Welcome!
Thank you for visiting! This blog is just for YOU--eighth graders and your teachers at Gettys Middle School. Please use it for discussing the Readers' Choice Award nominees--your thoughts, your reactions, your responses. Feel free to write about your likes and dislikes among this year's selections.
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The Line
An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It's said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line. Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel's dad died in the last war. It's a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help. Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?
I loved this book! The beginning was a little slow but once you get to the middle it was action packed. The end of this book took my breath way. I have to read the next book, I'm dying. I give this book five stars all the way.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree W2buko. The beginning was very slow, but once you kept reading things unfolded and it became really action packed. This book definitley gets five stars! I can't wait for the sequel!
DeleteThis book was AMAZING! I want to ready the sequel so bad! I just hope it doesn't start as slow as this one did, but this book was filled with suspense which made me keep reading pages after pages! I hope to read more books by this author soon! Great job Teri Hall!
ReplyDeleteThe Line by Teri Hall is about Rachel, a girl who lives in a dystopian society, on a place called the Property. After years of living there, things begin to unravel that reveals the true colors of the new government, The Unified States. Valuable allies are gained such as the Property owner, Ms. Moore, and another Property worker, Jonathan. I loved this book, and would recommend this book to readers who love suspense. The book started out slow, but finished strong, and left me wanting more.
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to read this book, and this was the exact type of comment I was looking for, I would like to say "Thank You" for giving a good sounding review without spoiling the book, and now I want to read it even more!
DeleteI like this book so far! It's a little slow in the beginning but it gets better by the page!!
ReplyDeleteThis book was a great book overall, but, i some things bothered me. The action was slow going and took a long time to get too. I feel like there were some details and flashbacks that were not important and made me stray away from the book and made me lose interest. I also didn't like how the book ended. The book ended right were it was starting to get good making you read the next book. Overall, i did enjoy the suspicion and will read the next book!
ReplyDeleteThis book was a great read. It begins with a girl named Caroline, living with her mother, Vivian, on The Property, land right next to The Line. They live in a dictating kind of society, with the government controlling the lives of others. From here, the story starts developing, with details, suspense, and imagery. Even though the story starts out slow, it's building a foundation for the rest of the story to build on. You have to read it to the end. the novel is SPECTACULAR.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with W1Young on how you must read it to the end. It starts out insanely slow, but if you don't read the beggining, you will never understand the book. The exposition describes the setting of the dictatorship government and background information on Caroline's family. Even the dark, dark secrets.
DeleteI really enjoyed The Line. The suspense made the book ten times more entertaining and the story line was interesting. Terri Hall really did a fantastic job building up to the climax of the story and I can't wait to read the sequel! I would recommend The Line to anyone who enjoys suspense and action.
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DeleteI slightly, but respectably disagree with W2Seltzer. There was indeed some suspense, but I didn't feel it made the book entertaining or the story line more interesting. Terri Hall didn't do a super great job building up the climax because of how slow the beginning was. Most of the time, the build up to the climax is fairly decent and makes you want to rush ahead to the climax. The fact that the book was so sluggish in the beginning made it very difficult for me to get to the climax. The biggest parts of action weren't even until the very end, and then it was over. It leads you to the next book strongly, so hopefully the sequel will be more decent then the first.
I fully agree with W2Seltzer. Teri Hall did a magnificient job on this book. Can't wait to read the sequel.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as i started reading this book it automatically reminded me of Hunger Games Catching Fire - the content, great, but the ending, awful. It was a bit slow in the begging but transgressively got faster towards the middle. This book was great but the ending could have had more potential.
ReplyDeleteThis book was very interesting, but it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. I’ve read other books that discuss there being a “no man’s land” that was forbidden to all, and life where everyone else was living was very rough and difficult. This book was similar to that, but nowhere near as good. The book started off extremely slow and boring and didn’t really get better until about the last five chapters. I really wish that the author had made it start to pick up sooner, which would have caused it to be a more enjoyable read. Once I was almost finished with the book, I became disappointed that it had just finally gotten better because I was done reading it. "The Line" took me almost two weeks to read even though it is fairly little because of all the dragging places scattered throughout. I don’t enjoy reading books that I have to force myself to read. Overall, it was an mostly okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you can’t easily get through sluggish parts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with w1mclaughlin, the book was not what I thought it was going to be and a very slow read. I also did not like the fact that it was only interesting at the end and was a little dissapointed that it didnt go on any further.
DeleteI was not interested in the book for a long while but the ending was the best and most suspenseful part of the book. I would defintely read the second book of the series and I find the book quite interesting and very well writen. Althuogh it took a expansive period of time for the book to get good, I really enjoyed reading the book.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this book, it's not bad at all, it's one of my favorites, but the introduction is slow and sometimes painful to read. it does pick up later in the book, and this can easily make up for the mediocre opening, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting an interesting plot that slowly unfolds from the views of the characters.
ReplyDeleteThis novel in my opinion had a slower than intended start, but overall, once it got started, was a great story showing amazing imagery and literary greatness. In conclusion, this book turned out to be great and I am going to look into the next book in the series. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a story that slowly unwraps itself to the reader through the characters points of view.
ReplyDeleteThis book has a slow going plot and I was a little disappointed when it came to the whole mutated creature thing that I was promised by a fellow reader. It eventually becomes exciting enough, but if you don't have a lot of time on your hands and you want it to get right to the point, well, this isn't the book for you
ReplyDeleteThis book was actually very disappointing. I expected to read this interesting and intense book, but once I started reading I realized that was not the case at all. The plot was achingly slow and didn't seem to go anywhere. When I got to the middle I thought the book picked up it's pace and started to get better. As I kept reading, I became bored once again. The author could have done amazing things with this plot, but I do not believe they did. This book was okay, but I would not recommend it nor would I read it again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you H1henderson. The book was definitely a disappointment. I think the author could have done a better job with this story. I started reading something else before I finished that book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't like to wait awhile to get into the story.
DeleteI was expecting a lot more from this book. The beginning was very slow and the author could have picked up the pace a bit. With that being said this book wasn't terrible. If I had to rate this book I would give it a three out of a five. Even though the author could have done better with the plot the book itself was very creative. The theme was nothing like I've read before. I also liked the ending of this book because it finally started to pick up the pace and had more action.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you W3Albertson. It was a pretty slow book , but I think it had a good plot. So many things were left untold, and that is what made me read the next book.
DeleteThis book could've have been much more interesting than it was. It was very slow and I thought that it was going to be a very interesting book. But that was not true. It had a great plot line, but it didn't have enough action in it to keep me wanting to read more and more. It was very slow throughout, and I wanted more description. The end was a bit better, but not by much. Though, I now kind of want to read the sequel because of the very end of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe Line was a great book, I loved the plot twists that Teri Hall put into the story. I have to admit the beginning was a little slow, but towards the middle it had me at the edge of my seat. I can't wait to read the sequel. If you like plot twists you will love this book.
ReplyDeleteThis was an ok book. It was very slow, and it didn't have a lot of action. I do like the setting of this book being in the future. It is set in a country called the Unified States, which might be the future United States. The Unified States was afraid of other people bombing them, so they set up a force field around the country. Only, they didn't have time to protect the whole country. The unprotected part was heavily bombed, and no one ever heard from any survivors. After many years, people still wonder, what is on the other side of the line?
ReplyDeleteI had very high hopes for this book. This was well written, but had a very slow beginning. Towards the end, I loved it! Throughout the story there was suspense, and the setting and background of the story were spectacular! The main idea of this novel was very genius, I just wish it could have intrigued me from the beginning. I do recommend this book, it doesn't let you down. It's still very exciting, even though it has a slow beginning, and leads you on to wanting the second book!
ReplyDeleteOverall, the book was a big letdown. I thought it would have a lot more excitement than it did. It had a really slow and boring beginning that I didn't even want to finish the book. I would rate this book a 2 out of 5. I do not recommend it at all. I even wish that I read a different book instead of this one.
ReplyDeleteThis book, in my opinion, started off very slow and kind of dragged, but once it got started it was intense and action packed. There was a lot of unnecessary details that, unfortunately, took away from the story. The ending was the best, most intense part and left me wanting to read the sequel . I definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves suspense and action.
ReplyDeleteI thought the beginning was slow. It did pick up a bit and I loved reading the pages with a lot of imagery like when they are describing the orchids. Overal this book was okay and had an interesting and enticing ending. I would recommend this book to people,e who can patiently wait for a climax in a book.
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