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 Thoughts
in this 2nd (or maybe 3rd pass at this point, i have one thing to say and don't hate me for my social speak #LOVEIT!. i've decided that since Allegiant is due out in 1 week's time, i owed it to myself to re-read the first books so that i'm fully up to speed on who's alive, who we like, who we hate etc. Well, whatever i thought of Divergent before, i love it more now.
We are taken on a 'soul finding' journey in a sense where Tris, our leading female is 16 - coming of age and has to make the decision of whether she's going to take the safe path as stay in her family's faction - Abegnation and live a boring yet safe life, or if she's going to take a risk, and change EVERYTHING that she knows and transfer. It's not surprising the Tris has decided to transfer to Dauntless no less, and well, we see that she hits her stride during initiation.
she finds that she's much stronger than she thought, and she breaks out of her shell quickly. Along her journey, she makes actual friends in her fellow initiates, Christina, Uriah, and a few others. She also begins to feel an attraction to someone else, when she gets a sense from Four (Tobias) that there's maybe more to the trainer / trainee relationship.
What i love here is that not only do we get the complex story of a teen having to choose her life's path, but we get to see that evolve, and then we get to see the greater picture of what's happening in society and who's pulling the strings.
Where this first installment leaves us off is a GREAT bit of a cliffhanger. We see that there are evil intentions all around, and that Dauntless is a pawn in this. We see that folks that are supposed to be the good guys really are the puppeteers, and that's going to play out nicely i'm guessing in the final installments.
Good news is that i have Insurgent already so i can dive into it tonight, bad news is that i'm sure i'll finish it before Monday night so that will leave me feeling a bit empty until 10/22/13 comes around. ...more
I like when I coined a book and read it just before it becomes popular. That's what happened here
I wasn't sure if this was going to be all that interI like when I coined a book and read it just before it becomes popular. That's what happened here
I wasn't sure if this was going to be all that interesting given that the concept is that love makes people crazy and do crazy things. But, what was nice here is that we didn't get just the black and white POV of to love or not to love, but we get this mixed in with a bit of class bias and some troubled family history that makes you want to solve the puzzle.
Lena makes for a great main character. Strong minded and independent, but also somewhat afraid to go against the grain since her family already has a few marks against it. Sex, well, I don't even know where to begin. He's off the grid, and mysterious enough to make you want forget all common sense. Just because it makes you feel good .
The writing here by Lauren Oliver was nicely done. I really got the sense of how society was under constant watch and fear, and if you were one of the have nots or were from the wrong part of town, life could be that much worse. I can't wait to see where this series takes us, since I really want to root for Lena and Alex, and Hanna too...more
I've rad quite a few stories like this one, where the world as we knew it has rejected itself, forcing society into these safe zones or domes. This meI've rad quite a few stories like this one, where the world as we knew it has rejected itself, forcing society into these safe zones or domes. This meant that I wasn't overly impressed with the idea of reverie, however I liked how it led into the journey that we were taken on. This story began well enough with our main aria trying to find out if her. I'm was safe, and of course takes a turn for the worse. Because so much fear was instilled into her head, she fears for her life when she's exiled (which I have to say ways very predictable) in any event, I like that it takes some time for us to figure out why she's able to survive and I enjoy the puzzle of trying to figure out what that means for her, for perry/ the tides, for reverie....
I really enjoyed my first foray into Veronica rossi's world and I can't wait to see what's next. The character development was nice and the creativity of the gifted was a new and fresh take....more
We all clearly know by now that i'm a HUGE fan of all things dystopian and while i'm waiting for January 22nd to roll around so i can read the follow We all clearly know by now that i'm a HUGE fan of all things dystopian and while i'm waiting for January 22nd to roll around so i can read the follow up to Legend by Marie Lu (book 2 being Prodigy), i stumbled across Uglies which is in fact quite a good book 1 of the series.
Tally Youngblood is our lead female and we meet her when she's on the cusp of her 16th birthday - the turning point for EVERYONE in civilization because that's the birthday when you are turned from being an 'ugly' to being a 'pretty'. The mindset here is that one of the key drivers to the downfall of past civilization (namely ours at present) is that people didn't look the same and therefore there was a lot of jealousy and things weren't fair. see....we know this to an extent, yet in Uglies - they actually take a step towards making everyone the same.
So...Tally is one of the last in her class to turn 16 so she's quite lonely in 'Uglytown'. Her best friend Peris (a guy actually) has already turned and she's constantly wondering if he's going to care about her, if e misses her and if there's a future for them...as friends or whatever. So as she used to do quite often and as she does a bit now still, she sneaks across the river to 'New Pretty town" - the part of the city that they have set aside for folks that have JUST been turned pretty - aka. 'new pretties' and tries to see if she can find him. What she finds is that yes, Peris does recognize her, and she him, and he 'says' that he can't wait for her to turn, but that he doesn't want her coming back to the city until she's pretty. This leaves Tally feeling even more rejected. So - to make her escape back to Ugly town (because it's a HUGE CRIME to be in Pretty Town when you're an ugly) she has to pull a trick, causes alarms to sound, and rushes back to her home. On her trip, she encounters Shay, another girl who's the exact same age as her, and is in the same habit of sneaking across the river to see how things are.
Shay is our next main character. Shay has this idea in her head from many of her friends that there's an alternative to turning pretty and that in fact it's a really bad thing to become pretty. She's heard from friends and seen for herself that there's a group of people who've runaway and gone to live in the Smoke. she herself hasn't actually been to the Smoke ,but she's met people who are from there and even knows their 'leader' David. She tries to convince Tally that it's much better to go to the Smoke and teaches Tally all she can so that Tally will come with her.
Alas, this is all for naught since Tally actually WANTS to be pretty and wants to join her friends in New Pretty Town. Shay decides to runaway any way and from that point on, no one's life is the same. Shay leaves directions for Tally in case she has a change of heart and kind of prays that it's the case since they've grown close in such a short time.
See....Special Circumstances has been watching the situation with Shay and her friends - noticing that there were bunches of runaways and hearing about The Smoke. They in a sense FORCE Tally to work with them to find the Smoke and tell her that they won't turn her pretty unless she helps them find the Smoke. So...she agrees....and that's when things get exciting for Tally.
So here are the questions on where the story goes:
1) What happens for Tally? Does she make it to the smoke? Does she help out Special Circumstances? Does she turn Pretty?
2) Now that we've met Shay, David and Peris, what is their story and how does it unfold?
3) What's the deal with the Pretties? Are they all Happy all the time?
so...now my only sadness is that Pretties (book 2) and Specials (book 3) aren't available in Nook book ebook from Barnes and Nobles so i have to figure out a way to get my hands on the next installments cause i REALLY want to know how things unfold. It's definitely going to be interesting based on how the last few chapters of Uglies unfurled. There were many twists and turns that i was expecting, yet that didn't take away from the anxiety....more
It's been a while since i've read this story and i felt that i owed it to myself to check it out again. Falling into the somewhat Dystopian genre, JamIt's been a while since i've read this story and i felt that i owed it to myself to check it out again. Falling into the somewhat Dystopian genre, James Dashner takes us to a place that's so unepected and so confusing and anxiety ridden that you have no choice but to sit back and read through the whole thing in one sitting.
The Plot: we are introduced to The Glades through the eyes of Thomas who has no memory of anything yet he seems to have a basic understanding of what things are (i.e. he knows what the names of things are but he doens't know why he knows them and who might have taught him). As a matter of fact, everyone in the Glades is in the exact same place. so back to Thomas - the story opens up with him waking up from who knows what in an elevator type thing called The Box, being raised to the surface of the Glades but not knowing at all what's going on. He hears people talking above him in words that aren't familiar to him, and that adds to the anxiety.
So when Thomas comes to the surface, he meets a mini-society of boys - all who again have no memory of anything before the Glades and they are trying to survive in this environment where ironically enough, everything is provided to them (through The Box) and the sun is always shining etc. Ideallic in a weird sort of way. until you think about one more thing. They are 'trapped' in The Glades by a series of Walls that close every night. Outside these wall lies a huge MAZE that the boys are hoping leads to an exit - a way to get out and get home. Although things seem relatively managed and orderly in the Glades - it's not quite that perfect. Everyone wants to get back to whatever they left behind, and they feel like they are being held captive....and the only way out they feel is through the Maze - yet every night the maze changes so there's no clear cut way to get out. And to top that off, there are these horrible creatures called Grievers' that come into the Maze at night and kill whatever is in their path.
So - prior to Thomas' arrival at The Glades, things had been happening in a regular manner. 1x each month (the same day) 1 more person would arrive through the Box. Each week, the same time, supplies would come through the Box. That's all until Thomas arrives. The next day, another person comes up in the Box, and that's not the only loop - it's also A GIRL. girls have NEVER come to the Glades before. Also, although Thomas has no memory of things before the Glades, he feels familiar for some reason, and the girl seems familiar - yet he has NO IDEA WHY.
The Maze Runner takes us through the lives of the Gladers and how Thomas lives his time there. He feels deep down that he should be one of the Maze Runners - one of the guys looking for an exit and doesn't know why or if he can do it. Lots of suspense, lots of intrigue and lots of nail biting with all the curves that are thrown in.
Check it out - 5 stars out of 5 and i don't give a perfect score often!...more
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