The List was just ok for me. It seemed to be a pretty typical dystopian novel, maybe leaning a bit more towards fantasy. I'm not really getting why everyone else is raving about this book.

This book was just not my cup of tea and I was not able to finish it. Thank you for this opportunity, though!

A definite purchase for my school and not just because the Grade Eights study The Giver (great pairing right there!) and Fahrenheit 451 happens to be one of my all time favorite books. It's a fantastic and unique read set in a post apocalyptic world where your vocabulary is limited and if you try to go beyond those limits the punishment is severe. We have many students who loved The Giver and they are ones I do recommend this book to.

Started reading this but couldn’t get into it. Sorry.

Any younger reader ready for dystopian, but not YA should try this book.

I enjoyed this middle grade fantasy so well that I immediately preordered it for my school's library. It has been a big hit with students!

First thing first, this book is beautifully BEAUTIFULLY written. That being said, I did feel like it was awfully predicitable at times and the ending was rushed which was a injustice to the rest of the book.
As with most Dystophia novels, I do like the whole "this is what could happen if we don't change" vibe.
I had seen that the grade level on this book was Middle School and I was extremely suprised at how much I enjoyed the characters.
There are some similiarities between this and the giver as well. But I did enjoy this book.

In this post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world, Letta (I love that her name sounds like letter), is the apprentice to the Wordsmith in the town of Ark, a community lead by John Noa. Noa has decided that words are the root of all evil and they lead to the downfall of man and the melting of the polar icecaps that decimated most of the population. Therefore, he limits the vocabulary of the people in his town. The List of approved words had included 700 words and has now been reduced to 500 words. When Letta's master leaves for a word finding trip and doesn't return, she meets a strange boy and learns that Noa's plans are sinister. Can she stop him from destroying everyone and everything?

This is one of the books that looked to have a really cool premise, but wasn't the best read. I really loved the world and the writing was very nice, but I would lose attention and constantly put it down. I really wanted to finish reading, but it was difficult with a book that relied on an interesting premise to carry the book. Despite this, when I finished I was still satisfied with the book, it just took a while to get there.

The concept for this book enthralled me. Showing how words have power by taking them away is something I've never seen done before. Using names like Noa and Ark did make me feel uncomfortable. I understand the symbolism behind those choices, but I still would have preferred something else.

Because many of the characters only speak List, the words that are still allowed in Ark, there are times when the dialog is choppy. It's hard to read, but that seems to be the point. When something as simple as a word is taken away, you realize how much harder you have to look to find a way to express what you are trying to say. In a world where most words have been taken away, the villagers no longer have a way of expressing pretty much anything. This makes it easier for those that do have all the words to stay in control.

The end of the book becomes really dark, so if you are looking for a fun light-hearted read, this is not it. If you are looking for something that forces you to think about human nature, this is a good book to read. The List is a good book, it just was a little too dark for me.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Patricia Forde
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Publication Date: 1 Aug 2017

This story follows the story of a young girl living in a world where words and their definitions are gradually forbidden to use. Letta is lucky enough to be a word master but events bring danger and new friends into her life. She will need to show strength to save people dear to her and decide where her loyalties lie.
I always love the idea of a person willing to change the accepted statu quo, however, the plot is a little hard to get into and is not well developed. This is the first book of a series, hopefully it will get more into a direction.

This is a piece of YA fantasy that rises well above the regular tropes of orphanhood, adult responsibility falling upon young shoulders and first love because of Forde's cleverness with language.
This is a story of language being restricted and removed from people, of communication of all forms being undermined or destroyed. But the author in contrast uses a wide descriptive vocabulary in outlining this world allowing the reader to revel in a world lost to most of the characters. This is a clever approach that really added to an enjoyable adventure story.

I didn’t feel like this story was extraordinarily original. I liked it okay, but felt like it was a lesser version of something like “The Giver.”

This book was pretty close to being on my "Did not finish" pile and that's only happened twice this year. This book lacked serious character and world building. The concept and the synopsis are what had sold me. But, once I started reading, all I could think was that Letta was dumb as a sack of taters. What're taters, precious? Taters is this poor gal doing everything in her power to get herself killed. Like sneaking in people who have been banished from Ark into her house even though there are guards all around. Yet, no one seems to notice. They come and go at will.

The world was not fleshed out at all. I had difficulty figuring out if the Ark was a structure or a town. And then outside Ark are some bad animals (maybe) and lack of water even though there was major flooding. I don't know man, I was so lost with all the list speech—that sounded like cookie monster—that I just couldn't get a clear picture of this world.

The story revolves around Letta, whom I've already mentioned was fairly dumb. Sorry, I don't know how to say this any nicer. I'm confused as to why there are wordsmiths to "find new words" when the point is to ban most words. These wordsmiths go searching for new words...why?

Insta-love was the proverbial nail in the coffin on this story. No wait, that would have been the cliffhanger at the end.

This book is all concept. No emotion. No character building. No world-building. Nothing to make me love the characters. I truly didn't care who lived or died and that's saying something. Because I cry if a dog dies in a book.

The story, while not poorly written, failed to emotionally engage me as a reader. I was just bored—terribly bored.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and have not been compensated for this. All opinions are my own.

I had a hard time reading it because of the format was weird. It bothered me to much to be able to read. I would have loved to read it but was unable to.

Absolutely incredible. This is a must read and I now understand why it has so much acclaim.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It basically was a YA mashup of Wayward Pines, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and The Giver. With that being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book despite not being the target reader. The List covers topics of the importance of language, emotion, music, creativity, and heavily covers the worst case scenario of global warming. I know that my middle schooler would absolutely love this story and I look forward to her getting her hands on it as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This post-apocalyptic story takes place in Ark , where speech is constrained to 500 words, and declining. Noa, the leader of this city, lived through "the Melting" and views words as evil when given to people to distort their meaning. Letta, the Wordsmith, charged with collected and preserving words, uncovers a plan to take away everyone's power of speech and cognitive thought.

While I enjoyed the characters and their development, the plot was lacking. The premise was simple and thought-provoking, but the author left me hanging, especially at the end, where I felt it ended abruptly. I would have liked more background on several areas including, why the main villian hated words so much, more on the areas surrounding Ark, more info on Letta's family and the relationship between the sisters, and more detail on the world that Letta lived in.

A pleasant debut, and I look forward to reading good things in the future from this author. The List is a pleasure for any lover of words - based in a society where language is blamed for all of humanity's folly, and the main character must save words from extinction. Letta is a charming heroine, and the story has exactly the right amount of twists and turns before its satisfactory conclusion.

Personally, I find that language is what finds us loved, freed, understood, and what gives us hope. If I can express to you my ambition, excitement, joy and love, language is what lets you understand me. I could go on forever about cultures and their languages, how some cultures don't have the same words for the same things, how some have words for emotions that can't be described any other way, but for now I'll leave you with this, language matters.