I really enjoyed the world building, Chris Babu develops the world surpberly and in-depth. Making you believe that you are there as well; experiencing the disgusting smells and wandering in total silence. A virus, called the Confluence, has supposedly wiped out most of humanity. In order for the people of ‘New America’ to survive and to rebuild, the Bureau ultimately decides that everyone shall live “equally.” Well, so they say…

The first part of this Dystopian story takes place in ‘The Dorms’. There are several zones in ‘New America’, these are the ‘Meadow’, ‘Lab’, ‘Precint’ and the ‘Palace’. By far the ‘Dorms’ are in the worst conditions imaginable. Drayden lives in the ‘Dorms’ with his mother, father and older brother, so we get to learn a lot about the conditions. For instance kids in the ‘Dorms’ have never known what it is like to use a computer, watch t.v., use the internet or even a ballpoint pen.

Food is also sparse with poor living conditions which are cramped and undesirable.

Which brings me now to our main character, Drayden. He’s a sweet kid, but a complete wuss, you really want to slap him in the face a few times. His story is naturally heartbreaking; his mother is exiled at the very start of the book and he is left feeling distraught, angry and alone. I liked that this was how Chris Babu starts the story, diving straight into the action – no messing around.

Drayden decides, from the support of his older brother and his teacher, that he will enter the Initiation in order to find out what really happened to his mother and discover the mystery of the Bureau.

….and that’s where I was let down. I did enjoy reading about the different tasks and the conflict between Drayden and two other pledges (standard). It then became boring; pretty fast actually. I felt that I was reading the same thing over and over again for pretty much the rest of the book. I struggled to keep going.

There was a lack of detail during the actual Initiation and too much dialogue. Most of the dialogue was repetitive making no sense to the actual story so, I kinda gave up the will to live.

The final straw was the romance. I have no problem with romance in a story; it can add a bit of spice and be entertaining. This romance took over the whole damn initiation. A life-risking task would have just taken place and all Drayden can think about is what girl does he like more, do they like him and who will he end up with. LIKE WHAT IN THE HELL.

What made it worse was it became a love triangle. I actually wanted to puke. It happened. It can never be taken back.

Drayden spends a huge amount of time worrying that he is not brave enough which will result in everyone failing the initiation, I can appreciate the message behind it. That anyone can be brave; it’s deep down inside of you-you just have to believe in yourself.

I have a terrible feeling that I would probably read the next book. I didn’t hate this book because it had such a strong promising start. I liked some of the other pledges though it felt that others needed to be developed more. Perhaps we will see this in the next instalment. Overall, focus less on the romance and more on the action!

I would like to thank Permuted Press and Chris Babu for sending me this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I love it when books turn out better than you expected, and The Initiation was one of those wonderful books.

This was such fun to read. It was hard to stop and put down, which is a great testament to the story. And while it started like the typical dystopian, with the world breaking down due to disease and warfare and class inequality as the central driving plot force, Babu took it in a direction I really enjoyed. First, I loved the world-building. New York City always seems to be the centre of the world with these kind of stories, but I liked how it was laid out. Self-sufficiency in energy and food production, and with a sense of normalcy with school for all, movies in the park and teenagers being teenagers—albeit in a limited world.

The Initiation really put me in mind of The Hunger Games with a dash of The Maze Runner. The event itself is a challenge that will either end in your imminent death or an upgrade in your social status. But the journey to get there was a lot of fun. I was such a fan of the fact the whole thing took place in the abandoned subway tunnels. I wasn't sure what to expect of the Initiation, but the intelligence and bravery tests were so engaging and exciting. Particularly the intelligence ones. For instance, one was that puzzle where you have two different sized cylinders and need to find a certain amount of liquid that is neither of the marked sizes. I was racking my brains trying to remember how to do it, and I was impressed with how the characters handled it. In particular, I really liked how Drayden worked through the puzzles, bringing me along to the conclusion without confusion. And the best part about all these riddles and athletic challenges? None of them were predictable, which I wholeheartedly expected to happen.

The cast of characters was great. Considering there were six main characters, each one stood out on their own and brought their own element to the Initiation challenge. The bully is a character you love to hate. The love triangle between Drayden and the two girls was surprisingly enjoyable. Normally I dislike books with love triangles because it always seems to take over the story, but that wasn't the case here. It was always there, but it was subtle and brought up in a reasonable and believable way. You're fighting for your life, not pining after the only girls in the challenge with you. Somethings need to take precedence, and Babu did it right! Finally—and I won't give anything away—but what happens with best friend angle ... colour me shook. I was stunned, and I live for that as a reader.

The only thing I struggled with is it did get a little repetitive at times. There's only so many intelligence and bravery challenges you can go through before you need to take a step back. It's unavoidable with this kind of plot and the setting of the story, but still. Another thing was sometimes the tasks dragged on because they went into a bit too much detail. I was lost until they actually put their game plan into action.

Overall, this is a fantastic entry into what I'm sure will be a promising series. The ending threw me for a loop with a twist I certainly hadn't expected. To be fair, I expected what transpired to happen at the end of book 2—I'm assuming this will be a trilogy—and in a different circumstance. The surprise I got instead was refreshing, and I can't wait to read what happens next.

4/5

This is book #1 of what will surely be a fantastic trilogy!

Awesome premise, excellent writing, and wonderfully developed characters. Some you will love and some you will love to hate.

One of my favourite things about this book is the setting. Imagine bustling NYC reduced to segregated ‘zones’ and the rest of it in ruins, with the actual initiation taking place beneath the streets in what is now the abandoned subways tunnels and stations of Manhattan. How cool is that?

I really enjoyed this one. It is a little bit “Hunger Games”, with an Orwellian flavour which I think Dystopian readers will love. It is packed with intense action but there are also unexpected alliances, even budding romance that also makes this an appealing story for readers new to the genre.

Guys, this one is a must read!

Rating… A
*Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is part HUNGER GAMES with a dash of MAZE RUNNER and some sprinkles of a very terrible dystopian future. I enjoyed this book from the very beginning even though it starts with quite a kicker. The world that Chris Babu built pulled me in probably because it freaking terrified me. It's something that I could actually see happening to our world. The main character, Drayden, is an intelligent and somewhat nerdy kid who enters a test that could (and tries to) kill him in order to better his family. Honorable, right? It's easy to cheer him on throughout the crazy trials that he has to go through because his motives are pure. It helps that he's super freaking smart. I promise, you won't be able to put this book down!

The story is set in a dystopian world were everyone is suppose to equal, but in reality they are not. The people living in the dorms are given less food and now there are power outages they are dealing with too. Drayden decides to enter the initiation because he wants to find out why his mother was exiled. He has no idea what to expect from the initiation other than that there are bravery challenges and intelligent challenges. He is a smart 16-year old, but he has never been very brave.

In the beginning of the book, I didn't really like Drayden. He was a little too whiny, and was afraid of everything. As the story went along and the group of kids went through each challenge, Drayden started growing on me. He started believing in himself and not letting Alex continue to bully him. In the end I liked the book, but I didn't like the way the book ended. I don't want to give the ending away, but I will say that I will buy the next book in the series.

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own**

I honestly thought, when I started this book, that I was going to be reading just another dystopian novel where society falls apart because of some sort of war or disease, society rebuilt itself the best it could, and a problem would arise where someone would have to travel beyond the small civilization that had been established to help the society. This did happen, but it was different than others that I've read (and being a huge fan of the dystopian genre, I've read a lot of stories like this).
I felt that I could relate to the characters because the things they were going through (mentally/emotionally anyway) are similar things that everyone goes through. We all worry about being brave or being smart enough to face the challenges in life. Now, these specific individuals had to worry about that and about life or death situations, which is what makes them different from us.
There were parts of the book that were hard for me to get through. I felt that things would run on way too much, like descriptions of the challenges they were facing. A lot of them we would have to hear how they were solving them twice because one part of the group would figure it out then relay it to the other part of the group. Hearing it twice got a little repetitive, especially with the number of challenges they faced. There were also a lot of places where Drayden would start thinking and he would just think the same things over and over again. It seemed pretty repetitive as well.
Overall, it was a really great book. I would for sure read it again and I would continue on with the series.

Fantastic read. I enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down at all.

This book starts out slowly, the language used doesn't help the pace of this novel. It seems too Victorian for such a dystopian novel.
Great Characters though

This review is based on an ARC of The Initiation which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (Permuted Press).

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

Holy moly The Initiation is intense! This book was such a wild ride; I never knew what was going to happen next! Oh, man, the chapter with the final challenge? I was clawing at my skin and pulling at my hair with anxiety because I had no clue how it would end or if everyone would be okay or if they would finish in time. Oh geez, dudes.

I love-loved the cast of characters and the roles each person played. Every character was real in their own ways. (The love triangle BS could have been left out with all the life or death scenarios, but Drayden is a teenage boy, and I guess hormones dominate survival instincts in those creatures.)

I found The Initiation reminiscent of both The Hunger Games and Divergent. I can't verify the originality of the plot though, as I rarely read YA dystopia stories.

Which brings me to why I give this only three stars: I'm just not huge on dystopia. I really enjoyed this story, however, despite it being a genre which I don't normally get into!

I can see The Initiation being a bit hit in the YA community, and I really hope it does well! Now I'll just be here, in my room, waiting for the sequel.