Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com
In this vision of a government-controlled futuristic world, James DeVita introduces readers to Marena, a teenage girl who is just barely old enough to remember a world without the Zero Tolerance Party, which rules their lives and restricts everything from interactions with the opposite sex to education to reading and writing to private conversations to (it seems sometimes) thoughts.
Marena struggles to remember a time when people could talk to whomever they wanted, say what they wanted, live the way they wanted. As the ZTs took control, Marena's mother was one of a brave few who spoke out against what was happening to their country. And she was murdered for it.
Now, urged on by the memory of her mother, Marena and a couple of like-minded friends begin their own resistance: The White Rose. The White Rose will not be silenced...and the consequences for all of them, for their families, could be deadly. But they could be even worse if the ZTs are allowed uncontrolled power over everything and everyone.
THE SILENCED is an un-put-downable, fast-paced story that, scarily, doesn't seem so far off the mark sometimes, in regard to our country's future. It's definitely something to think about.
Besides raising important questions, this well-written novel is just entertaining. Despite its size (over 500 pages), the action moves fast enough to capture even some reluctant readers' attention. James DeVita is a talented voice in young adult literature, and I'll certainly be looking up his previous novel, BLUE, and waiting eagerly for whatever he writes next!
In this vision of a government-controlled futuristic world, James DeVita introduces readers to Marena, a teenage girl who is just barely old enough to remember a world without the Zero Tolerance Party, which rules their lives and restricts everything from interactions with the opposite sex to education to reading and writing to private conversations to (it seems sometimes) thoughts.
Marena struggles to remember a time when people could talk to whomever they wanted, say what they wanted, live the way they wanted. As the ZTs took control, Marena's mother was one of a brave few who spoke out against what was happening to their country. And she was murdered for it.
Now, urged on by the memory of her mother, Marena and a couple of like-minded friends begin their own resistance: The White Rose. The White Rose will not be silenced...and the consequences for all of them, for their families, could be deadly. But they could be even worse if the ZTs are allowed uncontrolled power over everything and everyone.
THE SILENCED is an un-put-downable, fast-paced story that, scarily, doesn't seem so far off the mark sometimes, in regard to our country's future. It's definitely something to think about.
Besides raising important questions, this well-written novel is just entertaining. Despite its size (over 500 pages), the action moves fast enough to capture even some reluctant readers' attention. James DeVita is a talented voice in young adult literature, and I'll certainly be looking up his previous novel, BLUE, and waiting eagerly for whatever he writes next!
