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3/20/2018 0 Comments Allegiant by Veronica RothThis is one of my most disappointing reads ever. Allegiant almost ruined the whole series for me and made me stop loving Divergent too. I can’t really go into any details, since it would spoil not only this book, but the entire series, but Allegiant just turned everything upside down in a way that was so beyond a plot twist. It felt dishonest by Veronica Roth, like she broke the trust between her and the readers.  As an author, you really shouldn’t create a fictional world and set up story premises that got readers to love the plot and world building, only to destroy it all by completely changing the whole concept and foundation of your story in the end. No matter how well written Allegiant was, it still left me feeling tricked in a mean way and utterly disappointed in both the book and in Veronica Roth as an author.
Rating: 2 stars Get your own copy: Bookshop.org Amazon Book Depository Author info: Veronica Roth
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Traitor to the Throne is the second book in Alwyn Hamilton’s magical Rebel of the Sands-series following orphan tomboy Amani. Known as the ‘Blue-Eyed Bandit’, Amani has always been “more gunpowder than girl”. Her whole life, she’s been trying to leave Dustwalk, the unforgiving dead-end dessert town she’s grown up in, without success. Until she meets a stranger, Jin, in a sharpshooting competition. Taking her chance, she follows him on a dangerous journey through the deserts to join the rebels fighting the evil Sultan. As the fight continues and the rebels are gaining more power, Amani has to face betrayal and rely on her desert-girl’s instincts of cunning and espionage to infiltrate the Sultan’s palace.  This is a great sequel, continuing the adventurous story at a heart-pounding pace. What’s special in this series is the mythology that Alwyn Hamilton weaves into the tale. The story is spiced with fairytale animals, like the ‘Buraqi’, a sand horse that can be turned into a real steed by a girl, ‘Nightmares’ that remains in the sands, coming out only at night to inject humans with venom that infects the mind and body, ‘Skinwalkers’ that shift their form from one victim to another, ‘Djinns’; men made of out of smokeless fir and others.
I missed the love story that sprouted between Amani and Jin somewhat in this installment though, as they spend most of the book separated. But hopefully that will change in the exciting conclusion of the series. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the third book next year and hoping for a ‘happy ever after’! Rating: 4 stars Get your own copy: Bookshop.org Amazon Book Depository Author info: Alwyn Hamilton 3/2/2018 0 Comments Insurgent by Veronica RothIn this Divergent sequel, Tris is faced with the consequences of her choices. The story was darker this time and there was more violence and the romance didn’t pick up as much as I had hoped for, but it was nevertheless a very enjoyable and action-packed read.  Following the events of the first book in the series, the action picked up right away with a war looming because of the growing conflict between the factions and their ideologies. While the first book focused on Tris and her growth, this book focused more on the conspiracies and the struggle to make the right choices. When trying to save the people that she loves, Tris has to struggle with conflicting loyalties and political consequences, but also questions of her own identity, love and forgiveness.
Divergent is one of my favorite dystopians ever and I had such high expectations for this book. I did enjoy it, but not as much as Divergent. It was quite different and felt very much like the typical middle book, mostly providing a bridge to the series finale. I had hoped that the romance would have been allowed some more steam and fire in this book. The chemistry between Tris and Tobias is so great, but for some reason Veronica Roth keeps holding the romance back. She just kept throwing one obstacle after another on them… But all in all, Insurgent was a truly enjoyable read with a cliff hanger ending that left me speechless and desperate for the next book and series finale! Rating: 4 stars Get your own copy: Bookshop.org Amazon Book Depository Author info: Veronica Roth When I read the blurb, I was so intrigued and I had such high expectations for this book. In The Rift Uprising, the world is a version of earth set in the future, but a ‘tear’ (the Rift) in the universe allows creatures and humans from other worlds to come into this version of earth. To protect this version of earth, children are implanted with devices developed by a higher species to become defenders of the Rift. It seemed like such a unique and intriguing storyline, but sadly, the book didn’t live up to its full potential.  I loved the concept of the Rift; a mysterious and dangerous portal to alternate Earths scientists cannot control or close, and the Citadels; that elite, enhanced teen soldiers are specially chosen to guard it, but it still didn’t meet my expectations from reading the blurb. I quite enjoyed the book, but I felt that it could have been so much better and more interesting if it hadn't been for the Insta-love and Blood Lust thing that turned the story into focusing too much on sex. This also made it hard to really like the heroine Ryn. She came across as quite selfish, immature and all too occupied with thinking about sex.
What I did love though, was all the references in the book to movies and TV shows like Ender's Game, Transformers, and Buffy; that really added an extra flavor to the story and almost made me laugh out loud at times. “Are those motherf-cking vampires?” “See? This is why I was always Team Jacob.” “Twilight? Really? That’s what you’re going to go with? The entire vampire canon and that’s what you choose?” I also really loved the friendship in Team Beta and some of the characters; Henry, Ezra (if it hadn’t been for the way he came into Ryn’s life) and Violet. I also have a hunch that Levi be bad-boy-turned-good in the next book and that Ryn’s feelings for him will start to change. But all in all, this book was not quite what I had hoped for, and even though I have a feeling that the second book will take the story in the right direction, I don’t think I will continue this series. Rating: 3 stars Get your own copy: Bookshop.org Amazon Book Depository Author info: Amy S. Foster |
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