loveallthis’s #cbr4 reviews 18, 19, 20: Insurgent, 2312, Angelmaker

(cross-posted from my blog.)

18 / Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent is the sequel to Divergent, which I reviewed earlier. It is, unfortunately, not quite as good as the first in the series. (The similarities to The Hunger Games continue!)

We learn much more about the other Factions in this installment, as well as unexpected things about our protagonists’ families. Other than that, there’s a lot of somewhat confusing double-crossing, teenaged angst, freedom fighting, and a promise that things will get more exciting in the as-yet-untitled third in the trilogy.

Three stars. Might read the next one.

19 / 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

I got a good hundred pages into 2312 thinking “holy shit, I finally found a ballsy female hard sci-fi author!” before looking up Kim Stanley Robinson and finding out that yeah, he is a dude.

In which case, (and I don’t know why I’d be easier on a woman – there’s probably something wrong with this) this is a pretty forgettable attempt at an Iain M. Banks-like story. Sprawling and with lots of characters (check), super-advanced human/alien diaspora (check), secret evil cabal potentially run by robots trying to control the universe (check), mysterious bombings of technologically advanced cities on far-flung planets (check).

This is a nicely-crafted and intellectually impressive book without a lot of heart. Like this summer’s unfortunate Prometheus, it’s a story about commuting. From Earth to Mercury to Mars to Saturn to Jupiter’s moons, with lots of shuttles and asteroids-turned-spaceliners in between, our characters hop around the solar system incessantly – all the while investigating who or what is behind the attacks.

There are some interesting bits, to do with body modification, art, music, and technology. The book’s 560 pages, though it felt significantly longer.

Three stars. A decent read.

20 / Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

This book, like Nick Harkaway’s first (The Gone-Away World) is nerd heaven.

We’ve got a literally-underground society of thieves in London, a terrorist organization of clockmakers, kickass nuns, and uber-makers who travel in a handcrafted train named after Ada Lovelace.

I’m not going to get into the plot, because it’s mostly an excuse to throw all of these amazing elements into conflict with one another. Plus, come on: if the list in the previous paragraph hasn’t already sent you to your local library’s website to put this thing on hold, there’s not much more I can say to convince you.

Four stars. Totally enjoyable.

loveallthis’s #cbr4 reviews 12, 13, 14: Divergent, Raylan, Zone One

(cross-posted from my blog.)

12 / Divergent by Veronica Roth

So: The Giver and The Hunger Games got busy, and nine months later, Divergent happened.

Future Chicago is on lockdown, and everyone who’s not homeless lives in one of five factions. Each faction is characterized by a quality and carries out its own task in the greater community. Amity’s all about getting along, and they farm. Abnegation members are selfless, and they teach and do community work. Erudite are smart, and they produce the tech. Candor don’t lie, and honestly I have no idea what they contribute. Dauntless are brave, and protect everyone from whatever’s outside. (It’s not very clear what happened in this world, or what the threat is. No matter: the danger comes from well inside the fence.)

Tris Prior, our young female protagonist, owes much to Katniss: she’s smart, vibrant, and none too fond of people telling her what to do. Her unlikely transformation from a weak, long-haired girl in Abnegation to a brave, daring, tattooed fighter in Dauntless is well-crafted and compelling. Oh, and because of course, she’s super-special in a particular way that gives her special abilities but puts her in danger.

This is not a brilliant book, but the solid combination of dystopian sci-fi, action, steamy teenage infatuation, drug-induced head games, and good old-fashioned train-jumpin’ and sneakin’ around is totally fun.

Four stars: sign me up to read the sequel. (Of course there’s a sequel.)

13 / Raylan by Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard is an executive producer on Justified, which is based on his short storyFire in the Hole, featuring the character Raylan Givens. Or, as I like to call him, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. (Sounds better that way.)

Now, Justified is one of the best-written, -directed, -acted shows on television. I was pretty excited about this book, which turned out to be a… totally okay, unremarkable, moderately enjoyable read with a completely forgettable plot and secondary cast of characters.

Boo, Elmore. Boo.

Two stars for an excuse to think about Timothy Olyphant for a few hours. (If you haven’t watched the show yet, do yourself a favor and start now.)

14 / Zone One by Colson Whitehead

I don’t love zombie stories; I find them a little too plausibly scary. So no, I don’t know what I was doing reading Zone One. We follow Mark Spitz, part of a civilian squad of sweepers who are clearing lower Manhattan after the zombie-pocalypse of recent past.

We figure out what happened to New York (and the world) through a series of reminiscences and flashbacks. I’m a sucker for backstory stories, so I really enjoyed piecing the history together.

In between the flashbacks, things go pretty well, then only somewhat well, then terribly, horribly wrong. I mean, come on. Zombies. Not good news.

Three stars. Unfortunately not my thing.

Krista’s #CBR4 Reviews #53-60

All right, I decided that I’m going to finish out the year reviewing all of the books I’ve read, even after the awesome 52! I’m almost at 67 (will be this afternoon/evening) so here’s the first batch of catching up reviews. Once I get the next bunch done, I plan on reviewing everything as I go along. It’s really hard to do a thoughtful review of a book you read months ago!

53. Maine, J. Courtney Sullivan

54. On Being A Servant of God, Warren Wiersbe

55. Insurgent, Veronica Roth

56. What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman

57. Defending Jacob, William Landay

58. The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

59. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

60. In Search of Eden by Linda Nichols

Sophia’s #CBR4 Review #22: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (2012) is Veronica Roth’s second book in her Divergent trilogy. I had some issues with Roth’s character and plot development in Divergent (2011), but it was still interesting enough that I knew I would finish this series.

And so what do I think of this second novel?

CBRIV: Book#13: Divergent Book 2: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

http://hotinkreviews.blogspot.com/2012/09/cbriv-book13-divergent-book-2-insurgent.html

CBRIV: Book#12: Divergent by Veronica Roth

http://hotinkreviews.blogspot.com/2012/09/cbriv-book12-divergent-by-veronica-roth.html

Amanda6′s #CBR4 Review 34: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Summary: “One choice can transform you–or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves–and herself–while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable–and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.”

I liked this one a lot, but I’m going to get kind of senior thesis-y, so the rest of my review is going behind the jump.

Amanda6′s #CBR4 Review 33: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Amazon: 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, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

This one has been reviewed already and loved by many, so I’ll not get too long-winded, and just add my voice to the chorus. I loved this one; I’m truly a sucker for dystopian YA, it seems! Books of this ilk will be inevitably compared to The Hunger Games for awhile, but while Divergent shares its tone of dark anxiety and element of dangerous competition, the novels are otherwise obviously different. I liked that the reveal of what it meant to be Divergent wasn’t given away immediately — it allowed suspense to build and the conflict to become more urgent. I did not like, as much, that some people were revealed as Divergent, a bit too conveniently, I think, toward the end; though Tris (the protagonist) still did have to force her own resolution without relying too much on these reveals.

I don’t have it in me to do a much longer review, so suffice it to say that if you’re into YA or dystopian lit, you should absolutely check this one out. I, myself, am waiting for the sequel to come off of hold at the library!

DragonDreamsJen’s #CBR4 Review #45 Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I’ve always found second novels in a trilogy hard.

I blame this almost entirely on George Lucas since I was part of the generation that saw the “first” Star Wars movies on the big screen (Don’t even get me started on that numbering system!)  I can still remember emerging into daylight from “The Empire Strikes Back” is a depressed, numb haze.  Han Solo was frozen in carbonite, Luke has not only lost a hand, he’d just discovered that Darth Vader was his FATHER and nothing felt quite right with the world.  The incredible joy and optimism I’d felt watching Star Wars had been replaced by a dark cloud and a little voice inside yelling “I have to wait HOW long until I find out what happens?”

There are plenty of first novels, most notably Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, that I wish had stood alone as books instead of being mucked with.  This is the single biggest change that I have noticed in the past two decades… the pressure to create stories, characters and worlds that can be broken up into installments, marketed and merchandised.  Whatever happened to simply telling a great story?

Given my apparent “secondbookaphobia”, I approached Insurgent with trepidation, especially since the first novel had impressed me so greatly. Veronica Roth’s amazing sequel to Divergent not only healed some of those scars… it may have healed some entirely. For the first time, I discovered a second book in a trilogy that I actually liked better than the first!

Since so much of this incredible tale depends on plot twists that blind side you, action that takes your breath away and the deepening of characters introduced in the first novel, I am not going to ruin anyone’s fun by giving away details that any website could provide.  Instead, I will commend Roth for her astounding ability to create such a unique, captivating and vivid dystopian fantasy.  I was so thoroughly engrossed in reading one section that my teenagers actually searched the house to see where Mom had disappeared to!

The strength of the main character, Tris, was also one of the reasons that I love these books. As John Wayne so aptly said “Courage is being scared to death – but saddling up anyway.”  Despite the traumas endured in the first novel and the shifting layers of her entire world in the second novel, Tris emerges as an empowering example for young women of pushing through fears and challenges while staying true to yourself.

The end of Insurgent took my breath away with its stunning revelations.  It also recaptured some of the joy and wonder of being able to imagine your own ending that is so sadly lacking in modern storytelling.  Like the ending of the movie Inception, there was the possibility to imagine what might happen beyond the story you’d just enjoyed.  Imaginative readers will have the chance mull over some intriguing options as they wait (I cannot promise that it will be patiently) for this accomplished writer to release the third book, so far untitled, in this innovative series.

Hardcover format, 525 pages, published in May 2012 by Harper Collins

DragonDreamsJen’s #CBR4 Review #43 Divergent by Veronica Roth

Every so often a novel comes along that shatters the mold of its genre and pushes the boundaries of what you expected.  In the slew of Dystopian novels I’ve read as part of the CannonballRead#4 challenge, Divergent stands out as the most unique and captivating first novel I’ve read since I bought a copy of The Hunger Games at a SCBWI conference in New York  in 2009.  My family devoured the book and knew long before the series became so popular that it was a story that stood apart from others.

Divergent is as unique a novel in its own way and perhaps even more captivating.  The plot has been summarized countless times but here are the barest facts for those who still have not heard about this story. It is set in a dystopian version of Chicago where society has been divided into 5 distinct Factions; Candor (who prize honesty), Abnegation (who embrace selflessness), Dauntless (who embody bravery), Amity (who seek Peace), and Erudite (who strive for knowledge).  Regardless of which Faction they grow up in, on the appointed  day of their 16th year, after special testing, each young person must publicly choose which Faction they will belong to or become one of the Factionless who live in abject poverty and squalor. The only problem is that a few special people can belong to more than one faction… their personalities are unique enough that they can be hunted.  Right before she has to choose, Beatrice Prior discovers that she is different… that she is Divergent.  Revealing that could endanger her new life as she leaves her Abnegation family and Faction behind… that is if the training to be accepted as a full member of the Dauntless Faction doesn’t kill her first.

Divergent took my breath away. This is the single most impressive book I’ve discovered in the past few years.  I found myself riveted by the struggles of the main character to define herself against all of the rules and philosophies that she had grown up with.  It was as empowering a tale as it was captivating, challenging readers of any age to be true to themselves and who they really are, even as it kept them glued to the pages with a futuristic, breathlessly vivid and suspenseful story. I truly admire a new writer that can keep me guessing  as to where the story is headed!  Divergent was as powerful a read for me at 46 as it was for my 17 and 13 year old daughters.  All of us inhaled this book and then fought over who would read the sequel next.  Since I am the Mom (and I bought Insurgent)… I won!

Paperback format, 487 pages, published in 2012 by Harper Collins