The Gardner

The Gardner follows Mason as he tries to help a girl (who is called The Girl in most of the book) and find out her mysterious origins. Most of the book involves running away from the evil company and then once some answers are given they run back to it and get answers to their big questions. The big evil isn't so evil and the action is lackluster at best moving towards a mildly satisfying conclusion.

The initial premise is an interesting one but the execution is off. Too much time is spent on finding out the big secret and the final resolve is anticlimactic. The world that Mason lives in isn't a new one and the enemy isn't scary enough to create much suspense. The relationships in the story are one dimensional and the plot is predictable.

While I did finish the book quickly and did remain engaged in the story there are far better dystopian books in the YA genre such as Dark Life, Birthmarked and the authors first novel The Compound that I would recommend to readers.

Appropriateness:  There isn't anything objectionable in the book.  The lexile is 620 putting it at a third or fourth grade reading level making it a book that is good for older struggling readers.