“A knock makes me jump.”

From Joelle Charbonneau’s The Testing: Graduation Day.

After making it through levels of deadly testing and classes, Cia has seen the darkest side of the United Commonwealth government and leaders, but she managed to hold on to her humanity enough to fight against the evil.  There is a growing rebel force outside the capital city’s reach, but Cia is searching for ways to encourage and lead the rebellion from the inside.  While she has made many acquaintances and a few friends during her harrowing experiences in the Testing and subsequent time in university, Cia is uncertain if she can successfully convince anyone else to join her rebellion to end the government’s wicked Testing and treatment of its citizens.  As Graduation Day draws closer, Cia finds herself in repeatedly dangerous situations as she tries to move forward with the rebellion while also keeping her involvement hidden from the government officials, especially President Collindar, she interacts with regularly.  However, the deeper she goes with the rebellion, the more Cia realizes that things are not at all as they seem and that there are anti-Testing allies in the most unlikely people, but discovering the whole truth in time will mean the difference between life and death… for all the citizens of the United Commonwealth.

The third and final book in this dystopian young adult trilogy is mysterious, heartbreaking, and thrilling, creating a steady foundation for the rest of the following books.  Charbonneau does well to create a world that is unique, but similar enough to the reader’s world to be chillingly familiar.  Graduation Day is a page-turning read that easily draws readers into the story and holds their attention until the final page.