Tuesday 31 December 2013

TheDaisyDeer's Best Books of 2013

Here are my favourite books of 2013.
I've read quite a bit this year, but these are the best in my opinion.

Best Overall Novel read in 2013:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Laini Taylor

Novel with the Best Story read in 2013:
The Bone Season
Samantha Shannon

Novel with the Best Writing read in 2013:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman

Novel with the Best Entertainment read in 2013:
Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men
Derek Landy

Best New Discovery read in 2013:
How I Live Now
Meg Rosoff

Best Fantasy Novel read in 2013:
Throne of Glass
Sarah J. Maas

Best Supernatural Novel read in 2013:
Anna Dressed in Blood
Kendare Blake

Best Dystopian Novel read in 2013:
Divergent
Veronica Roth

Best Historical Novel read in 2013:
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak

Best Contemporary Novel read in 2013:
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green

Best Romantic Novel read in 2013:
The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes
Cassandra Clare

Best Classic Novel read in 2013:
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Best Mystery/Thriller Novel read in 2013:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon

Best Graphic Novel read in 2013:
Gris Grimly's Frankenstein
Mary Shelley and Gris Grimly


Image Source:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Cover - http://www.bringthenoiseuk.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Daughter-of-Smoke-and-Bone.jpg
The Bone Season Cover - http://samstillreading.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/080413_0826_theboneseas1.jpg
The Ocean at the End of the Lane Cover - http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/17026_413852478709121_1163712783_n.jpg
Last Stand of Dead Men Cover - http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1386497808l/19284182.jpg
How I Live Now Cover - http://arsenelupinetlesautres.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/how-i-live-now.jpg?w=522&h=803
Throne of Glass Cover - http://abbyjreed.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/400px-throne_of_glass_uk.jpg
Anna Dressed in Blood Cover - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGoSCW5D-xZjVMiA0t_IXuZODID5hCT0NYk9TO9x9p1N0nuyUh7U6W5QfEcQ8s4Ru8zt38zt-YSWuIVW51FwQhexmY8JB-tugyqcsnF28o-y6FDtGjWT4UhbwzNagiPjqSlWXCX1NoZKM/s1600/Anna-Dressed-in-Blood---Kendare-Blake.jpg
Divergent Cover - http://img.deseretnews.com/images/article/contentimagetall/558513/558513.jpg
The Book Thief Cover - http://thebookloversboudoir.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/book-thief.jpg
The Fault in Our Stars Cover - http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8m0la8nyB1rd7oolo1_500.jpg
City of Ashes Cover - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/City_of_Ashes.jpg
The Great Gatsby Cover - http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18j1uwv8xjx9mjpg/k-bigpic.jpg
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Cover - http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511P-vYvcqL.jpg
Gris Grimly's Frankenstein Cover - http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vU2caYnAL.jpg

Saturday 21 December 2013

The Left Hand of God


Book Title: The Left Hand of God
Author: Paul Hoffman
Series: The Left Hand of God #1
Date Started: December 14th 2013
Date Completed: December 21st 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: Two stars
Review:

There isn't a whole lot to say about this book. It's a shame, because I was really looking forward to it, thinking it was going to be another really good fantasy that I wasn't going to be able to put down. Instead, I got a story that didn't make sense; characters that weren't very nice people; and writing that was lacking in details to make me interested in the world and people, and instead overflowing with details about the thoughts of the characters I really didn't care about. Some people might like it, but I'm afraid it just isn't' for me.

Cale has lived in a fortress since before he can remember. But he's been planning since before he can remember too. But the world outside of his prison is more dangerous than he first thought, and holds more dangers than just the horde of evil priests on his tail and the price on his head if everyone else finds out about his abilities

I'm trying not to be too harsh in this review, since the writing isn't technically that bad and I can understand why other people might like to read this book. But, at the same time, I do need to be honest. I skimmed the majority of this book in the end, because I just couldn't bring myself to read the overly long paragraphs about pointless monologues and backstories. I don't think they were necessary and really took away from what the story might have been. This also irritated me, since I felt the book was lacking in description of any kind and the quality dialogue that could have made me enjoy it a little bit more.
Furthermore, the book has a very strange way of telling the story; told from the 3rd person, the narrative switches between points of view, but without warning. This can sometimes make it hard to know whose story you're following and quickly shift from what each character is aware of. This could have been easily solved by just putting a bit of personality differentiation in the text to link to each character.
The main issue, however, was the actually structure of the writing. It was told as if this novel was a sequel; details were just mentioned like the reader should already know what they are, and then elaborated on in a way you just can't understand if you don't click with the basic principle first of all. In addition, the flow of the text was jarring, as I could have sworn there were parts missing. Suddenly a character would appear in a scene or speak spontaneously. It was very confusing, and is probably the main reason I lost patience rather quickly.

I will start with the positives: I liked the darkness and the world-concept. I'm afraid to say, that's about it. I'm always a fan of darkness, and I think the brutality was handled quite well in this book. Furthermore, the idea of the world and it's politics etc was good, although I don't think it was developed enough (huge paragraphs explaining something that I still don't understand unfortunately don't count as world-building).
Right, now the biggest problem I had with this book (and there were more than a couple) was the point of it all. I don't understand what the ultimate objective of the story was. I'm aware that some books don't need an objective to play out and still make a story, however there needs to be something to give reason to the characters being followed through a story. In this novel, I couldn't see one. There were long parts of the book where the characters went somewhere, did nothing then moved on. It was all incredibly pointless. The book could have easily started 250 pages in.
I don't understand why such long time periods were used throughout the story. The whole book must be around three years if you add together all the 'three weeks' here and 'one month' there. It wasn't necessary and then made it harder to understand the relationships of the characters when they saw each other again. Perhaps, if a little more had gone into why it had taken so long, or what the characters had been doing in that time, it would have made sense. Presently, it was, again, pointless.

The characters in this book aren't very nice people. Generally, I like flawed characters, as they are more human and relatable. However, these people seemed to me to be just unpleasant. Furthermore, I couldn't find myself understanding any of the characters and their actions. I felt extremely detached from all of them, so actually, by the time it mattered, I didn't even notice if someone got hurt or in trouble or anything.
Cale, I think, had the potential to be a very good protagonist. Unfortunately, it just didn't turn out that way for me. I expected him to grow as a character and understand ways of life other than his, and for that to somehow impact on his way of life and the way he looked at the world and treated people. It didn't. And I don't quite understand why everyone thinks of him as so amazing and valuable; I didn't see any good demonstration of this.
Kliest and Henri were two of the few characters I actually liked. They were heavily involved at the beginning, and I felt they would have made the story better if their involvement had continued into the later parts of the book they would have made the story more interesting. However, they faded out a little and were early mentioned later on. I thought they were going to be main characters, but then they weren't. Again, it all felt a bit pointless.
I will try and keep this as short as possible, but my rants about Hoffman's portrayals of ALL the female characters could go on for hours. Arbell Materazzi, first of all, is stuck up, useless and rude. And then, later, when she had gone through 'character development,' she was brainless, impractical and devoted only to Cale for no particular reason. Girls have more thoughts than that, thank you. They make their own actions and decisions based on themselves and their responsibilities and intelligence - not purely on how obsessed they are with a self-centred 'hero.'
Idrispukke was a pointless character and I don't know why you would call a character that.

I can't really complain about there being long periods of nothing happening before climaxes, because I didn't really feel like there were climaxes either. I felt most of the book didn't really have a point, so pace doesn't really come into it.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend The Left Hand of God to anyone. It really disappointed me and I found myself more irritated by it for the most part. However, I do understand that some other people might enjoy reading it. The writing isn't too bad, but after having a look at reviews, the second book is supposed to be better. I'm not going to be reading anymore, but if you want to get through this instalment for some possibly better stories, please do.

Image Source: http://31.media.tumblr.com/
9e0f7a4a15dfdb7f297a7ebba276f89a/tumblr_mucoj6a5ab1srzpv9o1_500.jpg

Saturday 14 December 2013

Gris Grimly's Frankenstein


Book Title: Gris Grimly's Frankenstein
Author: Gris Grimly and Mary Shelley
Date Started: December 9th 2013
Date Completed: December 14th 2013
Genres: Horror, Thriller
Rating: Five stars
Review:

Gris Grimly has taken a classic horror and turned it into something hauntingly beautiful and amazing. There's an afterword at the back of this book by Grimly; he talks about how 'Frankenstein fans tend to be dishevelled, crude, rebellious and all while feeling misunderstood.' I think that defines everything I feel about the story and the book. And it definitely makes me a Frankenstein fan.

Frankenstein is a young man, eager to make his impact on the world. But as he studies the sciences further and further, he begins to obsess over his discovery. Eventually, he manages to complete his work. It is only then, however, that he realises how his personality has deteriorated, and he vows to turn his attentions back to his life and family. But it seems his achievement can not be ignored quite so easily, and Frankenstein's creation comes back to haunt him.

I've always found classics hard to get through because the language is so long-winded; the poetic nature usually seems to me to just be there, rather than have an actual purpose to the story. But actually, in Frankenstein I found that the beautiful style of narrative helped me love the story and characters even more. I was also able to read it reasonably easily.
Furthermore, I usually find that classics have a way to make the reader feel disconnected from the characters, and make them seem merely like characters in a book. However, I found that I actually understood these people without having to experience a narrative from them.

Frankenstein is a well-known horror novel, however I can't say that when I started reading this book I was completely aware of the story. It wasn't exactly what I expected; a tale of an ambitious scientist creating a horrific monster whilst losing his mind in the process. In a sense, that is what the story is about, although that's a very shallow synopsis to create. This story holds far more morals and tales of heartbreak and genuine emotions experienced through life than I thought was possible.
I don't think this graphic novel contains the entire of Mary Shelley's story, however the parts it does contain are equally stunning and captivating. I'm excited to go on to read the novel in its entirety now.
The story broke my heart, something I really wasn't expecting. I knew it was sad, but I thought it might be to do with some stupid romance in the background. Instead, I was sobbing in sympathy and pure sadness for a character who truly became whole for me in the words and illustrations provided in the book. My heart really was breaking, but not for the idea that I thought.

Classics have a way of making the reader feel very disconnected from the characters, usually due to the style of narrative. This is why I usually have a lot of trouble reading classics, however this book still allowed me to understand and feel for the people in the story, despite the style of writing.
Frankenstein, despite common misunderstanding, is not the monster itself, but instead its creator. Victor starts as an avid, enthusiastic young man desperate to make his mark on the world, much like any other young man. And he does, as works harder and harder, but things don't turn out the way he wants them to. Such is life, and I found myself feeling more and more for this character as everything started to truly crumble around him because of his actions that had sprung from good intentions. It was terrible to watch something so disastrous to send a man out of his mind - as it was in fact the consequences of his actions, rather than their actual happening, that causes our protagonist to become so terribly lost.
The Monster. I don't like calling it that, because the book tells a different story. But he deserves to be mentioned, as he is so key to the plot, and has his very own story. I'm not even sure what to say, but he was amazing, and I kind of wish he had a name because he should have one.

As well as the wonderful story, this book wouldn't be the same without Grimly's drawings. They're one of the most beautiful gothic illustrations I've ever seen. There's also a steampunk twist to them, and they're very powerful and add to the story so much.
I love the progression of Frankenstein's appearance throughout the book; you kind of forget that actually the time period is years, but the images helped me to remember the continuation. It was really amazing.

I must admit my surprise at loving this book. I mostly read it for the stunning illustrations, but I'm so glad I did read it. It's a beautiful book, both in appearance and the story. I think you probably have to have a certain state of mind to really empathise with the plot, and I consider myself one of those people.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes stories that echo the harsh reality in a heartbreaking way. It's also an amazing horror, but the story really can connect and make the reader think if they're in the right place at the time.

Image Source: https://dcomixologyssl.sslcs.cdngc.net/c/
DIG008165_1.jpg?h=a353ecfe2f603dca7e49c3686965f8ef

Monday 9 December 2013

The Darkest Minds


Book Title: The Darkest Minds
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: The Darkest Minds #1
Date Started: December 7th 2013
Date Completed: December 9th 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Romance, Fantasy
Rating: Five stars
Review:

I wasn't entirely aware of the hype around this book when I started reading it. I didn't think it was going to be that great, just another teenage romance with some fantasy thrown in to attract a wider audience. And when I started, that is what I got. But then the story went on and I was proven very, very wrong.

Ruby is dangerous. She's one of the children the government want to get rid of so much that they'll kill her. So when her chance comes, Ruby slips away to run straight into a small bunch of runaways. Before she knows it, they're on the run together, their combined threats breathing down their necks. But as the time goes on, Ruby starts to find herself getting to know the people around her, but she has more to hide than they're aware of.

I liked the writing when I got past the initial start of the book where I felt there wasn't anything going on, however I can't say there's anything that particularly stuck out as amazing to me apart from the subtly. Not with emotions as such, but the behaviour and actions of the characters were very calm and slow and that made me grow to love them (for example, it was fairly obvious who Ruby was becoming involved with, but the gradual pace they went at made it all the more sweet when it actually happened). I don't think I've read a book that took its time quite like this, and it was a lovely side-note when the danger and thrills faded away.

I wasn't sure what was going on when I started reading the book. It was slow to start, and I was worried I wasn't going to like it at all: I felt I could tell what was going to happen; it all seemed rather dreary and boring. And then something I didn't predict happened. And then everything picked up so fast I wasn't even aware it was happening.
Suddenly there was danger at every turn, and I wasn't sure when the characters were safe or when they should be on their guard. The plot suddenly became so unpredictable I didn't want to put the book down because every chapter ended on a cliffhanger.
One of the best things about this book for me was the fact that it wasn't always the main character being the hero. It wasn't even always the male lead or the third most important person etc. Everyone seemed to have a point where they saved someone or made a discovery. There aren't many books where the glory is shared so widely over the characters. This not only helped me fall in love with the people in the book more, but also made the plot seem more real.
And then there's the little details that were weaved into everything. The relationships and their effects on the characters; I could see each person developing more and more in my head as I read, and I started to grow with them and understand them more deeply. The intricate little hints about the world and what happened that appear every now and then. All these little things just adding up to make quite a remarkable collection of words.
I was not emotionally ready for the ending. Honestly, I had seen it coming early in the book, but I was pushing it to the back of my mind in a vain attempt to refuse the ultimate climax. Unfortunately, despite my struggles, the ending still happened and it still crushed me. It isn't often that a (slight spoiler!) romance-including storyline almost brings me to tears. But this did. And the worst thing is it isn't even definite - I've got to keep reading all the way to the end of the trilogy for it to be confirmed I bet.

The characters are what made me connect most with the story. I liked the story, and the writing was okay, but it's the characters that made it hard for me to put the book down.
I admit, at the start of the book, I really didn't like Ruby. I found her annoying and childish and I didn't like her dialogue. But she definitely grew on me as she got stronger and cleverer. For some reason, I got the feeling she didn't really care about many other people at the beginning, maybe because she wasn't shown with many other people, but as the story went on and she started to get attached to people, I started to like her more and more, and by the end I'm glad to say I think she's a good protagonist.
Liam was beautiful and I think I might just have fallen in love with him… I'm glad that for once we had an open male interest, it's a change from the macho men and actually I connected a whole lot better with him. He was still able to be protective and strong and clever without constantly bigging himself up. I love Ruby now, but I want Liam, sorry.
Chubs was my favourite character for may reasons. First of all, he's adorable and the most loving of all the characters in my opinion. Secondly, he's the brains and actually turns out to be the hero more than once. I also loved his literary references as they kept popping up, because I could relate to that. I just think he's the loveliest character and was worth a lot more than people regarded him as.
Suzume, for me, didn't stand out too much. I'm trying to think of something to say about her, but not much comes to mind. I think her involvement was definitely key to Ruby becoming a better character and their relationship really was sweet. I'd like to see her when she's had a bit of time to become independent.
Clancey annoyed me and I didn't trust him for one minute. But he was an amazing plot device, because I really caught myself doubting my judgment a couple of times and I did start to trust him.

I had real problems with pacing at the start. For the first 150 pages I didn't really enjoy the book that much because there was nothing happening, we were just being told what was going on. Usually I would be a little nicer about it, but I think the information given to us there could have been gradually introduced as we went through the story, so the first part of the book wasn't really needed in my opinion.
However, once the story picked up, everything started racing past. It wasn't rushed, but it was extremely fast paced with so many twists and turns I honestly didn't know what was going to happen next. I found it very, very hard to put the book down near the end.
As the book finishes, I felt it was on a little bit of a low point, pacing-wise. I understand why this is, but I feel like I'm in a bit of a slump now because of the events of the end and I'm finding it hard to pick up another book, just because my heart wasn't racing right until the end. This isn't necessarily good or bad, I'm just not sure whether it was originally intended to have that effect on the reader.

The Darkest Minds really surprised me; I thought it was going to be another typical Young Adult novel with a romance-led plot with a bit of fantasy and danger in the background. But it turned out to be an amazing story with real threat and thrills at every turn and a really engaging love story and world. I loved it and I think a lot of other people will, so if you like dystopians with some good storyline and characters, pick up this book. You'll love it.

Image Source: http://youthvoices.net/sites/default/files/
image/15025/jun/darkest-minds.jpeg

Friday 6 December 2013

World After


Book Title: World After
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #2
Date Started: December 2nd 2013
Date Completed: December 5th 2013
Genres: Action, Dystopian, Thriller, Romance, Fantasy
Rating: Four stars
Review:

I struggled giving World After a rating because I enjoyed it far more than the first book, however I still wasn't sure it quite reached five stars. So, I settled on four stars, because it really was very good, however I still think there's more to develop. However, compared to the huge improvement from the first

Raffe thinks she's dead. Her mother thinks she's dead. Her sister thinks she's dead. But Penryn is alive. And ready to fight. The Resistance to the angel invasion is growing larger, and as the world collapses into the new apocalypse, it isn't only the angels that are the only danger to mankind; it seems they threaten their own existence. But Penryn must protect her sister and mother as well as herself, but can she do it when she can't bring herself to look at either for longer than a minute?

The main thing I remember from reading Angelfall was that I felt there was something missing. It wasn't anything specific, but there was a clear feeling for me that the book hadn't gone through enough edits and re-throughs to make it as best as it could be. Having said that, I did really enjoy the story, and I got along with the writing - there was just something missing. I'm very happy to say that that missing element was there in World After. I'm still not even sure what it was, but I this novel felt like a completed piece of work and I loved every minute of it.
Not only does Ee write very detailed action scenes, and some quite touching moments, but she can also create genuinely funny snippets of both dialogue and monologue. There are some books that make me smile when there's a funny part (I'm not even going to mention the books that don't have any affect on me whatsoever), but there are very few books that can make me actually laugh out loud. But World After is one of them. It seems strange that such a dark novel can do that, but it does. And maybe it's because the rest of the story is so tough and gritty that it makes the rest work so well. (Another great aspect of this is that the humour doesn't stand out like something completely wrong in the story; it slides in. You can still tell that it's a tough world Penryn is surviving in, but she is still strong enough to make jokes about it to help her cope.)
I'm not exactly familiar with the behaviour of murderous angels, or apocalypse-survivors, but the actions of the characters in the book are amazingly close to what I'd expect someone in their position to act like. Even when they make wrong choices that play out negatively, I can respond by knowing that the character had understandable reasons for doing such things.

The whole basis for the plot line in the Penryn series is the world building. Location and setting are always incredibly important, as they determine what the character is like when we initially meet them, however in this series, the apocalyptic world is so complex and vital to the story, that it's really what the whole book rests on. This could potentially be extremely risky, as if certain parts weren't explained properly, the whole thing could come tumbling down. But we learn all the details in a gradual, slow way that makes it easy for us to process and still be intwined in the story at the same time.
My favourite thing about these books is how dark and gritty they are. You might call Legend or Divergent dark, since they do have some genuinely troubling elements, and there's a lot of violence and destruction constantly following the characters. But those examples are nothing compared to the devastating world Penryn is living in. I haven't experienced many stories where the author is so open about the violence and terror that happens in their world, and describes it in such a vivid way. I'm not sure this series is something you'd encourage younger people to read.
The story in World After isn't at all predictable, which is always a win for me. I don't like being able to tell what happens next, because then there isn't any point reading the book. If, like this novel, I can't tell what's going to be around the next corner, I need to keep reading to find out, and it has more of an affect on me when it does happen.
I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with the ending, and it came quite suddenly to me. However, I'm fine with having a cliffhanger, since I know the next book will be explosive to follow the dramatic end.

Ee's characters are the typical sort of ensemble with a dark twist. There's a darker side to all of them, and I'm not talking about long-hidden secrets.
There's only really one character that matters in the series: Penryn. Admittedly, this is because it's told from her perspective, so we see everyone's actions from her point of view. But this tells us more about Penryn than it does about anyone else. She's selfish; in that way that everyone is, and because she needs to survive in a very dangerous world that's not afraid to test her. But at the same time of all of that, she's definitely still a teenage girl, she's flirty, and funny and scared and really cares about her family, despite what her actions show. She's an amazing protagonist and portrays Ee's creation wonderfully.
Raffe is amazing and I still really love him. I was waiting for ages for him to turn up and everything picked up immediately for me when he did. I love his character, and there is a clear line between his archangel-side and then the side that cares about Penryn. I think that side needs to be there to maintain the fact that he is, technically, the bad guy.
I don't think I liked Paige that much to start with, but actually I became more attached to her in this book. Learning more about what had happened to her during her absence from the last book really made me think about how she was coping with everything and actually how amazing she is. I think this happened for Penryn as well, so it was helpful to have her responses registering at similar times to my own.
I will always love Dee and Dum. I really wish they had been in the book more, but their involvement was amazing. They're just those little characters that pop in every now and then that you can count on to be the good guys and make the right decisions and just brighten even the darkest parts of the story. I can't wait to see what they get up to next.

World After has a reasonably long and twisting storyline. But it felt like a second when I was reading it. Short chapters do help this, and the writing style is reasonably simple to get in with, but the fact that so much happens in such a short space of time, it's amazing that the book didn't have me closing it in confusion at points. I understood what was happening throughout and literally couldn't put it down, even right from the beginning.

I recommend World After to fans of hard-core dystopians and unique fantasies. There's also great action, very good writing and a lovely romance. Definitely read the first book first otherwise you won't understand what's going on and everything from the previous book will be spoiled.

Image Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wzAeY4tfL._.jpg

Monday 2 December 2013

Allegiant


Book Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #3
Date Started: November 24th 2013
Date Completed: December 2nd 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Action, Romance, Thriller
Rating: Four stars
Review:

I really don't know how to start to talk about Allegiant. When I first started reading it, I struggled a little because I couldn't completely remember everything that happened at the end of Insurgent. And then I started to struggle because Allegiant wasn't quite like the rest of the series. I did enjoy it, and it was a nice ending to the trilogy. But I've come to love Divergent because of its absolute explosiveness (I think that's a word…), and I'm really sad to say I just didn't get that…epic feel to this book.

The video is out. The factions have fallen. Evelyn has taken over. As Tris tries to cope with this new system, it seems that she isn't the only one happy with the five factions being destroyed. The Allegiant want them back too. But there's already been one revolution, another one could lead to war. In an attempt to save the city, Tris, Tobias venture out beyond the fence, and into the unknown. What they find there; something they never could have imagined - and probably would never have wanted to.

The writing is very good. It's well set out and orchestrated so the reader can really picture everything that's going on all the time. The action is amazing and behaviour is also something that's very consistent with these books. The speech is interesting etc.
Something that put me off this time around, however, was the switching perspectives. In the previous episodes of the Divergent series, the whole story is told from Tris' first hand accounts. In Allegiant, however, it alternates between Tris and Tobias. This is all very well and good, until you actually read those chapters. There wasn't anything to distinguish them from one another, apart from the people they were talking to, until halfway through the book where Four started to moan about everything that was wrong in his life (that's all fair enough, but the Four we've grown to know is perfectly capable of at least trying to fix these issues). This lack of difference between the perspectives made it extremely confusing, and I was picturing Tris doing all of Four's story until someone actually called him by name. Another reason I really didn't like this switching perspective was the fact that it gave two dimensions to the story, that weren't actually carried out. The perks of writing in first person is that you don't have to think about what an event might look like to someone else. That's what becomes difficult when you have more than one character narrating - you've got to completely change your mind set in order to fit into your character's. Chances are, the first character is going to think like the author - therefore the second one can't. Every person is different. The problem in Allegiant was that I felt there weren't two characters and two points of view. It just felt like one person living out two separate stories.

I didn't feel like there was a storyline until near the end, where it slipped back into proper Divergent-style action and adventure. At that point, I really started to get into it, and I found it hard to put the book down.
Up until then, however, it was a bit jumbled. The story opens up in a way that makes the reader think it's going to be like Insurgent all over again, but probably with more violence and more likely going to end in everyone dying because they can't decide if they want factions, or a mixed society or something in between. Basically, there's quite a lot of potential there.
But then they decide to go out beyond the fence. Again, there's quite a lot of potential there and pretty much anything could happen. I was expecting them to get to a limit and then not be able to get out, kind of like the Maze Runner. But then they reach a compound, and they get bombarded with this revelation they could never have imagined. Up to that point, the plot is sounding pretty promising, and I was waiting to see what twist was going to burst everything apart. But then we stayed at the compound. And we waited there. And we got given all this information that was really hard to get your head around and remember. And that happened for a long time.
Allegiant felt almost like a narrated companion to the series, explaining in detail what's been going on for the past books and how it's been affecting everything around it and why it's been happening etc. And then we start to learn about these gene differences (I won't go into it, so as not to spoil it) and I realised that the book was almost a whole different genre. Previously, it had been a dystopian action thriller with some romance thrown in. This felt more like a dystopian sci-fi with a lot of plot set around what was actually happening.
When we got to the good action bit again near the end, I felt like we were back in the Divergent world. But I'm not sure what happened to that world along the way.
I'm not going to spoil anyone, but if you think you might be able to pick up some hints, skip this paragraph until you've read the book (unless you've already been spoiled, where you might as well keep reading). The ending (not epilogue) was really good in my opinion. I had finally gotten into the swing of the book, and I was really enjoying myself. I knew someone was going to die, but that was quite obvious. Now. I liked what happened, but I'm not as satisfied with how it happened. Maybe it was the writing, maybe it was the mood I was in when I read it, maybe I just wasn't that attached to the characters, but I didn't feel anything when it happened (and not in the 'I feel empty' Fault-In-Our-Stars way). I kept expecting something to happen to make it more heart-renching. But then nothing happened.
Finally, the epilogue tied everything up for me. There's always a worry at the end of a series, that there'll be loads of loose ends and unanswered questions. But I'm content with how everything worked out, and I actually enjoyed the 'twenty-five' or whatever it was 'years later' bit. I usually find these a little cliche and boring, but I thought it ended nicely.

I already loved a lot of these characters, but it was hard to keep up with all the new ones being added a lot of the time. I forgot who some of the people were as I was reading, which mades things quite confusing when there were bad guys and good guys.
Tris is a very good protagonist, and different from a lot of others out there. However, she annoyed me a little in this book. I understand a large and important part of her character is that she is selfish - fair enough. However, I only take that so far before saying that actually she's just being a mean person. And she turns into a mean person at some points here. I'm not complaining; this really showed how everything was affecting them and it was done very well, but I did sometimes catch myself thinking that actually she isn't always right, as she thinks she is. And other people are allowed to make mistakes without getting shouted at by her all the time. On the other hand, she was definitely a hero, and it's nice to see women proving themselves all the time as both strong, intelligent and courageous without being told they should be.
Four, in my opinion, wasn't Four from the other two books. I don't know what happened, but he's just not the same. I've have a couple of ideas why: number one, Theo James. There's been a lot of talk about James being cast as Tobias and some discussion about whether he's right. Personally, he isn't the Tobias I pictured at all, but I'm sure he'll be a perfectly good film-Four. However it really pissed me off that I started picturing Theo James instead of my Four in Allegiant. Or, theory number two, it's because of the P.O.V. Allegiant is the first book in the series where the story is told from both Tris and Four's perspective. I did not like this, as I've already said. There wasn't enough differentiation of writing styles between the two characters, and so it became very hard to tell them apart - and this therefore took away from both of their characters. Four didn't have the same personality for the mere fact that I don't think Roth was ready to write in his character; she's Tris. And she can write Tris amazingly. I'm just not so sure about Tobias.
Christina is amazing. I've always loved her, and I was a bit sad her friendships broke down a little in this book. But then her involvement at the end made me smile. (I know it's cryptic - you'll just have to read the book and then find out what I mean!)
I've always loved Uriah. Along with Christina, they're the ray of sunshines in the stories. I love any chapters Uriah's in, because they're just entertaining. And I think his main plot line was a little unnecessary. (It had purpose at the beginning, but at the end I couldn't really see the point of it.)
Caleb is my favourite character. I don't care if he's a so-called 'traitor'. Because, honestly, it never really came across that way to me. He's probably one of the most believable characters in the book to me, and I think he's a great example of development and independent thought. I was really disappointed how he was ignored for most of the book because of things he had done (that, if I'm honest, I can't completely remember).
Peter. I felt like he was there, so Roth had to do something with him, but then she got bored, so just threw him away pretty quickly. Yeah, I'm disappointed about Peter.

I said in the introduction that Allegiant didn't have the epicness of the previous books. Part of this is in the pace, which is something that seems a lot of authors struggle with - and fair enough.
The thing with this novel is that it feels like the whole point of it is to explain what's been happening the in the past two books on a different level to what we might have previously have thought of. I get that, but at the same time, there does need to be a story in itself going on at the same time. I didn't feel like there really was a plot line until around three quarters of the way through, when it started being apparent that there was actually a problem and a threat imminent of things carried on the way there were going. I completely understand Roth's intention of finally revealing her genius of the past books, but it just made the story…bland for the majority of the book.
Divergent had things happening every third second, and you honestly could not put the book down because whenever you tried to stop another crazy thing happened and you'd have to find out how the characters would get out of it. Insurgent was slightly calmer, with crazy things happening every thirty seconds or so. But they were still there. Allegiant had things every minute. It just wasn't really what I was expecting, and a little disappointing for action-junkeees like me.

I honestly did enjoy Allegiant, I just found it very different from the rest of the series, and I feel I have to point that out.
I would recommend the Divergent trilogy to any dystopian-lovers out there. It's also got great action and a good romance. Allegiant is the weakest book in the series in my opinion, but it does start to explain things for those people who like to understand everything perfectly. And it all gets wrapped up nicely at the end.

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