Allegiant

Book: Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Divergent, Book 3)

Description: 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. (book jacket)

My Thoughts: I'll just come right out and say it: I LOVED Allegiant! Yes, there were some aspects of it that I disliked, but overall it felt like a very intense novel that stayed true to its story (more on that later).

Both Tobias and Tris struggle with their own brokenness and inner demons throughout Allegiant. They struggled so hard for what was right and struggled to figure out what that meant and made mistakes. That is probably what made me love Allegiant the most. I loved that both characters really struggled, and struggled realistically with themselves as well as with outside forces. It really focused on the day-to-day nature of all choices and of choosing who you want to be (in that you have to make choices every day and those are truly the choices that define you), which I also loved. I hate books that end with, "Well, the main character made one good choice. Everything will be okay and s/he'll be a great person now!", because that's so not how life works.

Allegiant was the first novel in the series where we get to hear from Tobias's perspective as well as from Tris's. I enjoyed seeing beneath his calm exterior and being able to see his inner demons more and how they affected his everyday life. I really enjoyed getting to see events from both Tris's perspective and Tobias's; it was very interesting. Stylistically, however, it was one of the aspects of the book that I enjoyed least. The switch between the two of them almost always happened every chapter, so that it felt almost mechanical and made it hard to keep track of who was speaking at the moment (how the two of them thought about things was sometimes different, but their style of talking/thinking wasn't at all different).

I will admit, it took me a while to get into the story. Part of that was because I hadn't read Insurgent in a while, and Allegiant jumps right back into the story where Insurgent left off--including the high energy and emotion levels, which I wasn't hyped up to when I started reading. And what they found outside Chicago wasn't at all what I was expecting, which was jarring for a while.

*The next paragraph is about the ending. It contains only minor spoilers, but it's only fair to warn you*

And the ending! It felt very true to all the characters and to the story, I thought. It was such a natural extension of what happened beforehand, and so much more realistic than most other endings.

*end of spoilers*

A great book, and a great conclusion to the Divergent trilogy. I can't wait to see what Veronica Roth will do next!

Insurgent

Book: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Description: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so. (from Amazon.com)

My Thoughts: Insurgent was just as good as Divergent!! It was a bit darker--Tris struggles with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) because of everything that happened to her in Divergent, and for me this was the most believable and interesting part of the book. She underwent a beautiful journey of recovery, where she discovered that she wanted to live, what was truly important to her, and more about herself. Tris also handled her struggles very well, overall--there was little truly stupid behavior on her part, and by the end of the book she was back to doing what was right, despite the consequences to her.

Unfortunately, Four was pretty stupid for large chunks of this book--luckily not willfully stupid, he really did think he was doing the right thing. He just hadn't thought it through as much as he thought he had. I found him rather frustrating for most of the book.

Another fun, interesting book with a great cliff-hanger ending--I can't wait for the third book, Allegiant, to come out in October!! 

Personal Note: Since reading Divergent and Insurgent, I've read a bit more about Veronica Roth, and I really like what I've seen. She's a Christian--quietly, but obviously quite publicly--and I think this worldview shines through in both what she writes and her public persona. I've really enjoyed reading through her blog (veronicarothbooks.com).

Divergent

Book: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Description: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, 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 alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating 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 unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her. (from Amazon.com)

My Thoughts: I read Divergent because it was very highly recommended by a friend, whose recommendations I tend to either love or hate. I was also skeptical because this book is classified as Young Adult lit., and lately I've been growing away from the drama and love triangles and whatnot that I tend to think of when I think of YA books. That said--this book blew me away. It was amazing, and I literally stayed up all night reading it.

I found Divergent to be fast-paced without being only about action. The action helped keep me interested, but what truly caught my attention and kept it was the characters. Tris (the main character) was very cool but also very believable--she was just a normal girl. Her struggles, especially her emotional ones, felt very real (rather than drawn-out and needlessly dramatic). At the same time, Tris was very aware of the fact that her emotions should not be the deciding factor of any of the decisions she made. Instead, she tried to make decisions because they were the right decisions. This is a rare distinction to find in current YA lit.

Four was also super cool. He treated Tris like she was a capable human being, which was nice. I did think their relationship was a bit odd in that they go from being complete strangers to being very, very close in the span of something like two weeks.

I really enjoyed reading this book, but there were some deeper undertones as well. This is a society that's striving for good, even if not everyone in the society is. And yet the virtues that each Faction sees as the best become very all-consuming and the virtues and factions are ultimately bent into something very negative in a lot of ways. 

One complaint? People can't become good fighters in two weeks!

Highly recommended!

A Brave New World

Book: A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Published: 1931

Description: Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment. (from Amazon.com)

Well, my overall impression of this book was that Huxley very much succeeded in creating a thoroughly creepy vision of the future (NOT "satisfying entertainment"). He created a world where everyone is so completely shaped by society that no one thinks for themselves. 

Huxley did a fantastic job building his future world. When I read this book, I felt like I was there, and none of the characters ever acted out of place in their society. I think he was also spot-on in depicting human weakness: if anything would convince us fallen humans that everything is absolutely all right, it would be constant pleasure.

That said, I didn't actually enjoy this book that much. Yes, it was very thought-provoking, and there were some interesting thoughts and discussions about the nature of religion. However, be warned that there is a fair amount of sexual activity (it was the time of Freud, after all--Huxley's society practically revolves around sex, along with consumerism). This was ultimately a book that revealed a possible future and current problems in society without proposing any sort of solution: ultimately, a very despairing book that I wouldn't recommend.