Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant, book review (Veronica Roth)

I might as well do these three all in one hit, because you're unlikely to read books two or three if you haven't read book one. (You might not read book two or three thought, once you've read book one!)

Okay, I'm going to just get this out there at the start: for me, Divergent always felt like the poor cousin to The Hunger Games. There, I've said it. (Dystopian trilogy: similarity number one).

Riding on the crest of a dystopian wave, we find ourselves in a world (well city really) of factions, five to be precise. At the tender age of sixteen, (similarity number two) the children of the city must decide how they feel about the world, and in which faction they want to spend the rest of their lives. (Most choose the faction they were born in).

Once that decision is made, it's faction before blood, but what if you don't fit in? What if you're Divergent? 

Well, if you're Divergent you need to keep it a secret, which Tris - our main character - manages to do reasonable well, before joining the police/army faction of Dauntless, meeting the love of her life, losing her brother to Erudite (the brains behind everything) and seeing her mother get shot. (Losing a parent: similarity number three). 
There's more in here than in some books but just not as much as The Hunger Games. 

It's believable, but all along I'm thinking there should be more, that something's missing. Well maybe I'll find it in book two, Insurgent.

NO, I didn't find it there.

Tris acts even more selfless than she does in book one, her boyfriend Four (or Tobias) - also divergent - rescues her again, but not before she opens the secret message that the Erudite have been so desperate to lay there hands on, only for the city to be told that the Divergent are their saviour, not their enemy. 

So, more of the same than, which as I say, is all quite good, but I still can't quite put my finger on what's missing. 

Book three then! Allegiant.

NOooooooooo!

This book starts off by telling the reader that everything they’ve read in the first two books is a lie. That all the people who died, died for nothing, that all the power struggles were for nothing, and (Spoiler alert) that the cities entire existence is just one big genetic experiment.

Oh come on!!!

It really felt like the author was on to something with the first two books, but this lets the whole story down. Developing characters and plot lines, creating a new world that is believable yet different, and then throwing it all away, was so disappointing. 

I did like the end though. It was a nice surprise when one of the main characters met his or her demise (no more spoilers here) and on this alone, the third book gains a second star. (I wonder if the soon to be released film will be faithful to this part of the book?) 

So to sum up: Three and half stars for Divergent, three for Insurgent and just two for Allegiant. 

N.B I watched the first two films with my kids and they're not too bad, so worth checking out. 

The Fault in Our Stars, book review. (John Green)

WOW!
Love the characters, love the style, love the way the author grabs terminal cancer by the balls and subjects the reader to a frank, no holes bared, journey of love, lose and despair.
The book is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a terminally ill, sixteen year old cancer patient, who falls in love with a fellow patient, (Augustus) who is in remission. There's teenage angst, disputes, love, anger and of course, a hell of a lot of heartache; but in spite of it all, this book left me wanting more.
It inspires hope where there is none, laughter where there's pain and like Hazel Grace and her unquenchable thirst for what happens to the characters in 'Imperial Affliction', I want to know what happens to her, and her parents, and . . .
I'm selfish, I want more.
So, a big fat four stars then. Hold on a minute! Four stars, FOUR!
Yes, four.
I loved so much about this book, but why Hazel Grace and Augustus had to go to Amsterdam to meet their favourite author, is beyond me. It would have been so much better if they'd visited because their favourite book was set there, or that they just wanted to experience the city. I realise that meeting the author ties in with the end of the book, but still felt it could have been handled differently.
Inspiration for the day goes to all the lovely people that work for Marie Curie, (www.mariecurie.org.uk) who in England, support the terminally ill. God bless them.