Giften

This book is as if the author joe took the best parts of Divergent and The Hunger Games and put them together; it really didn’t disappoint!!

Ruthie lives in the Fields, a farming community struggling to get by in a post apocalyptic world where crops struggle to grow. However, there are some in the community that can make crops grow by digging their hands into the earth. These are the Giften. They are highly sought by the Ciry who are using them for a secret project. After discovering she has the Gift, Ruthie begins a journey to a dangerous and life changing revolution.

This is a YA although as an adult I did find there were themes such as murder of children that were hard to deal with for me. This was important to the context of the story however and it did highlight the theme of abuse of power especially in war torn and poverty stricken communities. The novel was written with a sensitive and caring feel although this didn’t hinder the action and I found the book was equal parts moving and exciting.

Something about entertaining what life will be like in a post-apocalyptic world is equally terrifying and intriguing. This book is no exception. A world drained of natural resources is still fiction, but grows closer to being a reality. This book does a fantastic job of using fiction to have readers face the reality of our rapidly draining resources in Earth.

Giften is an enjoyable and gripping young adult novel. I would gladly add this book to my classroom library, and appreciate the ideas it explores through dystopian fiction.

Giften takes place in a dystopian future, where small communities work hard to farm the land after climactic catastrophes have decimated the planet. Ruthie and her friends live in The Field, one such community. Unfortunately these communities are forced to hand over large portions of what they grow to the MAGs (men and guns), enforcers from the City who are also always on the lookout for certain individuals who have a special gift (Giften). Giften have the power to grow plants in barren soil, a great help in this ravaged land. Whenever they find one, the MAGs take the Giften back to the City for experimentation. Ruthie is secretly a Giften, and is forced to leave her home when her secret comes out. She begins her journey by traveling with her friends to seek asylum with the Sanctuary, a group of Giften who live separately and fight the MAGs for their freedom. Along the way, they learn about their world, and have to decide if they're willing to fight for their future.

I haven't read a dystopian novel in a while, and this one filled that hole. The idea of the Giften separates this from a lot of other stories; it's an interesting power that really fits well in a story about a planet surviving after near extinction due to climactic events. I got a sense of realism from the characters, with their emotions and relationships. You can feel everyone's motivations, even the villains. This isn't the most action packed novel, but when the action comes up, it is well done. Maybe not the most innovative YA dystopian novel, but interesting to read nonetheless.

The worldbuilding is astounding, the atmosphere is perfectly eerie and the sheer terror of the characters was portrayed so well. This book was a very unique journey unlike any other. One of my best reads this year and I highly recommend it to everyone.

This was interesting. I know some people would love this. For me was a pass, not my style but gratamente sorprendido!!

Giften is quite a short read, sub 300 pages, however in this case I do feel like it suffers more from this condensed size. The general concept is great, so basic but so good. It is a dystopian Earth where natural disasters of some kind have ruined the infrastructure and left the world as a parched and desolate wasteland. Communities are isolated and toil within themselves to provide enough food to both feed themselves and to provide the “offerings” demanded of them by the dark and mysterious City. MAGs arrive regularly, decked out in black and armed, and take away large portions of what food the communities are able to produce, as well as occasionally taking away people too.

Some people in the universe find themselves blessed (or cursed) with the ability to raise food from the dead soil just by touch, however the City hunts these “Giften” and takes them away by force for reasons unknown to the communities. Ruthie is Giften and with her gift comes danger, danger that leads her outside the confines of the Field that she has lived her whole life in.

I think the concept and the world is phenomenal, however I really do feel it needed to be fleshed out more, the final third in particular feels very rushed and would benefit so much from an extra 100 pages or so!