Review: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 487
Format: Bought
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Summary (From Amazon for once):

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.

My Favorite Line(s): 
"My first instinct is to push you until you break, just to see how hard I have to press." he says, his fingers squeezing at the word break.  My body tenses at the edge in his voice, so I am coiled as tight as a spring, and I forget to breathe.  
His dark eyes lifting to mine, he adds, "But I resist it."
"Why..." I swallow hard.  "Why is that your first instinct?"
"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up.  I've seen it.  It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again.  Want to see you awake."
-AND-
"I have a theory that selflessness and bravery aren't all that different."

Why I Loved It: I've had a hard time writing this review.  It almost seems like nothing I say could possibly be good enough for this book.  I hated school, work, and sleep.  They were all getting in the way of Tris's world.  Let's just drop all pretenses.  I was living in that world.  And I didn't want to leave.  My heart was broken as I came to the last page because the book was over, and my world was too cheery, too un-dystopian *not sure if that's a word*,  and Tobias-less.  Can there be anything more depressing?

Tobias was my sole reason for reading, breathing, eating, and sleeping this week.  He stole my heart faster than he stole Tris's.  He was perfect and makes me scorn the men around me for not being more like him.  Alas, this is where reading gets dangerous; when reading is more appealing than my own life, I start to think about counseling.  Oh don't judge me.  It's happened to every avid reader.

Ok so get past the boy.  What do you have?  Actually there is a lot.  Ms. Roth has created this huge world that can be overwhelming with mysterious tensions and secrets.  I kept forgetting that the story was only taking place in just the city of Chicago.  As I read, I could picture the broken city, jumping on trains, seeing the homeless.  It was so very real in my mind and was so because the details and storytelling is just incredible.  I felt transported into this whole other world, and I felt the secrets pulling and tugging at me to get answers.  My life was filled with adventure, and I never wanted it to end.

Who Should Read It: I'm not saying it's like the Hunger Games.  It's not.  But people who loved the Hunger Games will probably love Divergent.  It's true.  Dystopian fans, sci-fi meets action meets romance fans *if that's even a type* will love the book.  Really anyone who loves a great adventure and a good government cover-up is due for a date with this book.

My copy of Insurgent is pre-ordered.  I can't wait to devour it.

        

Review: Secret Society

Author: Tom Dolby
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 352
Source: Library
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Summary:  Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. . . .
An eccentric new girl. A brooding socialite. The scion of one of New York's wealthiest families. A promising filmmaker. As students at the exclusive Chadwick School, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch already live in a world most teenagers only dream about.

They didn't ask to be Society members. But when three of them receive a mysterious text message promising success and fame beyond belief, they say yes to everything—even to the harrowing initiation ceremony in a gritty warehouse downtown and to the ankh-shaped tattoo they're forced to get on the nape of their necks. Once they're part of the Society, things begin falling into place for them. Week after week, their ambitions are fulfilled. It's all perfect—until a body is found in Central Park with no distinguishing marks except for an ankh-shaped tattoo.

I didn't love it. That being said, I didn't hate it. I guess I could say that the book was ok. I had checked it out from the library a while ago, and the book was due soon so I thought I would spend Thursday reading it. I had almost finished it when I went to bed... and then my body decided that it's on a weird sleeping schedule and woke up me up at 3:30. When I finally decided I wasn't going to get anymore sleep, I finished the book.

I guess my main problem with the book was the lack of credible detail. There were certain parts when I knew the characters were afraid, but I didn't feel afraid with them. There were also moments when I thought, if this "Society" is truly that intense, they wouldn't have gotten by with that. After the murder happens in the book (it's first shown in the prologue), it didn't seem like someone had been murdered. I kept asking my book, where's the emotion? Why aren't you making me feel this supposed fear that the characters are feeling. I guess it didn't help that the book was divided among four different points of view. I've seen that work in books, but this was not one of those. I felt like I was missing important parts of the story line. Secret Society was one of those time-filler reads where it will entertain you, but you don't have too much of an opinion about it afterwards.

Though I wasn't crazy about the book, there were certain parts that I really liked. Dolby did a great job at portraying success the way teens see it. There were clear pressures and intensities that every teen feels with a extra dose of crazy since the book takes place in the Upper East Side among private schools. I have a guilty pleasure for all things uptown New York City which is why I picked up the book in the first place. I also have a "slight" crazy for Ancient Egypt so that was a bonus for me.

I know that this was Dolby's first attempt at YA literature so I might read the next book in the series (The Trust) if I come across it really cheap somewhere, and I'm out of things to read.