10/2013 loaned to Collin.

I didn't love this book like I wanted to. Or like I expected to. Considering it traded #1 spots with TFIOS the year it came out I was expecting something different I guess? Or I don't know. I'll just get into it...

I loved the premise of taking old and interesting photography and creating a story. However, about halfway through the novel I felt like the story became more about finding ways to insert the photographs wherever they may fit rather than letting them truly be a part of the story. The story wasn't about the photographs - they just lent to it. I don't know, it might just be a personal opinion thing. I just thought sometimes the photographs weren't really a necessary part of the plot. But like I said, I didn't think that until about halfway through. I loved the characters, and I am very excited to see what comes next.

SPOILERS

I especially want to see how the relationship between Jacob and his father develops, even though I suppose they won't be together much if at all in the next book. It made me sad to think that his parents pretty much passed him off to the psychiatrist and stopped trying to understand what he was going through. And it's sad to see even in a novel a parent who can get so wrapped up in his own problems that his child becomes less important.

Wish more people knew about this heartbreaking but uplifting book. Yea, that's an oxymoron of a sentence, but it's true. I loved Lina's character. I LOVED Andrius. And I kept waiting for something to happen - for someone to save the day. For them to go home. But this book is shockingly realistic. Sometimes there aren't happy endings for everyone. I loved the imagery in this book especially. It was haunting how well I could picture all of the settings. I wish I had been made to understand the NKVD a little bit more during the book, as well as more about Stalin and why this was happening to Lina and her family, but I understand that it was absolutely from her POV - we know what she knows.

Spoilers now:

The ending killed me for sure. I so wanted Lina's mother to live. Or at last if she died I wanted a beautiful scene on the beach where Lina and Jonas see their father and they run to meet each other in slow motion. I kept waiting for Jonas to die, so that surprised me. And I was confused about the focus on Lina's art. All of the descriptions I'd read about Between Shades of Gray said it's about a Lithuanian girl who sends messages to her father through her drawings. Well she sent one at the beginning and more much later, but we never heard about them again! So they weren't even that important in my opinion! Did her father ever get them? Did they get passed around and give hope and inspiration to others? Did they get dropped on the ground somewhere or taken by the NKVD? Wish there was some elaboration there. Finally, the bald man was one of my favorite characters. I hated him - and rightfully so. And by the end I understood him and his realizations made me heartbroken for all of the people Lina encountered.

I highly recommend this book. I had no idea this treatment happened in countries outside of Germany, Poland, etc. And the fact that people weren't even allowed to discuss it until well into the later 1900s is terrifying. Read it. Learn.

Originally read May 2012. I was amazed by this book. The setting is so unique despite its dystopian genre. It hooked me from the first page and I flew through it. There was not a dull moment!

I've heard a lot of people compare this to the Hunger Games and the resemblance is clear in the future dystopian society represented. There is also a strong female lead who it seems will be the one to lead a potential revolution.

I was absolutely thrilled with this book and I can't wait for the second.

UPDATE: Reread October 2013.

Still loved it. Still flew through it. Happy I read it again right before Allegiant and can't wait for the 22nd which right now is in 4 days!

I loved this book.

I thought that it was an incredibly fitting ending to a mind blowing series.

I don't even know where to start.

I guess with the POV change: I was EXTREMELY apprehensive about switching POVs between Tris and Tobias. I had been disappointed by Requiem - another final book in a trilogy that had a sudden POV change. However, Roth handled it extremely well and I was actually interested in what was going on in Tobias mind (whereas with Requiem I just frankly didn't care about Hana). It was great to see arguments and reasonings from both Tris and Tobias rather than just Tris. And it was nice to see that just because she was the protagonist didn't mean she was right all the time/knew everything.

Really from here on I just can't avoid spoilers. Sorry boutcha, but do not read on if you don't want the entire series, the rest of your life, all of your dreams...spoiled.

Life outside the wall: I was also inititally apprehensive about what the group found out from the Bureau. So everything that had happened in Chicago in the first 2 books didn't matter? Seriously? But what Roth did with Allegiant was show us that it DID matter. And just because someone - even someone in a position of power - tells you your life and choices mean nothing in the overall scheme of things, that doesn't mean it's true. Your life matters because you are a human being with thoughts and choices and emotions. This kind of goes along with the theme of inevitability in TFIOS - your life matters to the people who care about you and the legacy (however small) that you leave behind.
I really became more invested in the GD vs GP plotline the farther into the book I got. It wasn't completely separate from the themes from the first 2 in the series - that some people are better/more important than others. It was just on a much larger scale, which didn't even seem possible. I understand how some people could have been upset with Allegiant because it was just so different from the first two - a lot like Mockingjay. (And there I go again just comparing books - I can't help it!). It was different because much of it took place outside the city, and all of the excitement and world we had become attached to was inside the walls, within the problems of the factions. Allegiant threw those factions and all of their problems not just out the window, but off of a cliff and into a churning river. Suddenly Roth wants us as readers to care about a society that is too much like our own. It's in the US, there's airplanes and technology, there's not the escapist feeling that we sometimes felt in books 1 and 2 (although as John Green so aptly put it in his brief twitter reviews - why read Divergent as an escapist? Why would we want to choose that world over our own?). I think we just all wanted to be Dauntless. All that being said, I liked Allegiant's setting and plot for all of these reasons. Roth created this world - the US that was outside Chicago was there the whole time, we just didn't want to care about it and now we're forced to.

Other characters: I loved Christina, and Uriah (sigh). Hated Peter obviously. I am very intrigued by both Peter and Marcus because I think what those two characters show are the real truths of genetic damage. Clearly there are instances where genetic damage creates a human being so despicable and incapable of doing the right thing that it is a huge problem, but the bureau has generalized that all GD people are like Peter and Marcus, when they clearly are not. These books are SO AMAZING because now that we know about genetic damage vs. genetic purity we can go back and really analyze characters. We can figure out that some people are awful just because they truly cannot help it. And Roth took the time to show us each character's true nature before the series ended. I loved Tobias and Evelyn's happily ever after. I did feel that their reunion at the end was a little quick - really all it took was Tobias asking his mom to act like his mom? Is that not what he was wanting before? Hmm. Maybe Evelyn needed to go through the stresses of being in power for her to overcome her pride as Marcus wasn't able to do. Caleb - I wish we had gotten a better explanation for his actions in Insurgent, but maybe that's where his genetic damage comes in to play. He was mentally unable to make decisions informed by love over logic. I wish it had been addressed though. And Tris's revelation about David's love for her mother just felt a little unnecessary. I guess Roth was trying to make David more human, but at that point we just didn't really care and he hadn't been an active participant in the story enough. Tris - I wish we had received more information before the end of the book about why in particular Tris ended up with a set of genes strong enough to break through even a death serum? Was she just destined for greatness? What gave her such power?

And finally, Tris's end. I thought it was beautiful. Oh it was heartbreaking, and rage inducing, and life destroying, but it was also right. It was Tris. We couldn't ask for Tris to not be Tris. People want to know why she had to die even after surviving the death serum? Well, the irony has to be part of it. She showed her strength to conquer even the unconquerable, but then died at the hands of a gun by someone who claimed to love her mother. To be honest, when she and Tobias had their final moment, I predicted that Tobias would die. Mostly because I didn't think it was possible to kill of the protagonist. But then again, I understood at that moment why there was a transition into Tobias's point of view. Now he is the teller of the story. And frankly, he was from the start. He was as much a main character in this series as Tris was, we just weren't for sure until Allegiant. Tris's life burned short and bright, and she died representing everything that she so strongly fought for. I wish people wouldn't be so angry at Roth for Tris's ending. I can totally see how I could have finished the book, been angry that I was so miserable and couldn't stop crying, and just say that Roth is stupid for killing off someone so important to the series in such a mundane way. But NOTHING about Tris's life was mundane! Honestly, what else could we have expected from Tris? That she and Tobias would survive after so many times when they almost didn't and then find a high rise apartment in Chicago (or, alternatively, a little farmhouse in the country) and live happily ever after with 2 kids and a dog? That would be very Clockwork Princess of Roth to do, but it didn't fit the story the way it did in the Infernal Devices. And I even said at the end of my Clockwork Princess review that it was almost so 'too good to be true' that it just didn't feel right.

The end of Allegiant felt right. It felt real.

Am I heartbroken? Will I cry myself to sleep tonight? Yes. Am I blown away by Roth and Allegiant? Yes.

Thank you for such an original, well-written, thoughtful series that filled me with so much longing to be more than I currently am for the people I love and the people in the world who need my help. Tris is an inspiration.

Listened to this book in the car - only took a couple of weeks with my commute.
Most of the reviews I've seen talk about it being about 100 pages too long. I can see how I may have thought that if I'd physically read it, but listening didn't make it seem too long at all. The voice actor can really make or break a book like this and I thought he read it really well. I got great images of all the characters and I was truly interested in each of their individual stories. None of the lengthy descriptions really seemed unnecessary because they created an overall idea of what the author was trying to depict. Like Henry when he was going through his disgusting phase. It was gross to hear, but it really told you what he was going through.
I think the character I probably cared the least for was Pella, because as much as she acted like she was turning her life around, she kept doing things that didn't make a lot of sense. Like, for every good thing she did she also had to go do something dumb.
I really appreciate that this book at different points made me love and hate each character. There were no rose covered glasses in this book - people are people with their good and bad qualities.
Owen's dialogue was my absolute favorite.
That's about all I have to say I guess! I'm not going to gush like a YA novel because this novel isn't really one to inspire gushing. But it was good - and I recommend it.

Listened to this one on the work commute. I love Neil Gaiman. I just do. He made me interested in a young boy's thoughts and adventures, and I was so intrigued continuously by this book. I appreciate that it was more a study and observation of Bod's incredibly unusual and interesting life than it was a tale of murder and mystery. The writing was superb, and I loved the way Gaiman read it (he records all of his own audiobooks). So British in the best way.

Spoilers......

I was confused and saddened by Scarlet at the end. His one and only human friend and then even she was gone, without even a nice goodbye like they had when they were young. I never felt resolved.

I pretty much can't review this one without spoiling one or all of the books in the series so you have been warned.



This was my least favorite book of the series. I think it has a lot to do with that it is easy in dystopian series to get almost too big or too grand. (I felt the same way with Reached). The book and characters become part of this huge revolution but never addresses why Portland, Maine seems to be the hub of the entire country as opposed to like, a capital or larger place? And why Hana and Fred are so important when it seemed like the DFA in Manhattan was bigger in book 2. I really disliked the behavior between Alex, Lena, and Julian throughout the book. If Alex and Lena have this big love then why are they so hateful to each other? Why don't Julian and Lena talk like, ever? I think it bothered me (again, like the Matched series) that the first books focused so much on Lena and her relationships and then in the last book they had to take a backseat to this grand revolution.
I liked getting to know post-operation Hana, but then I was really disappointed by Hana and Lena's confrontation at the end. It seemed like a huge letdown considering they were the protagonists of the whole book. I don't want to make suggestions and pretend I would be a better author than Lauren Oliver but I really disliked how little they had to say to each other and I especially disliked Hana's ending.
There were a couple specific places where I really felt like the ending was a cop-out. First, when Hana was just wandering away in her wedding dress and she decides her future is unsure but that's just ok. The end. Um....
Second, Lena decides that she loves Alex after all and they have their little moment before they go to the wall, but then we never have to address how Lena is going to handle confronting Julian about it. Julian left for Lena, not so he could be free. I don't know, I just felt like there really wasn't much closure with any of the characters. And we don't get to talk to Tack about Raven at the end? Just so many unclosed doors.

Originally read: Jan 2010.
Reread: Nov 2013.

My rating went up from 4 to 5 stars on the second read. I think I had a better appreciation for the series - not just after seeing the movies but after reading a lot of other dystopian novels. This was really my first YA dystopian book and I think I didn't know how to take it the first time. I cared a lot more about the society and background of the story the second time whereas the first time I read it I cared more about Katniss and Peeta and Gale and the characters.

I will say - I think also what I didn't like the first time and still don't is Katniss. I just don't like her as a person. I don't like that she doesn't let herself feel any emotion, although I understand why she doesn't. I don't like that she seems to brush away the feelings of those close to her without trying to understand where they are coming from. I think she is so hell bent on protecting everyone who loves her that she doesn't take the time to love them back. I just don't like her. BUT I understand her. And I understand why Collins wrote her that way. And I can have an appreciation for her character in the context of the story.

Originally read Sept 2010.
Read Nov 2013.

Like The Hunger Games, my rating went from 4 to 5 stars with the second read. I liked this book more than the Hunger Games because of the settings, the deeper look into the true flaws of Capitol people, and just the excitement of the plot. I appreciated Peeta's character more during this read because he really is the person I relate to the most in the books. I talked in my review of the Hunger Games about how little I like Katniss and this continues in Catching Fire. She refuses the help of others but claims she's doing what she can to save those she loves. I know it comes from her lack of trust but she just rubs me the wrong way.
I know this could just be because I know how it ends, but I like Gale a lot less on these rereads. Hard to describe, but he is a really static, boring person. At least from my point of view.
The best part of Catching Fire is the arena. It's so interesting and I wanted to know what each part of the clock was!
I finished this book the day I saw the movie and let me just say - that was the best book to movie adaptation of all time. It was what I hope the Fault in Our Stars will be. Huge parts of the script were word for word from the book. It was INCREDIBLE. Also, where Johanna Mason was an okay character in the book, she is AMAZING in the movie. Honestly probably my favorite part.

Wish I had 4.5 stars for this one, but I figured I could be nice and just round up. I love these books. If someone were to describe the storyline and characters to me I would not be interested at all, but they are so superbly written! Cute but not fluffy, interesting but not weird, modern but not overly so. Lola is a fun and spunky character and totally not me, but I love that a focus of the book is loving yourself for who you are and knowing there will be someone out there who will also love you for who you are. One day.
And by the end I was in love with Cricket too.