Book: The Culling
Author: Tricia Wentworth
Genre: Young Adult Apocalyptic Science Fiction Romance

150 years after a virus wipes out most of the world’s population, Reagan Scott finds herself chosen for the State of the Union’s fifth Culling. She will compete against 49 of the country’s brightest girls. And then, of course, there are the 50 boys. She’ll have to pair up with one for her shot at becoming the next Presidential Couple.

Though the government truly means well, not everything is as it seems. She will be tested to the fullest extent while an evil storm brews.

With eliminations happening frequently, how far can she make it? And if she makes it far enough to meet the boys, how can she be expected to, at just 18 years of age, find a partner… for life? Does she have what it takes to be the next Madam President?

I picked this book as an audiobook when I needed something to listen to while cleaning and driving. The concept is great, though the name is a little off for what I thought would happen. When I think of culling in a dystopian novel I think of hunger games type action where they are killing each other off, the author meant it as ‘to select from a group’.

The idea behind the story is great, choosing the next president and madam president from the smartest young adults (18-21), is something I hadn’t read before. The execution of the story could have been better, in my opinion. Unfortunately the main character has some flaws that I found a bit annoying. Continually believing she didn’t belong there, worrying about meeting the boys and not getting along with any of them, only because she’d never had a boyfriend before (she says herself and boys are like oil and water too many times). She also is a little too good at everything. She makes friends with almost everyone (except the main ‘mean girl’ character) and when the boys finally meet the girls, everyone likes her, specifically two highly sought after boys. This leads to her needing to make a decision, which takes far too long and causes other problems.

My main issue with the story is the ending. It’s a cliff hanger and completely out of character for who does it. I’ll admit it did make me start the next book right away to see what the hell was happening, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Over all the story was good, I listened to it, and found that it could have been told in less words if the author didn’t have the character repeat her concerns over and over again, and if they had left out exactly what everyone wore all the time. There were so many descriptions of clothing a quarter of the book was probably just that.

I would recommend for people that enjoy apocalyptic dystopian romance books and don’t mind a character that is 18, but when speaking in her mind to herself sounds more like 15 and incredibly unsure of herself, but manages to do everything she tries well.