Divergent

Divergent is the start of a great new series by author Veronica Roth. Veronica is a new writer, with this being her first published novel. She hangs out on Goodreads.com alot and blogs often.

Divergent is a young adult novel set in a dystopian world where society has broken down into different factions. Each faction has a specific purpose and serves a unique role in this society. This novel has drawn comparisons to the Hunger Games, and while there are some general similarities, it isn't the Hunger Games 2.0.  The story is a coming of age story with the main character, a teenage female named Beatrice Prior. (No, this is not the Hunger Games 2.0). Every year there is a ceremony where the young people have to choose which faction to join. Most end up joining the one they were raised in. Beatrice ends up choosing a different faction than the one she was raised in. She ends up leaving her home and family to join a new group of people to learn the new factions lifestyle.

Beatrice renames herself Tris and has to learn how to go from being raised in a peaceful faction, Abnegation, to learning how to fight, as she has joined the faction that is more aggressive and in charge of enforcing law and order - Dauntless. Much of the story's angst comes as Tris has to learn how adapt to this new lifestyle and her training with the other new recruits.  There are some emotional struggles for Tris, there is a lot of physical action and fighting, and there is romance as Tris falls in love with one of her trainers.

Divergent is written in the first person POV of Tris and while it took me a couple of chapters to get used to the style; it allowed me to easily read through the story in a matter of hours. While the world of Divergent doesn't have much depth to it, the characters are mostly well developed and their actions are believable. I had fun reading this book and it is one of those summer reads that you're glad that you read it and can move on to your next book.

Divergent is a good story overall, quick paced, easy to read with some good angst. At times, it was easy to tell this was Ms. Roth's first novel due to the simple writing style. The story was pretty linear with not much depth. However, I did enjoy the overall story and it is a page turner. I would recommend it for those that are looking for something fun and quick to read.

A Dance With Dragons

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My Initial Thoughts after my first read of this long awaited book:

You'd think that after spending 6+ years writing a book, it would be one of the best, if not THE best books of the entire series. Alas, I rank it just above A Feast For Crows (the previous book of the series), the worst book in the series. I had given Martin a pass on Feast, as Dance With Dragons and Feast were originally going to be one book and after the story kept growing, Martin decided to split the story and was going to put the 'good' storylines in DWD. However, what we got were alot of extra storylines about minor characters and even new characters who I could care less about. All the awesome characters that he developed in the first couple of books, Bran, Arya, even Sansa, etc. are barely addressed if at all. I'm very, very, very dissappointed in these last two books of what started out as a great new series.

At this point I don't care about the series. I don't see how an author can write 1500 (Feast and DWD) pages and not have anything interesting happen, and have very minimal story progression. Martin's writing style is very frustrating to read when there are no interesting story arcs. Each chapter is a different viewpoint, so there is no continuity amongst the chapters. Then it seemed like in each chapter I was just reading what the character was monologuing in his head, or reading conversations people were having with each other. He also tends to use alot of the same phrases over and over again. which came across as lazy to me.

Also, one of the characters spent half the book thinking about how he had killed his father to the point that I was bored of reading this characters storyline. This storyline had historically been a good one too.

I believe Martin has fallen into the trap of introducing new characters and writing endlessly about things that are BORING! He needs to hangout with Brandon Sanderson to get a clue on how to progress his story.

Then there were a couple of chapters that seemed so disconnected from the rest of the story and the writing was sooo disinteresting that I couldn't believe that it had been allowed to be published. It made me wonder if the editor had fallen asleep herself while reading this story and had accidentally skipped these chapters and it wasn't reviewed properly.

I know I just went off, but it is just unbelievable to me that a writer, with as good as Martin has been, could spend 6+ years and 900+ pages on a book and have it turn out so subpar as this book is. (Taken from my Goodreads.com review)

I will write a more in depth review at some point.

View all my reviews

December 2010 Book Club Selection

And for this month’s book club selection – the book that has been chosen is The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry.

The following is a synopsis from Amazon.com -

When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile in 1821, he took to the grave a powerful secret. As general and emperor, he had stolen immeasurable riches from palaces, national treasuries, and even the Knights of Malta and the Vatican. In his final days, his British captors hoped to learn where t…he loot lay hidden. But he told them nothing, and in his will he made no mention of the treasure. Or did he? Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone isn’t looking for trouble when it comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. Actually, it breaks and enters in the form of an American Secret Service agent with a pair of assassins on his heels. Malone has his doubts about the anxious young man, but narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally. Their first stop is the secluded estate of Malone’s good friend, Henrik Thorvaldsen. The wily Danish tycoon has uncovered the insidious plans of the Paris Club, a cabal of multimillionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging into a desperate hunt for Napoleon’s legendary lost treasure can Malone hope to avert international financial anarchy. But Thorvaldsen’s real objective is much more personal: to avenge the murder of his son by the larcenous aristocrat at the heart of the conspiracy. Thorvaldsen’s vendetta places Malone in an impossible quandary-one that forces him to choose between friend and country, past and present. Starting in Denmark, moving to England, and ending up in the storied streets and cathedrals of Paris, Malone plays a breathless game of duplicity and death, all to claim a prize of untold value. But at what cost?