Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

Divergent Trilogy

Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant 

By: Veronica Roth

10 words: 

Divergent: Strong, Scared Girl, follows her heart, finds her own way.

Insurgent: Strong, Scared People, Trust those different, learn a new way.

Allegiant: Everything interesting that was being built up to gests destroyed....

     Divergent introduces us to a very different but interesting world where people are split into one of five factions based on the different attributes that they feel are the most important aspect to live by. When they are 16 they are given a test that is meant to help guide them to see what faction they belong in, but aside from the test it is still there own personal choice.  Most often the faction you are born into is the one where you stay, but switching is common enough. What is not common is having a result from the test that says you could fit in more than one faction. This is know as Divergent, there are people who are scared of those who are Divergent. For they are different and do not fit the mold that the society has been built around. 

     The first book in the Trilogy introduces us to Beatrice Prior, a young girl who finds out that she is Divergent. She meets the right people who let her know what she is and the general idea of the danger that it entails. This story is the building point, Beatrice and other Divergent's are learning about themselves. Those in charge world they live in is taking an action, its a big action. Puting Faction against Faction, even Faction member against Faction member. All based around a fear of Knowledge. A fear of what some people know and intend to let everyone know. 

     Book one ends with an attack against two fractions which leaves both factions broken and searching for a safe place. Book two starts with the introduction of life in a third fraction who is scared to change the way they live and stand for anything with strength. Forcing many of the people who had found refuge there (including Beatrice) to find safety elsewhere with the fourth faction. Things here are not perfect, there may be Honesty in Candore but that doesn't necessarily lead to the truth, especially when people don't listen. There is more fear than ever of the Divergent people now, there differences are seen to a greater degree than ever and those who are publicly known as Divergent, such as Beatrice, find it harder than ever to interact with people. 

     More attacks by those with Power force an eventual understanding between the two sets of people. It also forces actions from those who would never normally work together. The fight is taken to the home of those who started the problem. Leading to the knowledge that was being protected to be found and shown to all. 

     Book three the information that had been fought for in the first two books is spread open for all to see. The story of their world, and the truth of what is beyond that had be whispered about throughout the books is shown for all to see. The tattered remains of the society now must find a way to rebuild itself. Beatrice and a few others decide to investigate the world beyond their world. Here they find more strange information about their world, and a way to respond to this information. Attempting to find a way for their home world to become united once more.

     I enjoyed reading the first two books a lot. They felt driven and interesting. There seemed reason, and thought behind the actions of the different players acting in the world. This direction seemed to all fall apart in book three. The big reveal of the the world outside was a disappointment to me. It felt awkward and out of place.  Maybe I felt just as Tris did, finding a great government program was letting your world kill itself when it had the ability to stop it... She gets mad over the idea, in a way I felt that too but more in a sense that it didn't feel connected. There had been so much build up to that world outside, only for it to lead nowhere realy...

    I enjoyed book one a lot, yet I don't feel the Hatred for the idea of it having a Movie as I did for Harry Potter. Which to me shows thats its less of a great book. In my mind when a book is good enough to stand on its own, no movie required that makes a great book. This didn't quite do that. I feel that there is something that a Movie format could add (where as in Harry Potter I detested the thought, refused to even witness the trailers... there was a little Crazy there...) . The Divergent Trilogy is a decent story, its characters feel real. They are able to hold the burdens that they are given but don't lose their personality in the process. I enjoyed most of the way through. I just don't like the direction it took in the end. 

Faery Swap by Susan Kaye Quinn

 

 Faery Swap 

By Susan Kaye Quinn

10 words:  Finn must help farry destroy King's plans to invade world.

     The story is a cute, fun tale about finding those lost, learning powers you didn't know you had, and saving two worlds. Its a safe, fun story that is somewhat predictable but I am also not really its intended audience so it might be less predictable to them... 
     Overall, I liked it. It was fun and simple but not in a bad way. The thing that I don't get about it is the idea - and almost obsession - that the magic in the book has something to do with Math, and knowledge that the humans have and the faeries don't. It feels like the book was written, and then someone said it was flat/normal. They didn't think it would have any real drive and so they added the idea that it could teach math some how (I haven't figured out really how) in order to give a way to disingenuous it from any other, simple fiction story. 
     I understand the idea behind making math fun. I like books that make math fun a LOT (if you want this kind of book see Math for Smarty Pants its AMAZING), as a kind I obsessed over them. That was why I wanted to review this book.Aside from saying over and over again how math was important it was never really applied in any way, AND there was still a second, more prominent explanation for the magic. That it came from nature/"elements" (not real elements, but the fire/water/air/earth kind... if something like Chlorine or Nitrogen had been used as the source of magic that would have made me SO happy!). This explanation was much more explained, and prominent part of the story than the Math knowledge part which is stressed so much in the ads / on the authors website. So I don't exactly understand what they were getting at. 

     The ads claim that math is the key used to stop the king... but its Magic that was used... its half explained that this spell was created through math... but it doesn't attempt to actually show us how (it would have been so cool if they had used some funky 4d geometric shape to trap the king, instead of a cube... or one of these!! (ya they are 2d but so what its MAGIC!)) There are so many interesting things about math that make it feel magical but over that it being said over and over that its important to these fairies its never shown or explained. I know the book is for grade 3-6... but your taking the goal to make math fun you should really include some math. The Math for Smarty Pants book above I bought myself with babysitting money in grade 5. It taught me what factorials are ( N!), they amused me greatly but i had no idea what they could be used for. If you are trying to combine real world math with magic you can make your math do whatever you want, just give me some math. 
     Aside from the book the author has a few learning things on her website. The game she made is kinda neat, and does attempt to put some of the Math/knowledge thing the book talks so much about into effect... so she is trying but when I was a kid I read 5 books for every book we talked about in class... I wouldn't have found this stuff if I was in grade 5. Also most of it is the normal, english book reviewing stuff.
     Overall I liked the story, my biggest problem is I don't find the book matches up very well with the advertisements of it. Which to me, seems strange but a 5th grader wouldn't care and would have a fun time with the story. 

Returning soon

      So I went back to university, and stopped reading a lot. But recently I got back into the mood to devour books again and am back reading continually. With this returns the feeling that I need to think about what I am reading and not just eat up the words and move on.
     That being said I plan to return to writing reviews and thoughts about the books I am reading. I have read 14 books (this doesn't count reading my textbooks... does a textbook count as a book?) since the beginning of the year. So I have some back tracking to do to catch up. A few are series and I will write about them together. Overall I seem to be on a Young Adult kick but whatever.
   The other thing I have found that might be interesting is I have found two android apps for reading books. One is OverDrive media. Its connected to my library (the Toronto Public Library) and it is the DRM company they use for when you borrow digital library books. I found it when I was having trouble getting library books to work on my sony e-reader (it seems that since I used to always use my netbook to put books onto it it doesn't recognize my desktop as being registered to my e-reader or somthing... DRM can be frustrating about 80% of the time...). The second Appt I found is called Scribd. Scribd is a subscription ebook sight (think Netflix for books) its a bit more than Netflix ($8.99... so $1.00 more).
   I haven't had any problems with the OverDrive media appt. It seems to connect to my Library easily, I can read offline fine. It does log out of the library connection but this hasn't affected the books i have downloaded. It also looks like if you had multiple library accounts that you would be able to connect them all but I have no way of testing this.
   Scribd mirror Netflix in its early years a lot. There are a good number of books on it, but most of them you haven't heard of before... This doesn't mean you won't find something worth reading, just you can't be picky (this is why I am using both the library and scribd. I can put on hold specific books at the library, and then read whatever NOW with scribd). There are lots of different kinds of books, if you read a lot its worth checking out the free trial. I read about 6 books on it last month, so kept it for a second month. I am having fun with it.
   Will post reviews soon on Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth, Septimus Heep series by Angie Sage. I am also (kinda) reading the books that are being talked about in Crash Course Literature 202. I didn't manage to get through the first few that have been (or will be) talked about... (the Odyssey and Oedipus Rex... the odyssey is kinda strange to read, I didn't quite get it. Its not the first time I have tried to read it too. I tried on the cruise once before i had a e-reader... Then theres Hamlet, I have read Hamlet  before and am not really feeling it.) But I will write about some of them soon. The other reviews that are on the way are from free review copies gained through Librarything.