Title: Altered (The Academy #1)

Author: Aubrey Coletti

Genre: Young Adult

Publication Date: June 6, 2012

About the Book

(from Goodreads)

When Toni, Joseph and Charlie arrive at their new boarding school, they are glad to leave their families – and respective problems – behind. Isolated as boarders, they meet a handsome senior with a personality like iced snake’s blood, teachers with a penchant for physical punishment, and four other outcasts who reveal that their being brought to the Academy wasn’t random at all. When the arrivals discover that their new school is engaged in “behavior modification” through electric shocks, isolation, restraints, and an ever-evolving set of methods to “fix” them, they declare war on their Academy. During their campaign of sabotage, they fight, hate, scorn, love, and begin to uncover the reasons why they were brought to the school. But as their war against the school escalates beyond their control, will they become the very things the Academy believes they are: dangerous, delinquent – and mad?

My Review

I received a free ecopy of this book for an honest review.

Altered is the first book in a series about delinquent teens who are sent to a high school for behavioral modification. The rules at The Academy are ridiculously strict, which causes many of the students to rebel even more than they normally would. Often the students go ahead and do or say what they want, knowing and accepting the consequences.

Aubrey Coletti’s writing style is easy to follow for the most part. Once in a while I got confused about who was talking during a conversations and I would have to reread it. 

I think that the students and their language is probably more realistic in this book than in most young adult books I’ve read. There is a lot of profanity, bickering, and self doubt. The only difference is that in a regular high school there are some positives to balance out the negatives. The only positives in The Academy are the friendships between the characters.

I like the diverse range of the friends who come together to stand up against The Academy. They’re different races, different shapes and sizes, and have some amazing gifts as well as interesting mental illnesses. It bothered me that they don’t give any medication to these kids, no matter what mental illness they have.

I liked Altered and plan on starting the next book in the series, Shattered, today. I recommend it for young adults and adults alike. Be warned, though, it contains a lot of profanity.

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About the Author

(from Goodreads)

I am a twenty-three year old songwriter, dancer, and author of the novels “Altered,” “Shattered,” and “Evolved,” in The Academy Series. I value my fans above all else.