Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Summary

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, tangles 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.

• Number of Pages: 526

Review

I write to you now in mourning of this series, a series that lived a great life in the dark of my room and through my most vivid imagination. I travelled along this city and beyond its walls with a girl with a love so great and the courage to preserve that love for all, no matter the cost. I mourn because there is no more for me left to follow and these characters must now move on with their untold stories.

Consider me melodramatic if you will, but do not think me insincere. I disclose complete honesty my book reviews, so believe me when I tell you that I finished this book five minutes ago and I still can’t stop crying. This book was the wrap up that no one wanted yet was inevitable. I will not give away any information for those of you who want to start the series of Divergent.

I created a joint review of the first two books in my previous post. I wrote of how great it was, out of the norm, and completely believable in its characters. What was true then is true now. But here is where I write less with emotion and more with facts.

Fact one: This is a great series.

Fact two: This book is slower paced than the rest. (Patience is required)

Fact three: The end is inevitable, but leaves you—the reader—knowing for certain how all the beloved characters end, which is a comfort. 

I remember starting this book with immense anticipation, but was slowed down to a duller pace in the beginning. There is a lot of information given and a lot of planning where there is less action taking place. But once you start this series you need to see how it ends, and the ending is what makes it all worth reading whether it be the ending you wanted or not. I really enjoyed the dual perspective between Tris and Tobias. The first two books are completely under Tris point of view, so it is interesting to see how the author manages to change voices without disrupting what the reader is already use to. In total it was a series worth reading, and I recommend the series to you all. Stick it out in the last book. From 1-10? I give this book a 6, but the series in all is an 8.

Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth Joint Review

 Divergent Summary

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.

• Number of pages: 487

Insurgent Summary

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 guild, 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.

• Number of pages: 525

Joint Review

Completely different from what you would expect from a dystopian series about to be made into a movie with enough buzz to almost catch up to the Hunger Game Movies. Completely different in a good way, that is. I read Divergent and became instantly entranced in this new societal world where the best virtues are separated into different societies within a society, and how each virtue standing alone could corrupt the very system they were trying to protect. The way this system of factions was set up was absolutely incredible with the amount of detail and surprisingly believability. The characters only served to cement that world into reality with the profoundness of the characters, their depth.

Before I get carried away with the admiration of the characters and their stories, I was to distinguish the assets of this series as a whole because this is a joint review after all. I am writing a joint review because I loved the first book so much that I barely left enough time to drive to Barnes & Noble to get book 2, Insurgent, and start reading. By the time I finished I slowed down enough to realize that the best parts of both books became mashed together in my mind and I ended up seeing it as one really big book. Probably not my best idea for blogging purposes, but it had its perks. In conclusion, this series captured me enough to feel it was absolutely necessary to read it continuously. That’s got to be saying something, right?

Tris is a rock star. I am not even exaggerating that. She was everything a protagonist should be: BELIEVABLE. I think that’s why I liked this book so much. Although completely improbable and we all know that this will never happen in real life, there was reality interwoven between all aspects of it. A huge part of that were Tris and the other characters. They were not too strong, nor were they too weak but miraculously reached their goals or whatever. That kind of stuff happens too often in Young Adult fiction, unfortunately. Tri, for instance, was strong willed but not untouchable. And she was not the weepy-damsel-in-distress-heroine, yet real enough to show emotions, tears, fears, and etc. Very admirable, yet very relatable.

Personally, if I had to say which book was my favorite so far, I would have to say Insurgent (book 2). Which I think is great, my reason being that many times in series like this one sequel sometimes do not live up to the original installment and can leave fans unsatisfied. Insurgent totally satisfies and does much more. Both books alone were great and had great aspects, but Insurgent just seemed to have more depth.  Book one, to me, was very much a set up of everything to come. This world is so complex that I think it needed a whole book to break out the characters and situation, which is clearly does with the amount of information on the initiation and different ways of the factions. Book two really seemed to break the shell set up in the first book and bring the true conflict. There was more variety in scenes and situation, and I was always left on the edge of my seat. Yeah, it was one of those. Amazing.

As I looked up the summary for Divergent for my post, I came across the information for the Divergent movie premiering March of next year. I can definitely say I got chills from the trailers. If those are any indication then I believe that this will fortunately be one of those book adaption movies that stay true to the book’s plot. I CAN’T WAIT. This series was honestly great, and comes highly recommended from me. From 1-10 as a whole? Divergent series (Divergent and Insurgent) gets a 9. 

Eden's Root by Rachel E. Fisher

Summary

It is 2033, and the world hovers on the edge of explosion as unexplained crop deaths lead to severe global food shortages. Is the United States, the Sickness is taking lives slowly, creeping its way into every family. Thirteen-year-old Fi Kelly has already faced the Sickness in her own family, toughening her at a young age. But when her dying father makes a shocking confession, Fi realizes that her toughness will be pushed to its absolute limits.

Saddled with an impossible secret and mission of saving her little sister, Fi gets out to transform herself into the warrior that she must become to survive the coming collapse. Along the way, she will discover that evil can be accidental . . . and that love can be intentional.

• Number of pages: 376

Review 

Eden’s Roots deserves a round of applause and a cheer or two. If any other bloggers have read and reviewed this book along with me, then I hope it is safe to assume that they were just as equally captivated by this amazing sci-fi story as I was, but I would love to put my two cents in as well. Fi is a narrator and Leader like no other. I followed her like a member of her Family would, and I am proud to say I survived this journey right along side her. The world is coming to an end in the ways of the normal every day-to-day life. To be honest the details as to what exactly is going on left me a little fuzzy, but I will try to summarize and explain the details without giving too much away. Food, regular food, has been contaminated over the years, processed and manipulated so many times that over eventually it has generated so much disease and created the “Sickness”. The “Sickness” in this book refers to cancerous diseases, though I believe other kinds of diseases are considered as well. The amount of Sickfood soon starts to kill all forms of vegetation, and basically the world is in for a global Famine. Anyway, no one really knows about the Sickfood, except a selected few such as scientists who are preparing for the worst and have created a safe haven where they can reconstruct and rebuild. One of those few people is Fi’s dad who is one of the main scientists working on the effort to build this haven, Eden. When he becomes Sick, he and his family are crossed off from the list of candidates allowed to join this new colony and have a better chance of survival. Before his death he gives all he knowledge to his daughter in the hopes that she can lead her sister and mother to safety.

It was incredible seeing how a girl that is pictured as normal, as ordinary, is transformed into this character with the burden of much older and wiser people, a person who leads many souls to safety. The process written in which she does become a warrior with all the fighting and toughness included was a bit lengthy, but overall created a picture of complete and utter dedication. Fi is really no average girl, but then again isn’t there something more than average in all of us? Along the way she meets and connects with a group of people that I have come to love as well. Each and every individual was spectacularly created to contribute and share some love with me, as the reader. The journey was arduous, the conditions frightening, and I felt it all first hand.

I really want to focus on how this book was written in regards to point of views. It had a switching view from Fi, to her best friend Sean, to another boy that you meet along the way. They all tie together, obviously, but it was Fi’s mind that was kept dominant. She was the core of the story, as well as the core of her Family being Leader. I felt her burden, her determination, and her uncontrollable rage. That’s what really made the story amazing. It made it real, you know? It wasn’t a story about a girl who become a super hero and a hard ass and overall seems untouchable, neither about a girl who is weak and in the end shows her true colors. This was a book of survival, and it emanated off of Fi like an odor. She felt pain, fear, and worry along with happiness, excitement, even peace. I admit to some well-deserved tears on my part (much to my families amusement). It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but I also felt humor and love written between words. I found it a great experience.

I also loved how real the situation all seemed. This book frightened me in that aspect a bit. The Famine, the Sickfood, the fact that a lot of the things that we have and do today were portrayed in a different light to show how terribly it could all go wrong. It seemed possible. I do have to warn my readers that this book is mild in many ways, but it could get very graphic in many others. Like I said, this is a survival story, and the things done in this book were things that may seem out of hand, but it was done in order to survive. It brought up some serious questions that I found interesting to think about. What would you do to survive? What would you give, sacrifice for the good of yourself and loved ones?

As I look over my review I realize that it is a bit long, and I am pleased with that. Why? Because it means that this book opened my brain a bit more, and had me thinking, reaaaally thinking. It wasn’t a book to just follow along. I really thought if that makes any sense. It was . . . and “intelligent” book, I guess. Like food for thought! From 1-10? Eden’s Roots gets an 8.5

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Summary

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to the future she never imagined.

• Number of pages: 336

Review

Originality to the max! Not only was the whole Selection competition completely creative, but also the whole kingdom where this book takes place is so unique and yet so familiar! Basically this all takes place who knows how much into the future where the United States of America is now a kingdom after two more world wars and who knows what else. All of history was rewritten, but it all seemed familiar to me what with planes and phones and such. The biggest difference had to be the new caste system. It was weird to think that that was how my country would function into the future, but interesting to think about.

Anyway, I thought the whole book to be completely original from the usually love triangles I read about, so there are definitely huge brownie points because of that! The characters were nicely created if not a bit predictable. It was enjoyable nonetheless. I had a great time reading the “Bachelor-like” competition, seeing girls swoon for the prince and get eliminated in the mean time. I loved BOTH Aspen and Maxon, it was so hard not to! What did kind of irk me was how the story closed off. This is a trilogy, but I didn’t like how it just stopped. Nothing big happened leaving me wondering, or anything like that . . . it just seem to “pause”. I think that ending could have set me up for the next book in a better way. But what do I know? It was just a feeling that I thought I would share. I do want to look up the next and see what’s going to happen, but, for now, from 1-10? I’ll give it a 6.5

Matched by Ally Condie

Summary

In the society, officials decide who you love, where you work, when you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

• Number of pages: 366

Review

I came into this book expecting a lot from it with all its publicity and gossip, but I have to say I came out of it . . . neutral. It’s not to say that it wasn’t good or amazing, just ok. Maybe it was because of those high expectations, I don’t know. I found that the world created in Match a very interesting place. I have to give props to the author for that, I mean I don’t think it could be easy to build a whole new society from scratch, and I think this one was very thorough. There were so many details that made this world believable. I did particularly like the way in the beginning the author made it seem like it wasn’t that bad of a place to live in, but at the end you knew with all certainty that no one would want to be told what to do.

The romance was interesting. I know that this book was suppose to be based on a romance throughout the entire story, but it was a slow and sweet romance. Usually the two main guys are polar opposites in personality and character from one another, but in this book there were striking similarities, not it appearance so much as how they were both good people.

What I didn’t really like was how slow the book was in generally. I'm ok with slow unfolding novels, but this one was a bit too slow, and there was barely any action at all. All I’m saying is that there could have been more exciting things that would have kept me, the reader, on my toes a little bit more. I do, however, want to read the next book because you can’t really finish a story until the end of the series. I want to see what happens, and see Cassia break the status quo. From 1-10? Matched gets a 5.5

Cover Story: I really loved this cover. I love the Cassia's dress, her hair, the bubble. It was all very simple, and it totally makes sense with what the book is about.