I had been hearing waves and raves of good things about the book series Divergent, so for Christmas I bought them for Cooper (perhaps with a selfish motive, knowing he would let me read them. I also knew he might perhaps be my only sibling who would devour a book this thick with me. Nevertheless the reasons for the gift, we now owned them and he let me read them before he did).
wow. those books. wow.
Dare I even go so far as to say better than The Hunger Games? I think I dare might just go that far, but because of a few factors. One: these books are all super thick. And I love thick books; the thicker the book, the more detail, and the more detail, the more I feel a part of the book. Second: Almost every character they introduce is really developed. I felt like I knew more than just the characters' names and their roles in the book, I knew their purpose in the book.
As for the negative parts of the book: There were some parts where I had trouble with the style of the writing, like it was almost too childish. And there were some conflicts that I thought were too easily resolved. Also, these books are heavy. I mean, draining. Constant fighting/war, constant killings, constant arguments/disagreements.
Nonetheless, these "negatives" are so minuscule compared to the rest of the books (well, the fighting is the main part of this book. But it was the draining part-where I felt like I had to take a quick break and remember I wasn't actually fighting people, just reading it-that was sometimes a little too heavy). I base how much I like a book off of how involved I felt in the actual story. Books where I feel like I am just a ghost, floating from page to page I find I am not much a fan of. But books where I feel as if I am actually the main character, laughing with her, crying with her, in pain with her, really make me fall in love with a book. I read the three books in just over 72 hours, constantly flipping the pages, wanting more, more, more.
I will say, though, the ending of the series is gut-wrenchingly, terribly, soul-suckingly sad. I cannot quite formulate words for how I feel about it. Because I felt so attached to the story and to the characters, I felt as if part of my heart broke at the end. My first reaction (after my tears seized flowing) was anger. How in the world could Veronica Roth end the book the way she did?! But then slowly as my pain and anger subsided I realized that the ending fit the characters perfectly and then any other ending would not have done the book-or the characters-justice. And as much as it SUCKED, I admire Ms Roth for playing out each characters' role as she developed them, as opposed to taking the easy way out and ending it with rainbows and unicorns.
Overall, I loved this trilogy. I thought they were absolutely fantastic, brilliant, wicked. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, I loved being on the journey Tris went on. And because of my tears and my anger at the end and the furious texts that went out to all my friends who I knew had read it already, I know that Veronica Roth wrote an absolutely brilliant series.
My confession: I was a little hesitant to read this series because I feared it was too much like The Hunger Games trilogy. But I was so wrong. They both may be set in a post-apocolypitc future, but that is where the similarities end (well, besides a strong female lead every girl hopes she could one day be). Do not let that fear (or the size of the books) deter you away from reading these books! They are so good (just be prepared to stay up until the sun rises reading them)!! And for sure a new favorite of mine!! Below is the trailer for the first book/movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment