Why I'm not a big fan of Divergent
I guess I jumped on the Divergent bandwagon a little late. I read Divergent several months ago when I first heard it was being made into a movie. Then, I immediately read Insurgent. The ending of that one pissed me off so I waited a while and finally picked up Allegiant and finished it about two weeks ago. I saw the movie around then too.
SPOILER ALERT: I'm going to talk about the ending. Don't continue reading if you don't want to know!
In my opinion, Divergent wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either. Initially, I loved the idea of the story. Post-apocalyptic, factions, wondering what was beyond the fence... I was fascinated. The first 75% of the first book was great; talking about Tris' initiation and her trying to discover what Divergence really meant. But then the war started and I rolled my eyes. Another one of these books?
What I really loved about the first book (the idea of factions and this weird society) was made completely irrelevant by the third book. And that pissed me off. It wasn't real life that I found fascinating, it was all an experiment. Stupid.
I hate how Veronica Roth switched the point of view in Allegiant. As soon as I opened up to the first chapter I knew that Tris was going to die. I even told Dan. Go ask him. I know her intensions in doing this were to make it easier to kill Tris (if Tris is the narrator and she dies, who is going to tell the rest of the story?) but really, this should have been thought of before she did the first two books in a completely different perspective. Series should have consistency, amiright?
And speaking of Tris's death... I don't mind that she died. Seriously. I love a writer that can kill off a main character. I think it shows that they're a good writer that is willing to take risks (JK Rowling is oh so good at this). But Tris's death bothered me because I feel like she died for nothing. Allegiant's plot was so stupid and made the first two books irrelevant so she was dying for something that was merely an experiment. Her death should have mattered and I feel like it didn't. And the way she died sucked too. They were trying to stop the Bureau from using the memory serum on people against their will so they... used the memory serum on people against their will? That's what Tris died doing? I think that's a really crappy death for the main tragic hero of an "epic" trilogy.
But there are a few things that I commend Veronica Roth for, that I think she did an excellent job with. The first being the character of Four. (PS- I refuse to call him Tobias. I had a professor once whose name was Tobias and I did not get along with him.) I read a lot. Like, a lot. I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a fictional character like I have with Four. I love him. He's tough, strong, fierce, smart and not perfect. He is an amazing character that acts like a real human being. He's conflicted. He doesn't always know what he wants. He fails sometimes. He makes the biggest mistake everrrrr in allying with Nita. And I wanted to punch him really hard. But I also wanted to hug him because real people make mistakes. So many protagonists in books are unrealistically flawless. Unless I'm watching The Avengers, I don't want superheros who are capable of anything. I want real people that I can relate to.
And, by the time I started reading Divergent they had just finished casting the actors and I knew Theo James would be playing Four, so the entire time I read the trilogy I pictured him in my mind. Which definitely worked to Four's advantage. OMGILOVETHEOJAMES.
And, Veronica Roth, thank you for standing firm in truth. She is a Christian and I'm thankful that she didn't throw all her morals away to write a good book. There are very few instances of cussing and a complete lack of sex. I appreciate it. And, she added little threads of scripture in there whenever she could. I see you Veronica, throwing Proverbs 27:17 around as the main reason Tris and Four are good together. And referencing constant forgiveness, grace and love as the motivation for sacrifice. I'm sure most people won't catch it, but I see the gospel through your story.
Okay, I'm finished. End rant. I'm going to go read Harry Potter again.
SPOILER ALERT: I'm going to talk about the ending. Don't continue reading if you don't want to know!
In my opinion, Divergent wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either. Initially, I loved the idea of the story. Post-apocalyptic, factions, wondering what was beyond the fence... I was fascinated. The first 75% of the first book was great; talking about Tris' initiation and her trying to discover what Divergence really meant. But then the war started and I rolled my eyes. Another one of these books?
What I really loved about the first book (the idea of factions and this weird society) was made completely irrelevant by the third book. And that pissed me off. It wasn't real life that I found fascinating, it was all an experiment. Stupid.
I hate how Veronica Roth switched the point of view in Allegiant. As soon as I opened up to the first chapter I knew that Tris was going to die. I even told Dan. Go ask him. I know her intensions in doing this were to make it easier to kill Tris (if Tris is the narrator and she dies, who is going to tell the rest of the story?) but really, this should have been thought of before she did the first two books in a completely different perspective. Series should have consistency, amiright?
And speaking of Tris's death... I don't mind that she died. Seriously. I love a writer that can kill off a main character. I think it shows that they're a good writer that is willing to take risks (JK Rowling is oh so good at this). But Tris's death bothered me because I feel like she died for nothing. Allegiant's plot was so stupid and made the first two books irrelevant so she was dying for something that was merely an experiment. Her death should have mattered and I feel like it didn't. And the way she died sucked too. They were trying to stop the Bureau from using the memory serum on people against their will so they... used the memory serum on people against their will? That's what Tris died doing? I think that's a really crappy death for the main tragic hero of an "epic" trilogy.
But there are a few things that I commend Veronica Roth for, that I think she did an excellent job with. The first being the character of Four. (PS- I refuse to call him Tobias. I had a professor once whose name was Tobias and I did not get along with him.) I read a lot. Like, a lot. I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a fictional character like I have with Four. I love him. He's tough, strong, fierce, smart and not perfect. He is an amazing character that acts like a real human being. He's conflicted. He doesn't always know what he wants. He fails sometimes. He makes the biggest mistake everrrrr in allying with Nita. And I wanted to punch him really hard. But I also wanted to hug him because real people make mistakes. So many protagonists in books are unrealistically flawless. Unless I'm watching The Avengers, I don't want superheros who are capable of anything. I want real people that I can relate to.
And, by the time I started reading Divergent they had just finished casting the actors and I knew Theo James would be playing Four, so the entire time I read the trilogy I pictured him in my mind. Which definitely worked to Four's advantage. OMGILOVETHEOJAMES.
And, Veronica Roth, thank you for standing firm in truth. She is a Christian and I'm thankful that she didn't throw all her morals away to write a good book. There are very few instances of cussing and a complete lack of sex. I appreciate it. And, she added little threads of scripture in there whenever she could. I see you Veronica, throwing Proverbs 27:17 around as the main reason Tris and Four are good together. And referencing constant forgiveness, grace and love as the motivation for sacrifice. I'm sure most people won't catch it, but I see the gospel through your story.
Okay, I'm finished. End rant. I'm going to go read Harry Potter again.
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