Showing posts with label Divergent Fandom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Divergent Fandom. Show all posts

Saturday, June 7, 2014

{Review} Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant
by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #3
Pages: 526
Release Date: October 22, 2013
by Katherine Tegen Books (an imprint of Harper)

Goodreads / Purchase

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.


*REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
They are whited out so you can only read them if you highlight the text
*Also I read this back in January, I am not COMPLETELY late on the bandwagon haha*
*There's a Catching Fire/Mockingjay spoiler which is marked*
 
 
I really don't know where to start with this review.
 
This series has been a roller-coaster of hating then loving then hating again.  It's a very unique series and well written, I just didn't LOVE it.
 
Basically this book was not as good as the other books.  It was so boring!  The two first books were so fast paced and exciting and every single second something was happening.  I couldn’t stop reading.  With this book I had to kind of force myself to read it because it was SO. SLOW.  There was a lot of world-building with action sprinkled sparsely in the story line.  The world building was very well done, however.  This book was complex, interesting, but slow-paced...but when it came time for the action to come Roth brought it.  Of course I am talking about the ending.  The staging for the ending was very well done, if not a bit confusing.  One thing that Roth definitely improved on that I had noticed was lacking in the other books was how she didn't describe scenes very well.  From her descriptions I couldn't imagine the scene.  If it was a fight scene I would be so confused because she didn’t write it very well.  But in this book she did such a good job with describing scenes that I was able to imagine them.
 
I really wasn't a fan of the 2 POVs though.  I kept on getting confused about which POV we were seeing the story from because both Tris and Four are very similar with their POV.  They were both in the same place all the time so there really wasn’t a different perspective with each POV.  Also Four's POV was much more boring than Tris's.
 
The ending was crazy – and sad.  Yes, I cried.  While I didn’t like how it ended I think that it was completely necessary.  [SPOILER: I just really wish it wasn't Tris who died.  Four would have been fine.  It was very hard for me to read about her dying.  She had been through so much during this series and she had developed so much and for her to just die...that's not okay!  It was so sad!  Why couldn't Four have died?!  That would have been fine because I hate him.  But please, keep Tris.  She had so much more to live for.  She was reconciling with Caleb and she had Christina and Cara.  She had a reason to stay. ]
 
Also, I can't tell,[SPOILER: but did Tris and Four have sex or not?  I know there was that one scene where they went a bit further than usual but there was nothing to say whether or not they actually did It.  I really wish Roth would have explained that a bit better.  I know coming into the book the ending because I got spoiled, so I was really expecting them to have sex before they can no longer be together.  But then again it kind of would feel wrong because at the time they had been fighting for like a book and a half and sex right after is just wrong.  If Roth had just had them make up in the beginning of the book then wrote a sex scene before Tris and Four separated that would have been perfect.
 
 
Update: Roth released a statement that said she wanted the reader to decide if they had sex or not. I don’t think they did. ]
 
[SPOILER: Also I thought it was completely unnecessary to kill Uriah.  At the beginning of this series I congratulated Roth for having the nerve to kill of characters, but by the end I was so sick of seeing all the characters I loved dying.  It just felt like too much.  Edward and Tori and Uriah (and Tris), who have all been there since the beginning, die.  There were just so many people killed in this series.  Uriah was the first person to befriend Tris when this whole story started and the fact that he dies is not okay. ]  There's a difference between a) being sad someone died and having feels and b) being completely and cruelly emotionally destroyed.  Which is what happened with this book.
 
 
[SPOILER: The aftermath of Tris dying was really hard to read about.  When Christina and Four hear about what happened was really emotional, and then Uriah dying.  The epilogue was really boring though.  I know that Roth has to explain what is going on with this new world but seriously, our favorite character just died and Four is going to scatter her ashes – we want to read about that.  Talk about world building later!  But I do think that that zip line scene where Four spreads Tris' ashes was just perfect.  He faced his fears and he did the same thing Tris did and that should make him feel closer to her. ]
 
 
[SPOILER (catching fire/mockingjay): That part where Tris and Four say goodbye when Tris is going to release the memory serum and Four is going back into Chicago and they say they love each other reminded me of Catching Fire when Katniss leaves Peeta under the lightning tree and then Peeta gets hijacked...only in this book Four never sees Tris living again and Katniss and Peeta get married. *cries* ]
 
 
By the end of this series I absolutely loved Tris.  Yep, I respected her [SPOILER: just in time for her to die. ] Tris was a completely different character than in the first book.  In this book she was strong, selfless, and very forgiving.  She was only 16 and already she had been through so much.  She was strong without Four saying every 5 pages “OMG Tris you are, like, so strong you have to pretend to be weak”.  Tris was strong without all that.  The thing that really sold Tris to me as a great person was when [SPOILER: she sacrificed herself for Caleb. ] She just grew so much over the course of this series into someone who had made mistakes but dealt with them and became a vulnerable yet strong person.
 
 
I hate Four.  I've hated him since the first book, but then I was imagining him as Theo James so that made it better.  But I hated Four in this book.  He was just so annoying, accusing Tris of things while he was doing the very things he was yelling at Tris about.
 
 
Tris: You shouldn't join this rebellion it doesn't feel right
Four: OMG Tris you're so jealous I can do what I want yolo
 
 
He still isn't developed at all, and yes, I cried at the end of this book,[SPOILER:  but not because Four was sad, but because I was sad Tris was gone. ]  He was just so annoying and winey and when he finds out [SPOILER: he's not Divergent ] his reaction is so immature.  I don't feel bad for him at all.
 
 
I think since this is the last book it's time to talk about the supporting characters.  There were a ton but I'm going to talk about Christina, Uriah, Caleb, Peter, and Cara.  Uriah is my favorite, Christina second.  Uriah was with Tris from practically the beginning and they grew into such good friends [SPOILER: (and part of the reason I was crying in the end was because Uriah died too). ]  He was a very good supporting character, as was Christina.  The saga between Tris and Christina is a long one, but in the end they were such good friends, and Christina was really strong, dependable character.  The same goes for Cara- her and Tris have a history but in the end they stick together.  Caleb and Peter...I have to say I really respect Caleb for his would-be sacrifice at the end of the book.  He really is a good character, even if he's not the best person.  Peter is the same – a good character, just not a good person.  He added a lot to the story.
 
 
All in all, this was definitely not the best series I’ve ever read, but the characters and world are very interesting and there's something about this series that demands to be read.  I liked it at times, I hated it other times, but in the end, I’m glad I read it.
 
 
 
3 stars
 
 

Other Books by Veronica Roth

Divergent

 



Monday, May 19, 2014

{Review} Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent
by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #1
 Pages: 525
Release Date: May 1, 2012
by Katherine Tegen ( an imprint of Harper)

Goodreads / Purchase
Fighting for survival in a shattered world… the truth is her only hope.

The thrillingly dark sequel to No. 1 New York Times bestseller, DIVERGENT.

I have done bad things. I can’t take them back, and they are part of who I am.

Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.

Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever… because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.

 
**SPOILERS**
 
I can't really put into words what I'm feeling right now.  This book was something, let me tell you.  So much better than the first book.
There is just something about this book and series that demands to be read.  You are sucked into the world and you don't want to leave.  This book was miles better than Divergent.  The first thing is the story line.  So much more happened in this book than in the first book.  There was a purpose to this book, whereas I felt like Divergent was kind of pointless.  But this story was fast-paced, complex, and interesting.  That being said...there were still some issues.
Something that can be easily messed up in a book with such a fast story and many escapes is the escapes are too easy.  I did find that that happened a few times in the book [SPOILER: most noticeably when Tris is captured by Eric and she's with a group of other Divergent next to an elevator block (pg 193) and Tris stabs Eric then starts to try to escape.  There are traitor Duantless around and they hold guns that shoot a gas that knocks out everyone but Divergent.  So Tris stabs Eric and LUCKILY the only guns the traitor Dauntless have is the ones that have the knock-out gas...which is stupid because obviously that won't work on any enemy in the room because Tris and co are Divergent.  SO WHY THE HELL WOULND'T THE TRAITOR DAUNTLESS HAVE REAL GUNS?!  Because they didn't have real guns Tris and the other Divergents were able to escape ] but other than that one event and a few others I felt like the escapes were very well done and well-staged as well.
However I felt like Veronica Roth treated the reader like a child.  I consider myself to be pretty smart and quick to catch on, so when a big thing happens in this book I think it through and figure out what it means and what impact it has.  But Roth has to write this huge revelation scene then later go back and explain it.  Readers are pretty good at figuring out things and don't need to be babied with information and have it explained to them.  This happened at least twice and just kind of annoyed me.  One example:[SPOILER: when Tris and Four and company are all with the Dauntless and they're taunting Four because he's “scared” of his father.  So Four is like “This has got to stop” then he goes and punches his dad.  Now I figured out immediately why he did this, but for some reason Roth felt the need to spell it out like her readers could never figure it out. ]
Other than that, pretty much everything else about this book was awesome.  It was a very addictive, enjoyable book, which is why I gave it 4 stars.  As said in my review of Divergent, I was not very impressed with how Roth [SPOILER: slipped in the war in the last 50 pages of the book.  But she developed the war very well in this book and I was very impressed with her comeback.  She kind of did the same kind of bad staging for the next book in this book but she developed it more before the ending so it worked out. ] I still would really like the action scenes to be explained better because from her mediocre descriptions I can't picture a scene.
There were several twists in this book that were like WHERE THE HECK DID THAT COME FROM?!  I have to give Veronica Roth credit for staging things in such a way that later events made perfect sense.  Some things I guessed [SPOILER: like Peter helping Tris escape when she gives herself to Jeneanne ] but other I didn't see coming at all [SPOILER: LIKE CALEB FREAKING BETRAYING HER! ]
 Also, that ending was absolutely crazy.  There was so much going on in that ending and it was so thrilling and crazy.  And OMG THAT CLIFFHANGER!
Now let's talk about the characters.  If you guys remember, I wasn't a huge fan of Tris (actually I hated her) in the first book.  But in this book I grew to like and respect her.  She is super messed up after what happened in the first book and she is much more vulnerable.  But in this book she is emotionally and mentally damaged and she becomes a much deeper, darker character.  I liked that we got to see the vulnerable side of her and it made her seem more human and definitely made her a more likable character.  Plus there wasn't all this shit about how she has to pretend to be weak like there was in the first book, so that helped.
However, I hated Four.  I never really liked him in the first place.  Unlike in the first book, I didn't imagine him as Theo James.  Four is just a very boring, underdeveloped character, even though we learned a bit more about him in this book.  But he was so annoying!  He wants Tris to tell him everything but doesn’t want to tell her anything.  That's not how a relationship works, man!  He shunned her and even when she was hurting and crying and crushed he just assumed “she was fine.”  Come on man, “find your humanity!” (OH YEAH TANGLED QUOTE!  I watch that movie way too much).  So I didn't enjoy the romance at all.
Honestly I'm scared for this next book.  [SPOILER: Roth killed off a few more loved characters in this book (Marlene and Lynn, and of course Jenneane even though I hate her) ] so I'm scared to see what she does in the final book *bites nails*.
 
 


4 stars

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

{Review} Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent
by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #1
Pages: 487
Release Date: April 25, 2011
by Katherine Tegen Books (an imprint of Harper)

Goodreads / Purchase
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series--dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.


**MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!**

Even though I started re-reading this book with the specific goal to love it as much as everyone else on this planet, I just couldn't.  I'm sorry, but I just couldn't.  I liked it better on the second read than on the first read, but still.

Mostly my problem is Fourtris.  But I'll get to that later.  I liked the writing, and I liked the idea.  It was the execution that was lacking.  A long initiation into a faction and oh yeah there's going to be a war that will be sneaked in during the last 50 pages or so.  Sounds good.  There was no build, no complex staging of any kind for the attack.  It was mostly Tris getting her ass kicked, acting like a child, and Four prancing around with Tris following him.  Plus the staging was really poor.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book when I thought the story line was very good and fast paced.  A lot happened.  It was during the second half that everything went to shit.  I think that it would also be nice to have the action scenes described a little better.  They were very hard to follow and imagine in my head and that really bugged me.
 
Just so many things didn't add up in the ending.  Why on earth would Tris shoot Eric in the foot and leg but not kill him? I'm sorry but what was she thinking?  And it was never explained how Four snapped out of it when he was about to shoot Tris because of the serum.  He “just heard her voice”?  Bullshit.  She had been talking to him for like 5 minutes before it got to the “I'm gonna shoot you” part.
 
But I was impressed with how courageous Veronica Roth was when it came to killing characters.  She doesn't care about your feels, she'll kill who she wants.  She killed off Will, Tris' mom and dad.  I couldn't believe it, so I definitely have to give her credit for that.

The characters were a problem.  I knew I hated Tris when I read this book for the first time so I tried REALLY HARD to love her this time round.  I'm sorry but I just can't.  She's so freaking annoying!  She's weak, no she's strong, actually she's emotional, nope she's a rock.  Back and forth.  I've figured it out.  Veronica Roth over-developed Tris.  She stuffed so many different personalities into one character that it just didn't work.  In the beginning I liked Tris...up until the first night after transferring when Al is crying and Tris is angry about it even though she was crying a second ago and she calls him weak.  From then on, I hated her.

Now I enjoyed Four's character a LOT more this time round.  Not because I suddenly felt a connection to his character, but because I imaged him as Theo James.  It made the experience of reading this book again much more pleasurable.  But if I wasn't imagining Four as Theo I would hate him because I just feel like we don't get a description of him.  We don't know what he looks like.  Okay, he has blue eyes and long fingers.  That's it!  So I didn't feel like I couldn't connect with him that way.  Plus his character is extremely underdeveloped and just like a piece of wood.  Also, that one scene where Tris says she's not pretty...HELL TO THE NO!  Here's a direct quote:

*looks for 20 minutes for the page because for some reason I didn't think to mark it when I read it I am an idiot*

“I just don't get it.  I'm younger.  I'm not pretty. I--”
He laughs, yadayadayada
“Don't pretend,” I say breathily.  “You know I'm not.  I'm not ugly, but I'm certainly not pretty.”
“Fine.  You're not pretty. So?”

 Acca-scuse me.  What did I just read?!  Okay yes I realize that saying “You're perfect just the way you are” or “You're beautiful to me” is cheesy, but you DO NOT tell a girl she isn't pretty and then make out with her.  What kind of sick man are you, Four?!  That's just not okay!!

Rant over.  Off to read Insurgent then Allegiant before I get spoiled.

I increased my rating by a half star because I liked the first part of the book.  You're welcome ;P


2 stars

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