Tag: Tris Prior

Book of the Week-Allegiant

Leave a comment

I wanted to write this as soon as I finished the book but it was nearly impossible to do so. I felt the same as I did when I read City of Glass and Deathly Hallows and The Crimson Crown and The Last Olympian, thumb that sort of knocked out feeling you get when you read the last book of a beautiful and addicting and heartbreaking series.

I was having a hard time last night recovering from the things that Veronica Roth did to my emotions. Now I’m finally ready to share my review with you.

Of course, this entire review is spoiler free. I would never want to ruin a book that has just recently released. So I apologize if this review is incredibly vague but I wanted to highlight the things I loved and disliked about this book, but in a way that doesn’t ruin your own reading experience of the book.

I might, in the next few days, post a spoiler review for those of you who have read the book. If you’d like to discuss the book with me, which includes spoilers, then come on over to the official blog forums, and I’d be happy to talk about the book, and other books with you!

For now, enjoy the review!

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

10616322

GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository 

Genre:

young adult, dystopian, romance

Part of a Series?:

The final book of the Divergent trilogy

You May Like if You Liked:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Legend by Marie Lu, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Age Recommendation:

Keep in mind this is MY personal recommendation and it varies on the maturity of the reader. 

14+

Plot Summary:

From GoodReads:

One choice will define you. 

What if your whole world was a lie? What if a single revelation-like a single choice-changed everything? What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected? 

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.

The Bad:

The pacing of the novel is really weird. Sometimes it seems like its going really slow, and that you’re learning a lot about what is going on, but nothing is really happening. Then all of a sudden, things seriously sped up and ended. So the pacing of the novel was incredibly awkward. I thought maybe the book could have been longer, or that the slower parts could be shorter and the action part longer. It seemed sort of weirdly balanced. Once the action started, it was so easy to finish the book, but the build up took a very long time.

The Good:

That all being said though, I really loved this book. I don’t want to spoil anything because the book just came out a few days ago, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I want to tell everyone what I think without ruining it for those who have not been able to read it yet, or who are catching up on the other books.

I loved the direction that Veronica Roth took it in. The end of Insurgent leaves hanging with the idea of an outside world, that needs the Divergent. Which is so different than the city that Tris lives in, where the Divergent are hunted down. But when we finally see the outside world, its so different than what I had ever expected. What we learn and find out is incredible. Confusing, but incredible and it really explains so many plot holes that exist in the previous two books.

I really liked the back and forth between Tris and Four. I feel like, its kind of become a habit for authors to do this dual point of view thing, especially for final books. It would normally kind of make me mad because of the repetitiveness but I really liked it. The only thing we’ve gotten of Four in the previous books is Tris’s own vision of him. Getting into his head, seeing his motives, his love for Tris, his fears, his hopes, all of that, really helps to carry the story. They clash all the time, and they both have such different fears and different backgrounds and it motivates their actions in different ways, and its also the way they come together.

Some people had an issue with the end, and what happens there, and I’m going to try and say my thing without spoiling anything. I was immensely heartbroken by what happened at the end. It was incredibly unexpected and it ripped me to pieces. I spent a lot of time crying, which clouded up my glasses quite nicely. I think it makes the most sense, and that the way in which the events unfold seem so likely to me. In fact, before they unfolded, I was surprised at the direction that Veronica was taking the characters in. When things changed, and ended the way they did, it just made sense to me. The decisions that were made by the different characters just seemed to fit for each of them, and the ending was a full circle for the story. I think that Veronica took leaps and risks that some authors don’t do but I think it played out nicely for her.

I’ve also not cried this hard with a book since I read the epilogue of Clockwork Princess.

I don’t want to spoil much, because there is too much in this book to spoil for anyone but I loved it. I didn’t think it was perfect, because the pacing is just so weird, but I thought it was a beautiful, unexpected ending. People die, lives change, and I cried like crazy. Somehow my favorite character (I hope I never told you who that is…) survives but other characters that I love die. I think that there’s so much to learn and to still contemplate about their world and what could and will happen to everything and everyone. Its a beautiful book and I think Veronica leaves us with the same sort of bittersweet ending that JK Rowling leaves us with in Deathly Hallows.

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Recommended or Not?:

Definitely, if you’ve read the rest of the series and you’ve loved it the way I have, it is necessary to read this one. You won’t be able to live with yourself with that Insurgent cliffhanger without finishing this novel.

*      *      *      *      *

I hope you all are able to enjoy Allegiant, whether you already have or are currently working at it, or patiently waiting for your book to come in the mail.

Please, remember, not everyone reads fast, or has the ability to get the book right away. No spoilers posted in the comments. They’ll just be deleted.

If you wish to discuss the book, I’ve created a discussion on the forums, and would be happy to discuss all the spoilers with you there! Just follow this link!

Happy Reading everyone!

Tuesday Top Ten-Favorite Divergent Moments

Leave a comment

Today is the day, information pills my friends. It is 9:45 here, viagra dosage in California but most other places, its midnight and Allegiant has released. Which means, its released for me too! Which means its already downloaded to my Kindle RIGHT NOW.

Do you know how hard it is to write this post when all I want to do is dive into this book?

But alas, I will finish this post in a timely manner and then you guys will basically lose me until I finish this book :)

So in order to celebrate the release of the final book in the Divergent trilogy, I have decided to count down my top Ten moments in the Divergent trilogy…so far. I hope you enjoy them!

P.S. There will DEFINITELY be spoilers for Divergent and Insurgent in this post. You have been warned.

10. The Raven Tattoos

I love when Tris gets her tattoos, the three ravens on her collarbone. I think its a real turning point for her. She still has loyalties to her family and to the faction of Abnegation but she realizes she has to sway her loyalties toward the Dauntless in order to become one, and not a factionless. I think this moment shows her accepting that she can have both, in different ways. The Dauntless mostly all have tattoos and by getting this tattoo, she is stepping into their world. But because she gets three tattoos for her mother, father and brother, it shows she will always love them, no matter what factions they are in. I think its incredibly sweet and amazing. I plan on getting the exact same tattoo soon, so I can’t wait to be part of that with her.

9. Tris’ First Simulation

When Tris goes under the simulation, in order to determine which faction that she fits the best with, I don’t know what any of us expected. This is so soon in the book, it happens so fast before we even really know Tris or the society that she lives in. But this right here shows so much about her. It shows her strength, her intelligence, her courage and bravery and her ability to think quickly and her ability to lie as well. Its amazing how quickly you can become acquainted with, and fall in love with, Tris, in this one scene. Its also when we find out that she’s Divergent, which is SO pivotal to the entirety of the series.

8. Amity and Tris

When Tris goes to Amity, after the disaster events that happen in Divergent, and she is injected with the peace serum, and she just acts ridiculous? I just love it. Because I feel like we’ve gotten two different versions of her. We get the silent, selfless, “stiff” Beatrice of Abnegation and then we get the strong, brave Tris of Dauntless, and seeing this silly and carefree Tris, where she’s acting free and open. She’s saying all these things that she’s never said before and its just fantastic. Amidst all the chaos that is going on in their society, the fact that we are able to laugh for this scene is fantastic. I’m sure not sure how many humorous moments that we are going to have in Allegiant so this was a nice moment.

7. Peter Saving Tris

I didn’t expect this in the slightest. You think Tris is going to die, or be tortured, and you feel absolutely completely hopeless. I mean, I can’t even imagine how much hopeless I could have felt in that moment with Jeanine. So when Peter saves Tris, SAVES her, I was in shock, but I don’t know. I kind of felt for Peter in that moment. You hate him so much, he’s just an enemy but you can’t help but like him at least a little bit in that moment. He risks his life, does everything he can, and saves Tris. I kind of have hope for Peter now. I don’t know whats going to happen to him in the future, but you just never know.

6. The End of Insurgent

Come on! That cliffhanger, where they watch the video, and you see Edith Prior and then things go to chaos and then the book just ends! I remember thinking, this can’t be happening. I read Insurgent when it came out nearly a year and a half ago, and I thought, there is no way that I have to wait that long to figure out what happens next. I seriously think its one of Veronica Roth’s best moments because she knows exactly how to create a huge drama, and then just leave you hanging, panting, dying for the next thing to happen. Its intense and insane.

5. Knife Throwing Scene

Okay, so Four decides, hmmm, I’m gonna throw knives at Tris to teach her a lesson or something and he nicks her ear on purpose and makes her bleed. He’s a total jerk in that scene. But for some reason, every single girl who has read that book loves that scene and we totally fall even more in love with Four than we already were. We’re all mentally thinking, I wish a boy would throw knives at my head in a desperate attempt to tell me how much he is in love with me. It literally makes no sense whatsoever, but it just is one of those scenes that sticks with you. That’s why it was the VERY first still that was released from the filming. And even though its kind of crazy, I think it also shows the strength and fear in both of them, testing each other strengths and fears in that moment. Its a bonding moment for them, though they don’t even know it.

4. Four’s Fear Landscape

I like this scene because this is the moment that you realize there’s so much more to Four than just that tough guy, stoic attitude. He has fears, not a lot of them, but they’re all so real and full. I think showing Tris really is his way of telling her how much she means to someone. The fear landscapes open us up to a person, our souls, and you sort of lay yourself bare to a person when you show them  that. By taking Tris into his landscape, and even letting her discover his true identity, he is opening himself up to Tris, completely. Its a beautiful scene. For the first time, you sort of believe that Tris is just as strong, if not stronger, than Four

3. The Ferris Wheel

There are two ways in which I love this scene. First off, you get the fact that Tris is incredibly intelligent in the scene and that she shouldn’t be underestimated. Ever. While everyone is bickering on how to handle the Capture the Flag situation, she decides, I’m going to climb this ridiculously huge Ferris Wheel in order to see what the other team is up to. And she does it, she shows the bravery to do it as well. But I like it as well, because I think that this is the turning point for Four when it comes to Tris. I think he had always noticed her, she was another Abnegation transfer, but this moment where she just shows her ultimate bravery and she’s so calm, it stands out to him. It also helps that climbing this far up, being high up, is a fear for him, and to see her tackle it is huge. Its a scene that I’m dying to see in the movie. I can’t wait for this.

2. Four’s First “I Love You”

Screen Shot 2013-10-21 at 12.23.20 PM

This really speaks it all. Its the most absolute perfect way for it to happen. It reminds me so much of my own first “I love you” with my boyfriend. It was absolutely perfect. Its not the way you picture it or imagine it. Its not beautiful or over-the-top, but its amazing. Its amazing just exactly the way it is. So I can’t say much more than that. Its beautiful. It shows the perfection of them as a couple.

1. Tris’ First Jump

I think I knew I loved Tris as a character when you see the way she is in her simulation but when she decides to switch to Dauntless and she is the first one to jump into that chasm, where she just has to have faith that there will be something down there to catch her…its the moment that Tris becomes one of my absolute favorite characters. Tris is the only transfer from Abnegation and everyone is making fun of her, and they’re already underestimating her before she can even do anything and the fact that she undresses herself a bit and throws it at Peter, and then takes that first jump. Its beautiful and I love that scene. Its also the scene where she and Four meet for the first time, and where she changes her name from Beatrice to Tris, so I just love it. Its the one scene where I’ll probably tear up and jump up and down in my seat for in the movie. Of course.

*      *      *      *      *

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Tuesday Top Ten. Now I must go to my bed, curl up with my Kindle and dive into this book.

If you don’t see me for a few hours, that’s where I am!

Share your own Divergent and Insurgent moments in the comments below! NO spoilers for Allegiant! 

Fandom Friday-Divergent Trilogy

Leave a comment

The Fandom Friday is a weekly feature, page with each blog post written by a new contributor.

This is the weekly post where either myself, approved or a guest blogger, talks about a new fandom. See, I’ve had the experience in my life where I’ve been made fun or put down about my particular fandoms. And that has made me feel pretty crappy. But I’ve also put down other fandoms as well.

So I’ve decided to change that. I’m opening my world up to new fandoms, and the best way to do that is to bring people in to write about various fandoms. I’m very excited about this segment.

If you guys are interested in becoming a guest blogger for the Fandom Friday, feel free to email me at whatanerdgirlsays at gmail.com or contact me HERE. 

*     *      *     *     *

Today’s guest blogger is…not a guest blogger because it is ME.

This week I’ll be talking about a book series that you all may have heard of:

The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

photo-1

The Divergent trilogy has been in the “news” a lot lately. In about two months, the third and final installment of the series, Allegiant, will hit book stores. Not much has been said about the book and we’re all waiting in barely concealed anticipation for this book. It’s also in the news a lot as the movie, which doesn’t even release until March, is already garnering big hype, and being compared to the YA blockbuster, The Hunger Games.

A big reason why I decided to write about Divergent is because I wanted to share two things. For those who haven’t heard of it, I can enlighten you on this seriously amazing book series. For those of you who have heard of it, and have heard The Hunger Games comparisons, I want to show you that NOT all YA books are the same, even if they are in the same genre, like dystopian.

About the Trilogy

So let me tell you a little bit about the series. It is a young adult dystopian series that is a trilogy. The first book is Divergent, followed by Insurgent, and ending with the soon to be released Allegiant. The books are written by the beautiful and talented, Veronica Roth, who is the same age as me, and for that alone, I admire her. The book series follows the main character of Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior. Tris lives in our world, but in the future, when wars have torn apart the country. As a solution, a new society is created and everyone is split into five factions that represent the virtues they feel is necessary to have a functioning society. The five factions are Erudite (valuing intelligence), Abnegation (valuing selflessness), Dauntless (valuing courage and bravery), Candor (valuing honesty) and Amity (valuing peace).

Beatrice lives with her family in Abnegation, but she is sixteen years old, and it is time to take the tests that show what faction she is most fitted for. However, when she takes her aptitude test, it is revealed that she has shown connections to three different factions (Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless), that she is a forbidden word: Divergent. Her test taker fixes her results, and sends her home, telling her to never tell anyone what was really said. When it comes time to make a choice, Beatrice sheds her gray clothing and her name, and joins the Dauntless, and she is Tris Prior.

Tris discovers that being Dauntless isn’t easy, and requires more bravery and courage than she anticipated. And being Divergent, and hiding it, causes more problems than she knew as well. The books follow Tris as she attempts to be accepted into the Dauntless family and she unfolds the mysteries that surrounded her society, and the secrets of being Divergent, and why the society is so afraid of them. As she delves deeper into the underbelly of the society, she learns more and more of what is being portrayed and what is really going on.

The first book in the series, Divergent, directed by Nick Burger and produced by Summit Entertainment, has already been filmed and is slated to hit theaters on March 20, 2014. The film stars Shailene Woodley as Tris, Theo James as Four, and includes many well known actors and actresses such as  Miles Tellers, Ashley Judd, Kate Winslet, Zoe Kravitz, Mekhi Phifer and more.

Where I Found It

Honestly, it was all sort of word of mouth for me. I had enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy immensely and several people kept telling me to read Divergent, that I would enjoy it a lot. I finally caved in and bought it on my Kindle, and stayed up all night reading it. I remember feeling pretty surprised at the cliffhanger and wanting to immediately read the sequel.

As luck would have it, the sequel, Insurgent, had literally been released that day. I immediately purchased it on my Kindle and started reading it at about 3 am. I had to convince myself that staying up all night was a terrible idea, but I read it the next day and finished it, and I was easily hooked.

Why You Should Be Reading It

I know what you’re thinking: another dystopian novel series? Isn’t that getting a bit old? And I can see where you are coming from. There are a ton of various dystopian novels on the shelves these days and its hard to pick ones that are good, because there are just so many to choose from. This is one that you definitely have to pick up, especially if you are a fan of The Hunger Games.

I think that Veronica Roth has this ability to appeal to both a male and female audience, even though the main character is female. She really presents a great story, with fully fleshed out characters and characters that are so important and easy to love, besides just Tris and Four. It is NOT a love story, though a love story is woven in there. This is the story of two people, who team up with so many others, to find out the truth of a country. The politics, and the psychology of this system that has been created as a solution to the problems of the past are SO interesting and they keep you racing through the pages as you watch Tris and Four try to figure it out.

I also think that Tris is an amazing character, a strong female character that remains strong. I find often times that a female character can start off really strong but then sort of loses that strength over time to whininess. I admire that Tris loses some of her strength at times, because she has gone through so much but she never loses her resolve and she never resorts to whining or any of that. She stays strong, even when she’s at her weakest, and I think that’s very important and will play an important part in the last and final book. I also think the character of Tobias “Four” Eaton is also important and fantastic as well. He is a strong character, whether you’re a boy or a girl reading this novel. He grew up in an incredibly abusive situation, both physically and emotionally, with his father, and escapes to the faction of Dauntless to get away from him. Learning this about Four, and seeing the strength that he has had to earn over time, and seeing his relationship with his father, is incredible. T

hese two characters alone are enough to read this book, and neither of them are my favorite character of the series! The series is filled with so many different, unique, believable characters that you can connect and relate to. Even though this is set in a world that is both recognizable and yet so utterly different, it is not hard to connect with these people and some of the things that are happening with them.

Plus there is all the action. From the moment Tris decides to switch from Abnegation to Dauntless, you are on an action packed roller coaster, as she fights her way through initiation and learns to fight, handle a gun, and learns what it really means to be courageous and fearless.

*      *      *      *     *

I hope you all enjoyed learning about the Divergent trilogy today. I know that there are many of you who have already read it, but I hope that those of you who haven’t will be encouraged to do so. There is so much awesome in this book, and there is also SO much to discuss as well!

Come back soon for a new Fandom Friday, and check out previous ones here!

Have you read Divergent? What did you think of it? How did you get into the books, and what would you say to someone that you were trying to convince to read it? As always, share in the comments!