Divergent

Review Time!

This time, it's Veronica Roth's Divergent - a thrilling dystopian novel in which sixteen year old Tris must make decisions that will change her life for ever.

There have been a lot of dystopian type novels lately, and although I read some, I don't read too many of them. But that's probably just because my library doesn't have too many of them, and I don't buy too many books, if only because they're so expensive here.

Anyways, whilst I was in London, I did, as mentioned earlier, some serious book shopping.

One of the books I bought was as you've probably figured, Divergent.

I wasn't entirely convinced if I would like it or not when I bought it, but it seemed interesting so I chose it. I started reading it once I got back home, and finished it in under a day.

For me, it's a good book if I can get into it enough to read it all in one go without feeling the need to stop reading and taking a break.

Divergent was well written, and I really did enjoy reading it, but I had a few issues with it; the main one being that several loose ends were not tied up, or even given any thought. The book was really mostly about Tris' new life with the Dauntless faction (having left her old faction, Abnegation, behind). And whilst that was all well and good for me, the author kept raising questions that made me want answers to them - answers that were never given.

One example of a question like that was "Why are they closing the gates from the outside?" Was it to protect the city from unknown dangers (and what would those dangers be?), or was it to keep everyone inside? None of these questions were actually answered, or even adressed more than just to be asked, and that was quite disappointing.

It detracted a lot from the rest of the book, in my opionion, because I kept on waiting for at least one of them to be answered and explained.

But other than the loose ends, the book was good, exciting, fastpaced and original. I loved the idea of different factions, and then having to choose, because the idea is something I haven't really seen much of before. I've read something along the same lines once, but I cannot for the life of me remember what book it was.

Anyways, I definitely recommend the book, because it's a great read!

xx Emma

Listening to: Rox in the Box - The Decemberists

Gone

Gone is the first book in a series of four by Michael Grant.

I initially chose the book because they had a three for two deal at a bookstore I went to in London, so I needed another book to read. What had caught my attention was the highlighter yellow sides of the book (I'm a sucker for those kinds of books - whoever said not to judge a book by it's cover didn't know what they were talking about), and so I picked it up, read the back, and bought it.

Gone is a revisit to a Lord of the Flies style plot, although modernized to fit the world of today. All of a sudden, everyone over the age of fifteen disappears, leaving the FAYZ, or Fallout Alley Youth Zone in chaos. It's an interesting twist on the classic novel, and certainly exciting and intense.

At the same time, it is clear that the book is meant for slightly younger ages. It's definitely not a young adult novel, and is consequently not written as such, but for a light, fast read, the book is great.

Personally, it didn't make enough of an impression for me to want to buy the rest of the series, but I would for sure borrow the books if my library had them. Grant approached the Lord of the Flies theme from a new angle, and added his own touches - the science-fiction elements, for example. Some of the teens began to develop powers of different types, and there were several more teenagers who didn't turn savage and try to kill the ones who disagreed. However, the leader of the 'evil' teenagers is indeed power hungry, and consequently traps the hands of all of the teens with powers in blocks of concrete.

The book was a fast read, which was nice, but was still challenging enough to read that I didn't get bored by it.

For younger readers, this book is great - for older ones, not as much. Like I said, it was written from seventh grade and up, so the vocabulary wasn't too complicated. If anyone has read the sequels to Gone, leave a comment and tell me what you thought of it!

xx Emma

Listening to: Jocasta - Noah and the Whale

I Am Number Four

Another book I read this summer was I Am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore.

I thought that whilst it was a relatively easy read, it was also a very exciting one, and I finished the book the same day I bought it. The book was well written, and with a creative and original plot-line that didn't remind me of any other books - something which is somewhat difficult to avoid nowadays.

I enjoyed the quick pacing of the book, and the little plot twists that keeps the reader on the edge of his seat the entire time. Like the dog, Bernie Kosar: until the end, I kept thinking that he was a Mogadorian spy dog of some sort. Little did I know that he wasn't evil after all. Which was a nice surprise for me.

My two biggest issues with the book were one, the big size of the text and two, the character Sarah. Firstly, I don't like reading books with really big text sizes; although this is only a personal thing - I just don't like it because it makes the book seem like its audience is for smaller children, instead of young adults/teenagers. But that's a matter of opinion, and really doesn't have much to do with with the book itself.

Secondly, the thing that I didn't like about I Am Number Four was the 'gorgeous' Sarah. Her character was very one dimensional - except for a paragraph describing her when they first met, there wasn't much description except for labeling her as gorgeous. It made her seem like a very flat, stereotypical popular blonde girl, except for that this one started taking pictures.

That's what I really liked about the movie adaptation, which I watched not very long ago: it fleshed out Sarah's and Mark's backstory slightly more, and more believably, than was done in the book. My main problem with the movie was that none of the details about Lorien, and what happened to it, were really explained, so the nine Children of the Garde may as well have been gifted humans, instead of aliens.

Either way, both the book and the movie were excellent. Exciting and tense, I Am Number Four was a fast paced, interesting and captivating book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes any sort of action and science fiction book!

xx Emma

Listening to: Satellite - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

One of the books I read this summer was The Things They Carried, by the acclaimed American author Tim O'Brien. He has written several novels, all war stories based on his experiences in the Vietnam war, and TTTC is one of his most popular ones.

Admittedly, I was assigned the book as my summer reading, so I don't know if I would have picked it up in a bookstore, but I'm glad I had to read it.

Basically, the book is a collection of several short stories that all relate to each other, all based on O'Brien's experiences during the Vietnam war. Each story reveals to the reader a short snippet of specific soldier's lives and experiences, giving us an overview of what life was really like for the men being drafted into the army at the time.

Personally, I loved the book. I was immediately sucked into the book, coming up for air only after each short story was finished. The stories were all varied, but they were all about the same cast of characters, so the short stories read like chapters more than anything else. Because of the way it is written, single short stories can be read, and the reader will still understand the context well enough so as not to get confused.

The book begins with a small disclaimer saying that except for a few details, everything is imaginary. This was the one thing that bothered me; I would be interrupted from my reading, trying to sort out reality. The Things They Carried is beautifully written, and reads very realistically, so I had a hard time figuring out if certain events were based on real life happenings or if they were made up.

Most likely, though, this was only something that I struggled with personally; other than me interrupting myself, the book was amazing. Well written, fascinating, and beautiful.

I hope that you will all read it sometime, because I definitely recommend it!

xx Emma

Listening to: Heavy Cross - Gossip

Welcome!

Hello everyone!

I'm Emma - 16 years old, an avid reader and, when the time permits, a writer.

I adore music, fashion and shoes.

On here I will be (as often as I have the time to do so) reviewing books, and occasionally movies, too!

Hope that you all enjoy.

xx Emma

Listening to: Two-Headed Boy, by Neutral Milk Hotel