A young girl's life is turned upside down when a research experiment throws the world into apocalyptic turmoil. Separated from their parents, Hannah, along with her two younger sisters, must brave Earth's transformed population in an effort to reunite their family. With danger at every turn, survival becomes her sole focus. Struggling to determine whether each person she meets is good or evil, she must also discover how she herself has been slated.
If you're looking for a young adult book that deals with violence and coming of age in an apocalyptic world, then this is the one for you. This book ends with a 'happy for now'. The next one is in the works.
*Spoiler-free The author sent me the book for an honest review.
Wow. wow. wow. wow. This was nothing like anything I’ve ever read before. This story is about Hannah, a sixteen-year-old girl who would do anything to protect her sisters, 12-year-old Kelsey, and 3-year-old Maya. Their whole world changed one evening when their neighborhood was attacked by the “Bad-born.” The epilogue really helps set up the world you’re about to enter and how all this happened. Two doctors, Dr. Lewis and Dr. Abrams, had been creating this serum that when injected into humans, reverted them back to who they actually should be, good, bad, or a blank slate. In other words, someone could be raised to be the nicest person ever but their actual nature is bad and vice versa. If the person is a blank slate they are neither good nor bad.
This book is fast-paced, very well-written, and never once had me wanting to stop. There are some very gruesome body horror scenes that made me sort of cringe but nothing too bad for me. Those scenes showed just how bad the Bad-born are.
Hannah and her sister, Kelsey, are both so bad-ass and I can’t wait to read more about them in the next book. Obviously in most books there are characters you like and ones you don’t like but even with the characters I didn’t like, they were explained so complexly that, for me, made me like them a teensy bit. No character was boring.
I need the sequel right now because it ended with something I suspected all along and now I neeeeeeed answers!!
I definitely recommend checking this book out! Like I said before, there are a lot of violent and gruesome scenes having to do with body horror/torture, so if that’s something you can’t handle or don’t like you can always just skip over those scenes. I don’t think you’d be missing any major plot points.
I great YA Dystopian book. When a virus is unleashed to determine if humans were born bad, good or blank slated....it doesn't quite go as the doctors expected. The outcome was much worse than anyone could have imagined. Yet one teenage girl Hannah has proved to be something different than either the Bad-Born or the Good-Born could dream of.
The concept of this YA book is very interesting. I found myself riveted and completely spellbound with this story. I found Hannah, the main female character, to be very intelligent and took to her new situation amazingly well. I can't wait to read the next book in this series...Slated and Contained!
The characters were a bit young for me, but I went in blind trying a new author. I didn't realize this was a "coming of age" story. But it doesn't lack for storytelling, nor action. The story is touching and finger biting intense at others. PG-13+ for the readers out there for some of the extreme moments. 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for a first book, and the length could have been a bit shorter.
In a laboratory scientists try to find out if people are born bad or good. And while the experiment is successful, the "Bad born" have other things on their mind than evaluation by scientists.
The book features an unlikely teenage girl protagonist. Hannah is no hero but trying to find a way out of trouble while keeping her sisters safe. But with a new world order comes greater understanding at what is at risk. The book plays over just a few days and follows Hannah through the challenging time. We learn along with Hannah about the human nature of the bad born and the good born, and what is in between.
I really enjoyed the book that takes the idea of good and bad to the next level. The descriptions of torture and killings are not for the faint hearted, but an account of the extent of human cruelty. The epic question of who would win in the war against good vs bad. And do you have to do bad things to help the good survive? The answer is still debatable. I can't wait to read more of Hannah and see how the future for humankind pans out.
Rating: 5 Stars!! Review: Thank you to Christina Lanier for sending me this FREE COPY as part of #BookGushOctober last year!! This was my first time reading a book/series by Christina so i wasnt sure what to expect but i have to say i really loved and enjoyed this one more then i thought i would.
The Charcters were fun and intriguing to read about. Hannah was my favorite since i could relate to her feelings of fear of losing her parents during an Infection Pandemic.
The Setting was wonderfully described which made me feel like i was actually in Tennessee while reading especially when the scenery was described.
Overall a Good Book 1 in this YA Apocalyptic Series by Christina!! Can't wait to read Book 2 soon!!
I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. It reminded me of a couple of different type of stories I have read before all combined into one. The book was easy to read and follow and left me wanting to get to the end to see how it all ends. The cover of the book is a little off of what the story is actually about and feel like maybe a different cover more would want to read it. The story is a young adult reader vibe and can be believable in todays society. You are looking at following Hannah thru her adventure when the world is turned upside down with a new virus that gets out. So far the virus is contained to a smaller area of the States but can be spread very quickly. Not like a typical "zombie" type feel this takes you for another twist in a virus outbreak. I would love to read the next ones in the series and can not wait to get my hand on. Also would like to add that Netflix should pick up this book and do a movie!!!!
Thank you to Christina for allowing me to read this book and for October Book Gush.
OK let me start off by saying that this review does not have any spoilers in it. This is my third time trying to write this review because good reads keeps kicking me out of my app so let’s see how this goes this time around!!!
Overall this book was great at the beginning it took me a little while to get into it but once you do it takes off 0 to 60 in five seconds flat if that makes sense. It takes a while to set up the plot and the characters but once it does it gets really good so hang in there if you’re having trouble reading the beginning.
The main character starts off as a 16 years old girl, in my mind she is a little immature at the beginning but she grows into her age if not more mature, but at the beginning I couldn’t connect with her because of how “young” she acted. Eventually I connected with her in some ways not all and could really get into the book the dynamics were in depth well written and just overall very good.
The book ends with kind of a WOW moment at the end I wouldn’t call it a cliffhanger but it definitely gives you some information at the end where you’re like, I want to read the second book I don’t have to but I want to.
Like I said overall a great book the only reason I gave it four stars was because it took me a while to get into it but like I said once you get into it your into it. It took me a little over a day almost 2 days to read this book....Don’t take that as it’s a fast read or easy I average 4 to 6 books a week so I am a fast reader even if I’m completely into the book or not or even if it’s a hard read or a longer book I still average about 4 to 6 books a week.
The first chapter did not grab me.... BUT once I was in the story of Hannah and her 2 younger sisters and how they were having to adapt to survive in a new world where there are 2 factions the Good or the BAD - I was totally engrossed. The 3 young girls have to flee from the BAD and they witness some very graphic gruesome torture. Adults have been contaminated by a man made virus that enhances either the Good or the BAD in each person... children are attained with this division as they grow but Hannah is neither good nor BAD but she has some other features that have been enhanced and she uses them to keep her sisters as safe as can be. This is a first part of a series and although the book actually ends with most safe there is a superb cliff hanger on the last page....
Exactly what I want a book to do - Make me read some more.
I read the book in one sitting and it is excellent.
This book was given to me to review and this is my honest opinion. Give it a chance it is absorbing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
After reading this book, I wanted to write and post this review to share my honest experiences toward the story.
To be totally honest, I almost dnf’d this book about 25 percent in because of the graphic violence. However, I made the decision to continue, and I’m so totally glad I did, because I got to experience such an amazing and well crafted story of survival in a dying world. Hannah is a great heroine and truly a role model for putting her sisters first, especially at her age. There were so many twists and turns, taking the excitement up to the max in heart pounding, action packed read. Definitely a hit for me. Can’t wait to see how the rest of the series continues!
I loved the story line of this book. Good-born/bad-born/blank slates. The suspense builds and you find yourself wanting to keep reading "just a little more".
Updated - 2nd read
I still love this story. I love how Hannah can mess up, face it, and then work to make it right again. This is a fantastic story of a 16 (almost 17) year old faced with dealing head-on with the consequences of a virus accidentally released to unsuspecting civilians. Trying her best to get her sisters to safety while dealing with her own changes from the virus, Hannah faces more than a young girl should.
I picked this up thinking it would be an interesting read and I wasn't disappointed. It started off with everyday life and then the action kicked in pretty quick. I was tugged along on Hannah's journey, on the sacrifices she made, on the twists and turns of the plot, her emotions was so raw and real that you couldn't help but feel the same. Overall an amazing read, and one I'd recommend. I'd be interested in more by this author!
BAD ASS!! I am rereading this series for the billionth time and it still keeps me on the edge of my seat! The details are so vivid that it literally plays out like a movie in my head. A disturbingly twisted roller coaster ride that will leave you craving more!
this was a great start to the Slated series, it was what I was hoping for. The characters were interesting and I was invested in what was going on with them. It left me excited to read the next books.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Slated is a YA, sci-fi, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic story that adds new twists to the classic "virus" genre. The setup revolves around a virus that resets people into what they were originally born to be: Good-Born, Bad-Born, or, in Hannah’s rare case, a Clean Slate. That concept really worked for me, especially since it gave Hannah powers I don’t usually see in this genre; like being able to go into her own body at a cellular level to repair damage. The novel's tone is geared toward an older young adult audience, with a surprising amount of gore and blood.
Hannah's character feels a bit underdeveloped at the moment, but the story provides a great opportunity for her to evolve into a more layered protaganist later in the series. Normally,I get frustrated when a younger character is suddenly great at fighting or shooting without years of training, but here it was explained prettygood through the Clean Slate ability. Within this world’s logic, her quick learning made sense and fit the story rather than feeling like a forced trope.
The virus system hit me differently reading it in 2025 than it probably would have if I’d read it back in 2019. After living through Covid, dystopian “virus” books feel more surreal now, but this one managed to stand out by tying the virus to identity and unique powers rather than just disease and survival.
The ending features a light cliffhanger that I felt was perfectly timed to set up the rest of the series. Instead of cutting off too quickly it set the stage for what’s next, and I’m eager to jump into the sequel. Overall, this was a solid and enjoyable YA dystopian read that I’d recommend to anyone who doesn’t mind a little extra grit and gore in their YA stories.
Slated follows Hannah, a 16-year-old whose world is turned upside down when “the apocalypse” of societal collapse (via scientific experiments) forces her apart from her parents. Along with her two younger sisters, she must survive a transformed Earth, navigating constant danger, distrust, and moral ambiguity. 
Story: • Scientists have developed a serum (or treatment) that attempts to “revert” people back to their innate moral nature — Good-Born, Bad-Born, or “Blank Slate.”  • Hannah and her sisters are separated from their parents because of this upheaval. Being “slated” isn’t a purely physical transformation — there are emotional, ethical, and psychological consequences. Hannah realizes that survival means constantly questioning who people are, what they’ve done, and how much can be trusted.
A bit heavy, a bit dark, a bit Allegiance, a bit The Walking Deadish.
This is my first book I read by this author I love their storytelling style.
A virus is release to determine rather humans were born good/bad or blank slated. Hannah has always protected her little sisters. This is a great story now I am going to read more of the author books.