Slated by Teri Terry

I picked up Slated from my pile the other day, really wanting a dystopian novel.  They’re my favorites and I haven’t read one in a while.  So I went in expecting a book to make me feel good, keep me entertained, and make me think.  I wasn’t sure if it would be Slated, but I was definitely pulled in. I didn’t realize that it was a series, though, so up until the last few chapters, I expected it all to be tied up.  I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised since that seems to be the thing with the dystopian/sci-fi young adult genre right now. I’m not upset about this, just an observation.

In Slated, Kyla is starting her new life with her new family after being slated.  She has no memories from her previous life and must keep herself happy and calm in order to remain alive.  For most slated kids, this is easy—they don’t remember bad things.  Kyla is different, though, and little glimpses of her past keep revealing themselves to her until she can no longer ignore them.  Now she has to figure out who she can trust before she’s returned and terminated.

I enjoyed the book and it was hard to stop reading.  Kyla’s character grows throughout the novel as she begins to learn more and more about herself.  She learns not only the everyday rules of the world, but about the past and the way society works.  When she arrives, she’s like a little girl, scared and unsure of herself, but within a few weeks she seems to have become herself—whoever that really is.  I’m looking forward to reading the next two novels in the series and finding out how Kyla fares in the world.