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Set far into the future “The Proving” deals with an Earth that has been overrun by aliens. Forced to live in safety shields each child has to go through a proving, once when they are 13 and again at 18. They have to leave the safety of the shields and experience the post-apocalyptic world. This book follows four “new adults” the 18 year olds, and their younger siblings the “young adults” (13 year olds) on their proving. Joined by a young “Historian” the group go out for a mundane trip and find themselves on a crazy adventure.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The editing in the book was very good, there were only four mistakes that I found.
I’ll start with the aspects of the book that I wasn’t a fan of. First the jargon. There are three clans in the book and two of them consist of scientific/medical and technological expertise. Because of this there are times when the characters dialogue is heavy with technical terms that take away from the story. If this is something that would bother you, then the story may seem to drag a bit. Second was the constant changing of P.O.V. We are told the story by each of the five 18y/o characters. At first this bothered me as I found it confusing. Near the end of book I actually appreciated it a bit, but I still found it hard to keep track of who was narrating.
Now to the parts of the book I enjoyed. The detail, at times it was too much, but overall it was just right. I like when an author really takes the time to paint the picture and Ken Brosky doesn’t disappoint. I also enjoy the characters, they are well written and developed throughout the story. None of the characters are overly emotional or whiny like you sometimes find in YA novels. And they behave how you would expect them to based on how the author portrayed them. My favorite is Skye. She is so strong and level-headed. Most importantly I like the story! The base of the story is not unfamiliar, but the approach to an alien-invaded Earth, and how the remaining people deal with it is. I was left with questions, but since this is only the first in a series of books to come I am not surprised by that.
I’m giving “The Proving” a 4.5 out of 5 and looking forward to the next book!

This is a review I wrote for this book. If you like Stephanie Meyer's The Host and the Divergent series, you will love this.

I love dystopian books, and recently I have been downloading and skimming stories left and right to no avail. I was asked to check out this book, and I am impressed. It was referred to me due to my interest and enjoyment of divergent, and although I can see the slight, very thin, similarities in a society split into multiple factions, this book did nothing else that I expected. The story follows five main characters. This was daunting at first, as it takes a bit to learn the different people you are seeing the world between.
There is a lot to explain about the world, and I will let the book do that for you, as it ended up being almost three paragraphs when I tried to write it out. The future world has passed wars and people are separated into groups based upon abilities and perfections of the group. The three original groups are the Athens, Spartans, and Persians. They used to be at war until a fourth group of people rose up and implemented a peace treaty, the free people or Parliament. There is a small faction of Historians that use a mix of natural photographic memory and observation along with technology to properly record and document the world around them. A 13 year old and 18 year old for each group, minus the Historians that only send an 18 year old, go on a “proving” when they reach that age. It is a small task outside of the protection of the city. This story is about a very specific Coteria and what happens to them on their proving. The future world is orbited by a red ring of ice caused by an incident with an asteroid years before, that contains electrical molecular based things that on occasion get knocked to Earth when the chunks collide. These things have the ability to kill humans by just moving through them. So the future world is based around electro-force fields and proton guns that are used to kill and destroy the creatures.
This book is really amazing. The story begins at a decent pace, fast enough not to bore you but slow enough for you to learn and absorb the world the Author has created. As it picks up, it becomes very absorbing. The use of his words to convey feelings, expressions, the characters personal stances on things, and what is going on is amazing. I do not want to give spoilers but I must say the scene from the Historians perspective towards the end of the book while they are traveling up is gripping. The characters are believable and relatable. The ending was a shock to the system and I am on pins and needles about having to wait for the next book. Bravo, Ken Brosky!