Search This Blog








2022 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (5)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho
- Illinois (1)
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (2)
- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (2)
- Minnesota (1)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (7)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (2)
- Utah (2)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (1)
- Washington (4)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.* (1)
International:
Antarctica (1)
Australia (2)
Egypt (2)
England (12)
Greece (1)
Italy (1)
Nepal (1)
Romania (1)
Scotland (3)
Sweden (1)
Wales (1)








The 52 Book Club's Reading Challenge 2022

2022 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

Thursday, November 14, 2013
Cults + Dystopian Should = A Uniquely Intriguing Read, Right? Yeah, Not So Much.
6:42 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Life in the Community is peaceful, serene. Not like the outside world where violence reigns and children—like Layla Hamilton's little sister—can be stolen from their front yards, never to return. The Hamiltons feel privileged to be among the Chosen, one of only 20 families selected by Pioneer (through visions from God) for salvation. Their devoted leader knows the end of the world is nigh; he instructs his people to stockpile food, practice shooting to kill, and keep the Silo—their underground fortress—a secret from anyone outside the Community.
Fifteen-year-old Layla, who's lived under Pioneer's protection for the last 10 years, is content with her cloistered life. Mostly. She's looking forward to the End with more excitement than trepidation. In the meantime, she's thankful to be matched for marriage with her best friend Will. Maybe her heart doesn't skip a beat when he walks in the room, but she feels comfortable with him. Truly, there are worse ways to spend her last days on Earth.
A chance encounter with a boy from the Outside who questions the ways of Pioneer and his Community makes Layla's head spin. She can't believe someone as nice as Cody Crowley could be evil, deserving of an apocalyptic death. And the things he's saying about Pioneer—could they possibly be true? What if he's not receiving divine revelations at all? The more Layla thinks about it, the more disturbed she becomes. With Pioneer's predicted apocalypse right around the corner, she must decide what she believes, where she stands and what to do with the time she has left. At the risk of losing everything that's most important to her. Forever.
I don't know why, but I find cults totally intriguing. That, coupled with my morbid love for dystopian novels, made Gated, a debut novel by Amy Christine Parker, a natural reading choice for me. Even though the premise sounded a little too familiar, I figured the cult aspect would make the story unique. Yeah, not so much. The world of the Community just isn't developed well enough to be believable. Nor is Pioneer himself. He might even be the least dynamic of all the characters in the book. Nothing about him convinced me that he could entice an entire group of people to follow him. As far as plot goes, there's little here that I haven't seen before. What does the novel having going for it, then? Well, it's definitely a quick, exciting read. It's also a clean teen book, which is something of a rarity. Layla's questions also made me think about the differences between selfless leaders and egotistical dictators, prophets and imposters, and faithful following vs. blind obedience. Overall, though, Gated just didn't do a whole lot for me. I wanted to like it a whole lot more than I did. Ah, well, such is my reading life.
(Readalikes: Reminded me of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams; The Hallowed Ones and The Outside by Laura Bickle; and a bit of The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for violence and intense situations
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)




Reading
Farm to Trouble by Amanda Flower

Listening
The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
-
-
Bookcover Spotlight #2978 hours ago
-
Monthly Roundup: June 202211 hours ago
-
FO Friday: Purple Plain Weave Scarf11 hours ago
-
Audiobook: Counterfeit11 hours ago
-
Friday Flicks: The Black Phone12 hours ago
-
Spell the Month in Books ~ July 202218 hours ago
-
Five Star Friday: June 202218 hours ago
-
Friday Fives - July TBR18 hours ago
-
Feared by Lisa Scottoline19 hours ago
-
-
June Monthly Wrap-up19 hours ago
-
-
Review: Just One Night by Carly Phillips21 hours ago
-
-
-
-
June Reflections1 day ago
-
-
June 2022 Reading Wrap Up1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
The Assault: Harry Mulisch2 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Review: Scrubbed by Dr. Nikki Stamp1 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher2 months ago
-
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova3 months ago
-
-
Cybils Awards 2021: The End4 months ago
-
Back to the Classics 20225 months ago
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)