!)

Woah, Woah, Woah!! All I can say is that this book was a thrill a minute!

The story takes place in New York City in the future after basically a post apocalypse of some sort. The city is sectioned out and walls put up but you can only stay in your specific section. Drayden lives in the lowest section called the dorms. Everyone is supposedly treated equal by receiving all the same pay for jobs, food and essentials, no matter which section they live in... but are they?

The story starts off when Drayden's Mom is exiled outside the city walls. The government states that she has committed treason but Drayden doesn't believe it. His Mom was the greatest and would never betray her people. He makes it his mission to find out why his Mom was sent away to her death by entering The Initiation.

The Initiation is a test of intellect & bravery. Drayden is one of the smartest kids in his school but does not fair so well on the brave part. Can he complete a test that no one has entered in 2 years? If he does, he gets to move himself and his family to the highest section called The Palace, where they could get better jobs and maybe find out what happened to his Mom.

I really liked Drayden and felt that he was written so well that I felt that I could see a change in him over the course of the testing. I saw him go in a kid and actually come out a man. The cast of characters was an interesting mix. I secretly adored Charlie because he was an absolute hoot and was quick with the one liners which gave a good mix of humor to the story.

Though I felt that the story did move a little slow at times, I still had a very hard time putting it down. The ending was a big shocker and I see another story *crosses fingers* in our future from Mr. Babu. I loved the world these characters were created in and can't wait to see where they go from here!

"Bravery isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing to overcome it."

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for this copy in exchange of an honest review.

Fantastic book from page one! I was hooked immediately and could not put this book down. Full of drama and action; it's a gripping and thought provoking tale that must be read by anyone who loves a great dystopian story! I have no finger nails left at this point.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review.

If I were to describe this book in one word, I would say it is marvelous. I didn't hesitate to give a 5-star rating because this was just so enthralling. The world building was great and the pacing was pretty fast, with the Initiation starting at 30% into the book, which I appreciated since I was in the mood for a fast-paced read.

Also, the author created such wonderful characters! I instantly loved Drayden, our main character. He started out as a fearful yet intelligent boy who doesn't have the courage to stand up for himself. But as the book progresses, as Drayden comes face-to-face with losses and challenges, his drive to succeed grew more and more. I saw how his character developed to someone who set aside all fears and hesitations to save his loved ones. He also has a strong sense of morality. But aside from Drayden, another character that I had absolutely loved was Tim, the boy with the heart of gold and the perfect best friend anyone could ever ask for. I adored the friendship between Drayden and Tim, how they rely on one another and fulfill each other's shortcomings.

The plot is fantastic and it kept me on edge. The challenges in the Initiation were ghastly yet exciting to read about. I liked how Drayden and Catrice explained in detail their solutions and strategies for the challenges, since not all of them in the group excel in intelligence. I also liked Drayden and Catrice's chemistry from the start, though I'm glad that the romance wasn't too much.

I highly recommend this one to fans of dystopian books. I'm really excited for the next books in the series!

I received this book for free from Netgalley and Publisher/author in exchange for honest review.

First, lets just look at this cover. LOVE IT!

This book was just amazing. I loved the world building in the book. This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I hate it took me this long to pick this book up. This book was issued to me a month ago by Netgalley and I just now picked it up to read. I love a good book set in Manhattan New York. This book was fast paced and full of turns.

The author did a great job translating this story. I was not a let down.

I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book was great and I really enjoy myself a good dystopia. But already from the start, even the first page, this book threw me off, and I had this feeling that this would not be a book in my taste. Unfortunately, I can't really put my finger on exactly what it was about the story that I didn't like, but it felt like it was all tell and no show in the beginning. And the main character, Drayden just felt like a 10-year-old in the beginning. He was mostly whining about his mother being taken away, which I do understand kind of sucks and in real life one would probably be in bed crying for months. But this is a novel and things need to happen, characters need to be given a personality and the story needs to be interesting. It didn't really happen here, and it took about 20% of the book before things took off and I started getting into the story.

But even then, I didn't really connect with the characters and I never had much love for Drayden. He was whiny and scared and not at all as good as he was supposed to be. It was as if the story was written about all the other people, and he's just one of the secondary characters. I would have loved to see this story from someone else POV.

Although it may sound like I didn't like the book, it was still an enjoyable read. The book has a lot of good things too. Worldbuilding, suspense (when you reach the Initiation), twists. Overall this is a 3 star read, and even though it may not be a book I personally didn't love, I can see the value of this novel and know that a lot of people will love it.

So, if you like dystopia and life & death challenges, give this book a try.

I could not put this book down! It only took me about a day to read because I could just connect with the characters so well. I could connect with Drayden on a personal level, as he kind of just let everyone push him around and not do much about being bullied. I would recommend this book to anyone who loved sic fi/ dystopian books. There was a lot of backstory to this but it was still very good

DNF'd at one page. I was confused at the first page, what is a Guardian. Nothing was explained, the story just threw me in with all this action and I did not know what was going on at all!

This dystopian novel is a must-read for fans of The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner and Divergent.
The plot was well thought out was were the characters. You never knew what could possibly happen next. It certainly had me glued to my seat.
I would highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read more from Chris Baby.
Thankyou Netgalley for giving me a copy to read.

This was a slow starter for me.
It took me a while to get into the story, mainly because the start was just crammed full of history which some of was unnecessary, but once I got to the start of The Initiation I was hooked.

I do think there’s a lot of hype about Drayden being super smart, when in reality if Catrice wasn’t there he wouldn’t have passed many of the intelligence ones.
Each character had their own development throughout the book and I am intrigued to read more about some of them.

I would definitely read more of this series as I want answers to my unanswered questions.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley but this has in no way influenced my review or opinion.

Draydens mother is taken away shortly in the first few minutes, exiled from their meager life of rations and work in the Dorms. Drayden is so broken up he joins the initiation with his friend, Tim, two girls from school, his old friend Alex and his new friend.

They face trials that only get interesting towards the middle of the book, then end predictably set up for a few books to follow.

Nice idea but not too believable that you'd have so little food the whole year. The world is bleak, depressing and not too well explored. Overall an interesting idea that didn't quite meet the cut. Reminded me of a ripoff of the Maze Runner.

I read some of this one and chose not to continue. I agree with what others said about the world-building being too much of a focus in some spots, and it just didn't hold my attention as much as I had hoped.

This book was not what I expected in the least , it was better . The characters were rich & diverse & I finished this book in one sleepless night ! Would recommend

*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

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This book was really difficult for me to get in to! Chris Babu does an amazing job at world building, which is required for this place of New America, but at times it felt like that was all I was reading...a history book or something similar.

I enjoyed the challenges that Drayden went through. I think they were well written and really showcased the author’s talent and the skills of the protagonist. When the different girls that Drayden was interested in became more of a focal point, I was okay with that (who doesn’t like a love interest?) but then the love parallelogram took over the story and it wasn’t about the challenges of the Initiation anymore.

Overall, I would still recommend this book to those who are really big sci-do fans, or those who really liked the world building of the “Hunger Games” and/or the “Divergent” series

Oh my goodness, what just happened to my heart? I cannot get enough of Drayden! The author does a superb job with developing an engaging and interesting character, and the supporting characters are equally fascinating. I admit that it took me about seventy pages to get into the faster paced content, but the world was being built in those pages. It's a difficult task to create a post-apocolyptic style world with new rules and places, but it was pulled off seamlessly. I usually find myself able to solve riddles that I find in books, but I admit that I was stumped on the complex riddles laid out in the Initiation!

The plot was absolutely amazing, creating several facets of views depending on which character you chose to focus on. With Drayden, family was the biggest reason while others wanted to escape their family. I find myself wishing I could find out what happens next already! I don't believe I have a single negative thing to say about this book. This was an amazing work that I never wanted to put down.

** spoiler alert **

I wavered between two and three stars throughout The Initiation. Overall it was ok but I was annoyed that they said that the one of the reasons America collapsed was lack of equality and then New America was basically a caste system. Didn't make sense to me.

Then at the end, after all they went though it turns out that they’re picked to be the scouts to see if there is other civilization. They were basically tortured just to see if they could hack it outside? That these teenagers are you’re best hope? That they’re going to lead a bunch of adults out there and find help?

Yeah.... no.

However, I did enjoy Drayton and the initiation process, it was tense at times and I really appreciated that. As much as I didn't buy the ending, I do want to read the next book and see what is out there past New America.

I wanted to love this book. As soon as I read the synopsis, I knew it was my kind of thing. I love anything that involves some kind of game or challenge so a life or death challenge taking place in abandoned subway tunnels, that sounds amazing to me. Unfortunately, not everything was executed particularly well in this book.

It wasn't the basic plot of this story that was disappointing. I felt the Initiation itself was great. The challenges were well thought out and I was on the edge of my seat while reading throughout most of them. Chris Babu did a great job of building suspense throughout and there were various twists that I did not see coming, which added to the suspense and emphasised the real 'life or death' aspect of the story.

What was disappointing were the characters. I was so invested in this intense challenge and feeling the desperation of all of the characters to get through it, and then in between the individual challenges I had to deal with Drayden. Our main character, in the middle of a LIFE OR DEATH challenge, spends almost all of his time thinking about which girl he likes more. I just couldn't get past the fact that was all he seemed to care about for much of the book. I also found the drama with Alex to be completely unnecessary. It seemed to escalate quite dramatically and I didn't really see the reasoning behind it.

Outwith the Initiation, I found the world building to be quite impressive. New America, formerly Manhattan, is split into several zones, and though this may not seem like much world building would be involved as it is simply using a place that already exists, it felt like a whole new place entirely. The changes to society and how people live were described in a way that made it seem less like fiction and more like a possible future.

While the world was well developed, many aspects felt a bit unoriginal. There were just a few too many things that were very similar to well-known dystopians. The zones for example, seemed like a cross between the districts in The Hunger Games and the factions in Divergent. Eli Holst was basically a slightly less creepy President Snow. This may just be coincidence but it did make me feel as though it was lacking some originality.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. The intense challenges of the initiation kept me turning the page but some small issues with various other aspects of the story did hinder my enjoyment somewhat. I would recommend giving it a go if, like me, trials and challenges are things you enjoy in a book. While I didn't enjoy this one as much as I hoped I would, I do think it is a book that many will thoroughly enjoy.