Ariane is a girl growing up on Novo, an artificial planet orbiting a spoiled Earth. Life here is strictly controlled, and elitist choices mean that nobody over forty-five, or ill, was allowed to come. But it seems safe, and a well- provisioned life - though she has troubling dreams. The girl is about to discover her TRUE CALLING.

Ariane's life and studies are disrupted when at seventeen she receives an official Calling to meet assigned partners; within a year she must marry and start producing babies. The girl feels that this is too early, and she wants a choice of husband, but the official line is that the scheme will rebuild a healthy population. The process will include monitored dates and public voting which is supposed to substitute for the young people's eroded human rights. Ariane, her friend Eve and classmate Cal speak up as much as they dare, but individuality is not allowed. Ariane's father is an officer in Novo's army. He quietly tells her that growing unrest with the way civic power is used may endanger the family. Ariane has to comply with the authorities' rules or risk losing everyone she loves.

This is a tension-filled cross between The Testing and Hunger Games, in that public entertainment is made from young people being forced to do things, in order to prove their skills and fitness to lead or reproduce. Any young adult readers who have enjoyed those books will be intrigued by this particular spin. Some readers will be keener on the body polishing, costuming and televised dating than I was; more interesting to me was the way that sectors are landscape designed to resemble places in the United States, including Hawaii. Really though, it's all part of the same concept. Every place and every one has to look perfect.

Further erosion of human rights foreseeably occurs, but some citizens are too busy watching the entertainment to notice, and Ariane and Cal's nascent relationship is threatened. If there is a revolution coming, at which point would you join in, we are being asked; at what stage would you say enough is enough and try to overthrow the government? Are there parallels with any present day society? Personally I found this aspect far more involving than the reality show dating, but then I watch very few reality shows and read a lot of history and dystopian science fiction. Siobhan Davis has worked in the area of Human Resources and intends to write a trilogy of which TRUE CALLING is the first part. YA readers and SF fans will be intrigued with the way her world is developing.