5 to 1 is a treat to read. The trials were expected, but the outcomes kept me guessing. I liked the ending, though it wasn't the perfect one I'd been hoping for. This is a fairly short book that I finished in just one day, but the characters felt real. I wish there was more to the world building outside the games. I didn't really understand the scope of the caste system that seemed to exist. Overall this was a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this ARC; I apologize for this belated review.

5 to 1 was ahead of it's time, and this was a breath of fresh air when it was desperately needed. The blending of cultural influences in a dystopian setting (which the genre really lacks in YA) with themes of feminism in beautiful prose in a novel in verse was absolutely the best way to tell this story. Definitely a quiet YA that deserves more love, and honestly we still need more of.

I unfortunately was not able to read this book. I was excited when ever I had chosen to download or pick this book up on Netgalley. However, time moves by so quickly and I never got to read it.

Wow this was super good! I seriously plowed through it in no time because I couldn't stop reading it. The ending though... Aaaaargh!!! I need to know what happens next damn it!!

5 to 1 is set in a dystopian future years of selecting for male children has left India with a population of five boys to every one girl. Fed up, one small section of the country breaks off and forms their own matriarchal country, where they try to correct the imbalance by rewarding families that have girls instead of ones that have boys. But the government is strict, controlling, isolationist, and not entirely truthful about the 'utopia' they've created.


The story takes place during a marriage test. Every girl gets a randomly selected group of boys who all compete to marry her. Told through alternate POVs of Sudasa (in verse) and Kiran (in prose), the two slowly learn that both of them don't want to be there. Kiran has a plan to escape the walled-off country, and that plan involves losing. Sudasa doesn't know what she wants, she just knows that she isn't being given a chance to find it.


The concept was really cool and the format was unique. I liked how the switch between verse and prose gave the two leads thoroughly different voices, and watching them learn about the other in spite of the contest's rules instead of because of them was interesting. There's not much of a plot, since the book is so short and covers such a small time frame, but it's meant to be more commentary than epic story anyway. I found Sudasa's sections tedious after a while, though, because she had a bad case of Not Like Other Girls going on. She continually whined that all the other girls were content with the marriage system and she alone was too much of a free spirit to endure it, and even after finding out neither of the other two girl characters liked it, she still failed to revise Those Other Girls Ugh position.

(to be posted on blog Oct 24)

In the year 2052, India now has a ratio of 5 boys to 1 girl. Girls are now a valuable commodity. There are a series of tests that every boy goes through in order to be 'chosen' by a girl to be her husband. One such girl, Sudasa, doesn't want to be married and be forced into a life she doesn't want. Kiran is a boy forced to take the tests for a chance to be her husband but has his own plans.

What worked: I'm usually not a fan of novels that alternate between prose and verse but in this case it works. Why? It shows Sudasa and Kiran's struggles, conflicts, and pain at being pawns of an Utopian society's plan to control who will live or die. It's especially hard when they see the 'truth' behind the so-called perfect society which involves corruption.

This story is kind of like a reverse HANDMAIDEN'S TALE only the boys are used for one purpose only--to help their future brides have only girl babies. The days when girls were the unwanted ones are long gone. Now it's the boys that are unwanted or desired. The author does a great job showing the reversal of roles in haunting details.

Sudasa's pain is show best in verse. You feel her burning desire to break the terrible cycle of the tests as it takes away her choice on who to marry. It also denies her the freedom to not marry. Sudasa's compassion to those candidates that she knows don't have a chance to win shows a hidden strength to stand up to tradition even when those around her, including her grandmother, force her towards a life-time decision. Also her behavior around her creepy cousin shows some backbone when the odds are that they are fated to be together. Something she refuses to accept.

Kiran's reasons behind going through with the tests involve finding his long lost mother who left the day the gates went up to close off their community from the rest of the country. He wants nothing to do with Sudasa and hopes to lose but being around her and competing against the cousin(which has been manipulated to happen), has him think twice about his real goals. Kiran is part of the 'invisible' population where the government has men do servant work and not be a part of any government decision. Readers see how these tests aren't equal and are pitted against those too poor to bride guards and authorities. There's also rumors that if boys don't 'win', they are set to the wall to a sure death.

Powerful insight into a community where an lofty goal of righting past injustices against women is manipulated into denying freedom and choices for all. A good book club candidate that is sure to fuel discussions on Utopian societies where roles have been exchanged with painful consequences.

5 to 1 by Holly Bodger

DNF @ 15% (2 stars)

In 2054 India, the ratio of boys to girls is 5 to 1 and the rulers of Koyanagar have decided that marrying daughters off to the highest bidder is the best way to ensure survival and provide more daughters. I was interested in the premise, but this book just didn't live up to what I expected. This novel is told in alternating perspectives of Sudasa, a reluctant bride, and Contestant Five. My problem is that Sudasa's is told if verse form and Contestant Five is told in prose. I personally love verse novels, but this doesn't not translate well between formats and this is not the type of genre that is meant to be told in verse. The reason why Ellen Hopkins does it well is because she writes about real situations that are easy to understand and already laid out in society- drug addiction, prostitution, etc.- but a dystopian novel is not meant for verse. Prose is important to the dystopian genre because it steps up the society that is being introduced, but I was confused and frustrated pushing through Sudasa's odd POV. Bodger does try to redeem herself with prose from the male counterpart, but it is not worth slogging through uncomfortable attempts at free verse to get into the meat of this story. This is just a book that is not for me.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 1

Character Scale: 2

Plotastic Scale: 2

Cover Thoughts: This cover is absolutely gorgeous and I love how intricate the designs are.

Thank you, Netgalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I never had a chance to review this before it expired. I'm sorry!

I was really intrigued by the premise of the book but was greatly disappointed in its execution. I loved the writing style in which it was presented, but the world didn't do a lot for me. It was supposed to be a feminist world but was so far from that and essentially just flipped the patriarchy that silences women to a matriarchy that does the same to men. The characters were only somewhat compelling and nothing really shocked me. I would have loved more world building and better world building. Perhaps this is exactly the world the author was intending to build, but it didn't do much for me. It's an interesting idea and certainly is thought-provoking but not as much as I had hoped.