So 2.5 to 3 stars really. It was what it was. On the predictable side with a plot line that has become the norm since Hunger Games. My reason for rating it as low as I did was mostly because I felt that a) it was longer than it had any right to be and could have used some more editing b) It became increasingly hard to care about Tris and c) the book became very repetitive towards the end. Several times Tris repeats thoughts very close. I don't hate the book but I'm not all the interested in picking up the next one in the series either.

I do not have words for the disappointment of this book. I expected so much from Zusak. I give him credit for the ambition of the novel I cannot get past how much I failed to understand character motivations or thought processes. The 19 and 20 year olds read more like middle aged characters. There's a lot of sex-shaming and "friendzone" angst from the lead character. It's very hard for me to get past some of the very poor choices Ed makes in the novel. Then the last part of the novel seems to hit the reader over and over again with another twist.

I so wanted to like this book. It wasn't that the book itself was bad but it felt wrong to me. I didn't feel the love of it the way I did in Book Thief and it didn't inspire me the way BT did. 2.5 stars.

I have never in my life been so disappointed with a sequel. I really enjoyed The Maze Runner and I was looking forward to this book but... Ugh. I don't have the energy to waste on all the things wrong with this but I'll list a couple.

First, the female characters are flat, uninteresting, and get very little screen time or development. Half of the named female characters are hopelessly in love with Thomas for reasons I find unfathomable. I was excited to meet the girls only to be exceptionally disappointed.

Second, Thomas is possibly the worst choice for a hero I have ever seen. He is not only unsympathetic he is boring. He spends a great deal of the book past out (yes, I realize that's to get the dreams but it's still boring). The author got away with a lack of personality in the first book because Thomas spent so much time trying to figure out the world he was in. Now that we see Thomas's personality, he reads about as full and complete as a wet paper sack.

Finally I mention the other thing that really bothers me: we still have almost no answers for what is going on. Yes, that's because the characters don't either, but two books in I was hoping I'd know SOMETHING.

I will read the third book only because I'm a completionist. I went from recommending this series to wanting to pull my hair out over this book.

I don't even have words at this point.

What was the fucking point of these books?

SIGH. I can't even review I'm just too... UGH about it