It was like the City of Ember, Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver were thrown into a pot and mixed to create this book. The dystopian genre was very popular at one point and this is part of that line. It has a very strong statement to make regarding environmentalism so if you're anti global warming you'll hate this book.

One of the premises of the book is that their society is controlled by only being allowed a 500 word vocabulary. The list of words for their vocabulary must be approved or you can be punished for using words that are not on this list including being kicked out to survive on your own without societal/family support. Reading the character dialogue when they were using The List was sometimes difficult as prepositions and other 'connecting' words are considered useless in this society. It definitely made for some stilted and cold relationships. The author seemed to pour all her effort into setting up the rules for this world but not character development as too many are mentioned then dropped out of the story just as quickly. At other times no real context or background is given to explain why one character would react the way they are towards another leaving it to feel awkward to the point of forced. Unfortunately underdevelopment seemed to be a common problem throughout the book as plot lines, characters, what went on to create this world, how a word is allowed to make the list, etc is never fully explored.

An interesting lesson taught in this story though is that words have power because they create ideas. Make people unable to talk beyond limited means and it will stifle their ability to think for themselves. Thankfully it's a fully contrived story so there is a satisfying conclusion however the story is still set up a sequel could easily be done.

After reading this I had a greater appreciation for Free Speech and it made me realize how important the arts are to our freedom and ability to create our own unique identities. Even with some obvious issues I still think the concept is a good one and would encourage people to read the book if only to open dialogue into the idea of the power behind words and if you were forced to create a list limiting human vocabulary what would you include and why?

The List by Patricia Forde (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky)

Review copy provided by Netgalley.

Genres: Dystopian, Sci-fi, Drama, Futuristic

RATING: 3/5



The Story

In the city of Ark, speech is constrained to five hundred sanctioned words. Speak outside the approved lexicon and face banishment. The exceptions are the Wordsmith and his apprentice Letta, the keepers and archivists of all language in their post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world.

On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith, charged with collecting and saving words. But when she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob Ark’s citizens of their power of speech, she realizes that it’s up to her to save not only words, but culture itself.

The Review

The idea behind The List is an extremely compelling concept. Language is severely restricted in order to be functional without allowing for freedom of thought or belief. Devised by John Noa, it is an attempt to remove the ability for movements to form, for ideas to be created, and for beliefs to be born. Noa believes that The Melting, a planet-wide disaster, could have been prevented if not for language. Politicians who denied global warming used words to persuade and distract citizens from dealing with the problem.

It is a very relatable idea- just look at the 2016 presidential elections. This Wordwatchers blog tracked the use of language in the last presidential debate and explains how words can be used to sway and manipulate an audience. Trump did it so effectively that he is soon to become the most powerful man in the world.Against the backdrop of our own global climate, both politically and environmentally, The List is very fitting for our times. It’s exploration of both the importance and the danger of language is exceptional.

Aside from the obvious links between the concept in the novel and the real world, the use of List made me aware of my more personal beliefs about language. In the novel, when characters speak in List, I noticed that I would assume those characters had lower intelligence. This happened regardless of the concepts they were discussing or the ideas they were trying to communicate.

Of course, there are arguments that language does impact intelligence. Abstract concepts cannot easily be conceived of without a language to describe them. Nevertheless, we are still capable of having, understanding and applying knowledge without using words.

The List has many specific and more general opportunities for self-reflection on the part of the reader.There are many moments where the protagonist, Letta, is playing double-agent. Each time Letta must make a decision within these moments, I feel as a reader that I can’t help but think about how I would behave. Novels which encourage introspection are, in my opinion, quite important. You can learn a lot about yourself when reading a book.

Unfortunately, despite the unique concept of the novel, I feel Fordge promises something she doesn’t quite deliver on. The plot itself is not, perhaps, as intricate as it could have been. For instance, there are brief mentions of the ‘Wordless’, people who have lost the ability to speak entirely. These people are discussed with fear and confusion, and I was hoping for a moment when they would prove themselves worthy of more. Unfortunately, this moment never came.

Futuristic dystopian novels are becoming very popular. I believe for an author to be truly successful, they need to step away from the obvious story – a restrictive society which is disrupted due to a desire for more freedom. There was a pleasing reveal about two-thirds of the way through the novel regarding Letta’s family, but aside from that there were very few surprises.

As well as the somewhat unimaginative storyline, I struggled a little with Letta as our main character. For starters, I found I wasn’t able to easily decide on her age. We are told she is under eighteen, but to me that didn’t help much in really understanding her. There is a big difference between 13 and 17 years of age. This difficulty in placing her age made it tricky to completely relate to her.

Throughout the novel there are hints of her affections for another character, but these are not fully explored. Are these feelings the earliest flutterings of attraction within a young teenage girl, or more fully-fledged emotions emanating from a young woman? Rarely mentioned, and not at all acted upon, I think this plot device was thrown in for the sake of it. There is little to no chemistry between the two characters, and they don’t even speak to each other particularly frequently.

On top of this non-romance, I was also disappointed in the relative rarity of moments which encouraged me to feel for the characters. I believe Forde did attempt to show the strength of connections between her cast, but for whatever reason I found it difficult to empathise with them when characters were in danger. As a result, I was interested in what happened to the characters, but I didn’t really care what happened.

I would recommend The List for fans of the dystopian novel who want something new, but don’t expect to be wowed. An intriguing concept which could have been more fully explored.

The List (alternative title: The Wordsmith) is released on 8th August 2017.

You can find out more about Patricia Forde via her website, Facebook and Twitter.

NetGalley Review
Let me start off by stating that I was really intrigued from the start. You are immediately immersed in a new dystopian world of few words. That concept clicked with me immediately. I loved the idea of possibilities around it. However, based on how many stars I had given this book, I wasn't overall completely impressed with the direction of this book.
The List dealt with many subjects of controversy; religion, art, power, and of course, language. However, I felt as if they could've been handled better than they had been.
One thing I must say is that I was surprised by the diction that the author had chosen. I expected it the writing to be a little bit more advanced, then again this is directed towards middle graders. With that it mind, I think the world limit of 500 was genius yet hurtful to the story. How could you limit yourself to 500 different words? But, with the limit, the concept strengthened the idea of how small the character's vocabulary was.
Though this book was set in another world, we didn't get to experience that much of it. Or see the differences between our world from theirs. The book implies that you should already know everything about this world before even reading the first page. I mean, with only 500 words to work with you'd think it would be easy to understand. However, I found myself rereading sections, confused as to what in the world was going on.
Speaking of characters, some of the interactions felt awkward and confusing, as if the author was forcing the conversations to go one way but the characters wanted it to go another.
Overall, The List is a little cliche. Though I probably won't read it again, I do recommend giving The List a go.

(I received a copy of this book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

As soon as I saw this beautiful cover and read the interesting description I just knew that I was going to like this book. However I didn't think I'd love it as much as I did. I read this book in one sitting. Everything from the world, interesting cast of characters, a plot surrounding language and the writing just pulled me in, compelled to read until there was nothing left.

This book is centred in the city of Ark where we read from the perspective of Letta who is our protagonist and an apprentice of the Wordsmith. I won't say much more about the plot as I think it's better to go into this book not knowing much and just seeing where this world and characters take you.

I loved the character of Letta as she was genuine, determined and caring. I also loved Marlo, Finn and Amelia and the rest of the characters in this story as I felt they were all so well developed. I never knew what was going to happen next and whilst there was a little glimpse at romance it wasn't the main focus of the story. Whilst the ending was satisfying, I would love to find out what happens next!

In "The List", Patricia Forde creates a world that is rebuilding itself after a worldwide flood caused by global warming. The lucky ones survive inside Noa's Ark community, a walled off city with food lines, water rations, and an imposed language limited by the "List". The main character is Letta, an apprentice wordsmith with the job of transcribing the List language and maintaining the memory of banned and forgotten words. It is interesting that Noa's greatest threat is not from famine, wild animal attacks, or even revolts from those outside his community. His greatest perceived threat is language and its ability to cause dissent, passion, and disobedience. It is when Letta meets a mysterious young man who helps her become aware of Noa's plan to eliminate language that Forde's story truly shines. The end is satisfying and yet poised for sequels, which I would be interested in reading as well.
As a middle school teacher, I can see myself using this story to engage my students in several discussions and learning opportunities. Why does the List not include intangible words like hope and love, adjectives, adverbs, and emotions? Why does Noa fear those words? What parallels could be drawn between the characters in this story and Native American children who were forced to forget their own language and culture as part of their education? I can see a real value in using this book in my classroom to help my students understand the power of language.

I'm sorry. I didn't realize this book was for middle school students. I apologize for wasting your time. I do have a young family member I may mention this book to, to see if she's interested in me picking it up for her. Thank you for the opportunity!

Letta is one of the privileged who lives in the Ark, apprenticed to Benjamin the Wordsmith, keeper of words and supplier of the List - a set number of approved words that can be used in speech by anyone living in the Ark. When Benjamin is reported dead, a Desecrator shows up injured on her doorstep, and a boy is banished before her very eyes, Letta begins questioning everything she knows sending her on a journey that uncovers secrets and shapes the world she lives in.

The most stunning aspect of this book is definitely the interesting and unique plot. All dystopian lovers should enjoy this post-apocalyptic tale. Elements of the plot did seem a little basic, or rather slotted in instead of carefully interwoven. The novel sets up serious discussions concerning the value of the arts and of language and the extent to which free will can and should be controlled, but it fails to deliver particularly meaningful considerations on this topic, at least within this first book. While the dialogue being written in basic grammar and vocabulary makes sense with the plot line, the rest of the writing is also a little simplistic in word choice and complexity. However, the characters are interesting, even if a little underdeveloped - the novel leaves room for a future sequel that could hopefully focus more on character growth now that the world has been at least foundationally established.

Overall, some of the more underdeveloped elements of The List can be overlooked by the fascinating new world and interesting plot line. I would like to see a sequel written that delves with more complexity into the topics broached in this book.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance digital copy in exchange for a fair review!

Forde's futuristic exploration of government word restriction in "The List" was an interesting concept, so interesting that I was very excited to read this text as a possible suggestion for my book club students. However, after reading, I found the book to be lacking in characterization and original plot.

Harkening elements of "The Giver" (specific job titles like Healers and Wordsmith) and "The Hunger Games" (rations, authoritarian govt., etc.), those who love the dystopian genre will enjoy this book; however, I would not recommend it to readers in junior high, but rather those in 5th or 6th grade. The vocabulary and reading level were somewhat low, albeit still engaging enough for late elementary readers.

The plot itself felt too contrived and recycled from the aforementioned texts. Some areas weren't fleshed out enough either. For example, in chapter 4, Marlo tells Letta about a dream he had:
"I dreamed I was a fox. I was living in the forest and being hunted by dogs."
"Stop," Letta said, unable to listen anymore.
This interaction was confusing to me as a reader, considering he just started to tell her the dream, and she was suddenly "unable to listen anymore," as if she'd been hearing him drone on for several sentences (but it was only the two sentences). Her reasoning was that the son of the neighboring healer, Daniel, had recently been banished for stealing food; she was distraught over his punishment. As a reader, this was also confusing as she continued to be upset about Daniel when he wasn't a prominent character in the plot or even in her mental musings. The reflections on Daniel are clearly meant to be an attempt to characterize Letta's empathy skills and likely foreshadow future decisions against the "establishment," but it seems forced from these early instances.

Overall, an impressive and interesting book premise, but the actual carry out of the plot felt lacking. I would recommend this book to late elementary readers for enjoyment, but not as a class set to use for common core or standards based learning like characterization, higher vocabulary, or plot development.

Words have an undeniable power: they can convey ideas and spur people into action that might be unwanted by those in positions of power. The List by Patricia Forde portrays a world in which there is a List of 500 words people can use and a plot to remove even that small liberty.

Letta is the apprentice to Ark's Wordsmith, leaving her with the responsibility of helping to maintain a record of words, even those that are no longer allowed to be spoken by common people. After the Wordsmith goes on a word-finding trip, Letta is left in charge of the shop when a boy her age comes in, bleeding and in need of help. In helping to make him well and hiding the boy from the authorities, Letta learns of and works to fight against a deplorable plot to remove everyone's language ability.

The story was interesting and moved relatively quickly once the basic plot and character information was introduced. While I may be biased toward enjoying stories that rely strongly upon language and the preservation of words and artistic thought, I was intrigued to see how the story would develop but was moderately disappointed to encounter quite stereotypical characters in an otherwise entertaining story. The narrative was reminiscent of much seminal literature that depicts dystopias that heavily censor their citizens, which could help to offer familiarity benchmarks for readers but could also hurt it by causing readers to actively compare them; however, this novel offers a more timely, accessible censorship dystopia for younger readers.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

This novel attempting to mimic The Giver. It is a reasonable facsimile but nowhere near the same caliber. I liked the basic concept of manipulating language and words. Though tho novel is marketed toward young adults, i found it more appropriate for middle schoolers.

The List is a dystopian YA novel about life in the town saved from The Melting thast destroted most of earth. This town, Ark, was created and kept safe by Noa (see what the author did there?) . Our story focuses on Letta, an apprentice Wordsmith, whose role is to help maintain the List of 750 words. Obly these words are permitted and the arts are outlawed and practiced onlt by Desecraters.

This is a unique and thoughtful story and I highly recommend it for high school students and anyone who enjoys a good YA book. It will make you look at words and the world in a new way.

I feel like this book is a superstar. As in the book formerly known as The Wordsmith. It's being printed here in the States now, and you'll be able to buy it in August. The publisher couldn't have described it better than they have with this blurb:

Fahrenheit 451 meets The Giver in this gripping story about the power of words and the dangers of censorship.
Yes, I was psyched to read this book. And they meet up in the most fantastical way. You see I haven't been given The List. I can use any and all words that I wish. I can even make them up.

In this future version of Earth, we find humans alive after global warming has decimated the human and animal population. Tyrannical Noa is in charge and seeks to control his followers completely and exactly by allowing them just a 500-word vocabulary. He led the last survivors to the Ark where they all live after the waters of the Earth rise and take most of the land. Noa is convinced that language is to blame for the destruction of the planet.

It's almost a medieval setting in the way their new society is set up. School ends at a young age and job training begins around age 12. Some trades require a few more specialty words and those are doled out by the Wordsmith. At the start of the story Letta is an apprentice to the Wordsmith, and upon his sudden death, she is promoted. She is now the only person in charge of collecting and saving words. In fact, if people come across words, not on The List they are required to give them to her. She later finds out that they are being destroyed and not archived as she was trained to believe.

Without giving away any spoilers I can say that this book will stand alone with a satisfying conclusion but there is also room for a sequel and I hope it gets written.

I received a digital copy of The List written by Patricia Forde to read and review from the publisher. You and I can purchase this August 8, 2017.

Captivating from the start, The List tells the tale of the last Wordsmith in Ark. Set in a dystopian future, where the world has been destroyed by global warming John Noa sets out to rebuild a new community, where the language that destroyed the world is limited to just 700 words, reduced to 500 and then limited further and further.

Letta is responsible for keeping hold of all obsolete language, and distributing the List of approved words. After meeting Marlo, a Desecrator, she begins to question everything she has been told and believes in, before realising that she is the only one who can prevent Noa's plan for humanity?

A beautifully crafted, engrossing novel that encourages the reader to think about how we use words, and the power of creativity in every day life. How do you portray a message when words are scarce and art is banned?