Divergent by Veronica Roth

From Goodreads: 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, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I distinctly remember a friend of mine telling me to read Divergent, as it was the "best book everrrr" in my grade eleven politics class, however, I said "naaah, I've read enough dystopians". I also distinctly remember being at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago and picking up Divergent in the 40% off bin, reading the summary, and putting the book back in the bin. I had also seen the trailer, which looked cool, but it didn't make me want to pick up the book.  It seems like for the past 5 years, dystopians have ruled the YA book world and I'm kind of starting to miss vampires (JUST KIDDING!). They've been the it thing for a while now, and I'm kinda over it. But...

If I could stare at me from the past, I would tap her in the head reminiscing "You coulda had a V8" commercial.  In all honesty, although I loved The Hunger Games books as a tween and couldn't get enough of them, I've been ready to move on since three days after Mockingbird came out. I laid to rest all my THG feelings as people were just starting to get obsessed with it since the movie had been announced. But this time, the tables are turned. Whaddup Divergent fandom!

Divergent's story is not one we've never heard of, a futuristic north-american setting where families are divided into fractions (Dauntless, Abnegation, Amity, Erudite, and Candor) that determine their ways of life and at the tender age of sixteen, a teen must chose whether they want to remain in the same fraction with their family or transfer into a new one, starting a whole new life. (This vaguely resembles figuring out your post-secondary studies).  Without giving away any spoilers, I wondered how Divergence was going to come into play all 400+ pages of the book and once it was finally a factor, near the end of those 400+ pages, we finally got to the actual meat of the story. There were a lot of predictable paths that the book chose to follow but  enough surprises to make up for it and to keep me reading.  A lot of the book is spent preparing for the actual story and in that time we learn more about how the society works, Beatrice, and those who surround her. Although many have said that the society is just so unrealistic and simplified (I agree), I've chosen to overlook that because its dystopian. Its a twisted futuristic world, and I chose to put aside my own ideas of how the world works ant to just let the book take over for me. But there's something about the book, maybe it's Roth's writing, her characters, or the idea of being Dauntless that gives it that little twinkle for me.

Divergent and all of its character, is the book I've been waiting for, for a very long time.  Beatrice is my favourite heroine in years. She is strong and sometimes vulnerable, smart, quick, and inspiring. I don't think I've ever loved a character as much as I love her, a strong female character with flaws, though none of them are due to her gender. Thank you Veronica Roth!

Divergent is not only well written, but inspiring. In the back of the novel, there were fraction manifestos, a breakdown of what each fraction stands for. It was easy to pick touching points from each fraction's manifesto, though I have to say that Dauntless had my favourite lines. 

We believe that cowardice is to blame for the world’s injustices.

We believe that peace is hard-won, that sometimes it is necessary to fight for peace. But more than that: We believe that justice is more important than peace.

We believe in freedom from fear, in denying fear the power to influence our decisions. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.

We believe in acknowledging fear and the extent to which it rules us. We believe in facing that fear no matter what the cost to our comfort, our happiness, or even our sanity.

We believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves.

We believe, not just in bold words but in bold deeds to match them. We believe that pain and death are better than cowardice and inaction because we believe in action.

We do not believe in living comfortable lives. We do not believe that silence is useful.

We do not believe in good manners.

We do not believe in empty heads, empty mouths, or empty hands.

We do not believe that learning to master violence encourages unnecessary violence.

We do not believe that we should be allowed to stand idly by. We do not believe that any other virtue is more important than bravery.

I can very much understand why the Divergent series has such a following and why it will be a feature film in 2014. It has a star potential. Talking about the film, I think the casting is pretty good and I'm very excited to see it. However, if you'd like to stay away from spoilers, I'd stay away from any comment sections...and any of Ansel Elgort's interviews for that matter.

What are your thoughts on The Divergent world, was it too unbelievable for you to enjoy?

My answer? Well, I'm off to pick up the sequel, Insurgent, from Wal-Mart's 40% off bin.

Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles #1) by Lauren DeStefano

From Goodreads: 

On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 16-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan's older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.  Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially when she meets Judas. He is the boy being blamed for the murder — betrothed to the victim — but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find — or who she will lose.
While reading the summary for Internment one might find themselves a little confused. What do these terms mean? What do you mean they're on a floating island in the clouds? Ummmm. That is also how I felt while reading the first few chapters of the book. I was slightly distracted and slightly confused which didn't encourage me to pick up the book while on the bus in favour of my earphones. However, that's what I did. And soon enough I was completely into the story and loving ever second of it.

Being completely honest, I didn't really feel like reading a YA dystopian novel, but something about Perfect Ruin pushed me to do so. I really loved the characters, the plot, and the book as a whole. It was fast paced, and fortunately, not showy or exaggerated like many of the YA dystopians today. It was smart and mature. BUT I did get increasingly annoyed about the possible love triangle that might be forming, because I find it so unnecessary at this point in the story.  Although I haven't had a chance to read the final book in the Chemical Garden trilogy, I know that DeStefano can write a good dystopian. That's for sure. And she did a great job with Perfect Ruin.

 As a reader, I  would have preferred that this were not a trilogy. I think it would have been much more fulfilling to  simply write a novella about this and conclude it.  But of course I don't know what DeStefano has planned for the series and I can only hope it keeps getting better, I am certain that it will be an epic series.  The conclusion to the first book definitely left me wanting more, it was the cliff hangers of cliff hangers, and I will definitely pick up a copy of the sequel.

You'll want to read this one, you'll be left in the clouds.

Fever by Lauren Destefano

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever

Fever picks upright after Whither.  The surroundings are no longer beautiful sceneries, the mansion, no more forbidden kisses shared between Rhine and Gabriel.  We are now in the real world, with real hostility, danger,and fear that the Rhine and Gabriel must face after escaping Linden's mansion.

Rhine and Gabriel's relationship suffers some trauma after being forced into a carnival that specializes in prostitution and trafficking.  There, they meet new people that become pivotal to the story line, including a malformed baby.  Rhine's main goal throughout everything is to reunite with her brother, Rowan but as usual...things don't go as planned.  And the whole life Rhine has envisioned for Gabriel, Rowan, and herself, is now far from reality.

I enjoyed the book, probably not as much as Wither since I liked the idea of a forbidden romance, as well as the whole mansion but it wasn't bad.  Now that Rhine and Gabriel's are out in the real world they have the chance to actually get to know each other, and not in the confines of Rhine's room.

I'm excited for the next installment in the Chemical Gardens trilogy since Fever kind of left us on a rather high cliff hanger.  Although Fever lacked some of what I loved in Wither, including a gorgeous cover ( Fever's cover was an awkward looking hot mess), I still liked it and I'll continue to give these books the GOLD Seal of Approval.

Read my review for Wither here