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madeleinelen's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
milesfiles's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ceruleanheather's review against another edition
3.0
It was 4 stars until the last book. I almost didn't finish it.
jscarpa14's review against another edition
3.0
So I finally got around to reading Divergent and I really did enjoy the books, but in a lot of cases I felt as though I was missing necessary information. The pacing was great but when I don't completely understand the world I'd be happy with a little slower pace to get more necessary detail or details that seem necessary to me to enrich my reading experience. And I might be a little biased on my rating because I wasn't happy with how it ended and who was left standing when all the chips had fallen so to speak.
steveatwaywords's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Though a major-hitter in the YA dystopia genre, Roth's Divergent Trilogy is frustratingly flawed on many levels.
Now to be clear, I am not trying to compare this to an Orwell or Phillip K Dick. The ambitions of these writers (and their audiences) are obviously different. Here, my rating has much to do with the writing, plotting, and character work within the genre on its own.
What begins as an implausible but curious social structure at its start devolves soon into derivative versions of conflict-betrayal patterns which seem to cycle endlessly. Certainly the entire social premise (from Books 1 through 3) is overly-simplistic and fraught with unexamined arguments. There is little to justify the atrocities the "evil" characters commit with seeming abandon, and their own examination of the consequences for their behaviors seems unreasonably self-deluded. In other words, nobody--our heroes or antagonists--is thinking very hard about anything. They simply align themselves inhumanely in limited-concept philosophies, whether inside the city or out of it.
The result is a plot of polarizations, all-or-nothing stakes, and--to no one's surprise except the characters themselves--a lot of death.
Roth has had a lot of support in the writing of this series and plenty of time to parse together anything more nuanced, more complex. She did not. Instead, we get essentially the same plot over and over, sometimes two or three times in each book, and here it is: One group will plot to destroy another, but there is a secret involved. To expose the secret and save everyone, a covert operation must begin, but this will have a failed moment, usually due to betrayal. Fortunately, our heroes--after suffering some casualties--will succeed. They will grieve for a bit and then begin again.
Because the society and plot are polarized, so too are the motivations of the characters themselves. Each seems singularly devoted to one allegiance, one goal. Our two heroes are only minorly exceptions to this, but since they can't seem to break the dull drama of their own poor communication issues, we stop caring overmuch.
In short, Roth limits her trilogy only to plot-level storytelling (where other YA novelists like Han, Cormier, Chbosky, Zusak, and Yoon offer complexity and theme--even Hunger Games wakes itself up enough to offer satire and social commentary at points), and this storytelling is enormously reductive to formula.
I give Roth praise for spending some realistic amount of time with grief and doubt, two difficult topics to wrestle with. And her main character, Tris, strikes readers as largely believable and relatable in her responses to it all. But others do this and more far more effectively, and I am glad to put this read behind me.
Now to be clear, I am not trying to compare this to an Orwell or Phillip K Dick. The ambitions of these writers (and their audiences) are obviously different. Here, my rating has much to do with the writing, plotting, and character work within the genre on its own.
What begins as an implausible but curious social structure at its start devolves soon into derivative versions of conflict-betrayal patterns which seem to cycle endlessly. Certainly the entire social premise (from Books 1 through 3) is overly-simplistic and fraught with unexamined arguments. There is little to justify the atrocities the "evil" characters commit with seeming abandon, and their own examination of the consequences for their behaviors seems unreasonably self-deluded. In other words, nobody--our heroes or antagonists--is thinking very hard about anything. They simply align themselves inhumanely in limited-concept philosophies, whether inside the city or out of it.
The result is a plot of polarizations, all-or-nothing stakes, and--to no one's surprise except the characters themselves--a lot of death.
Roth has had a lot of support in the writing of this series and plenty of time to parse together anything more nuanced, more complex. She did not. Instead, we get essentially the same plot over and over, sometimes two or three times in each book, and here it is: One group will plot to destroy another, but there is a secret involved. To expose the secret and save everyone, a covert operation must begin, but this will have a failed moment, usually due to betrayal. Fortunately, our heroes--after suffering some casualties--will succeed. They will grieve for a bit and then begin again.
Because the society and plot are polarized, so too are the motivations of the characters themselves. Each seems singularly devoted to one allegiance, one goal. Our two heroes are only minorly exceptions to this, but since they can't seem to break the dull drama of their own poor communication issues, we stop caring overmuch.
In short, Roth limits her trilogy only to plot-level storytelling (where other YA novelists like Han, Cormier, Chbosky, Zusak, and Yoon offer complexity and theme--even Hunger Games wakes itself up enough to offer satire and social commentary at points), and this storytelling is enormously reductive to formula.
I give Roth praise for spending some realistic amount of time with grief and doubt, two difficult topics to wrestle with. And her main character, Tris, strikes readers as largely believable and relatable in her responses to it all. But others do this and more far more effectively, and I am glad to put this read behind me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual assault
mildhonestbonsai's review against another edition
4.0
Being that this is a trilogy, I shall break it down by book [First Two are reviews that I already made on Goodreads]:
Divergent (4 stars):
Surprisingly good read. Not to mention very quick read as well. I had no problem breezing through those 480 pages.
Insurgent (4 Stars):
Wow. Quite the ending. certainly would have killed me knowing I would have to wait for the 3rd book if I read this one when it was released.
Maybe it might be me but my issue with these dystopian stories with a female lead is that for some reason the author decides to make the character whine and complain a lot as a new way to have internal conflict with the character. I absolutely dislike that a lot because the theme of the protagonist not wanting to take up the hero's call or taking it up because they have no choice but whine about it along the way gets really old. Tris definitely takes up the call and yes she makes some really brash decisions but it doesn't go without her having to complain about it. I'd really like to see a female character remain strong and not delve into self pity along the way. It seems that the strong female leader characters falls only in the antagonist category.
Overall, good book and another quick read.
Allegient (4 Stars):
A really good way to end the series. The author definitely took a different approach to the story than the one I thought it would go but I liked it in the end. I know that there has been some hatred from fans about the way it ended in terms of some the characters but I think it was fitting and it felt natural. In fact, I liked the way this series ended more than I liked the ending to The Hunger Games. Very much looking forward to the movie franchise as well as more books from Veronica Roth.
Divergent (4 stars):
Surprisingly good read. Not to mention very quick read as well. I had no problem breezing through those 480 pages.
Insurgent (4 Stars):
Wow. Quite the ending. certainly would have killed me knowing I would have to wait for the 3rd book if I read this one when it was released.
Maybe it might be me but my issue with these dystopian stories with a female lead is that for some reason the author decides to make the character whine and complain a lot as a new way to have internal conflict with the character. I absolutely dislike that a lot because the theme of the protagonist not wanting to take up the hero's call or taking it up because they have no choice but whine about it along the way gets really old. Tris definitely takes up the call and yes she makes some really brash decisions but it doesn't go without her having to complain about it. I'd really like to see a female character remain strong and not delve into self pity along the way. It seems that the strong female leader characters falls only in the antagonist category.
Overall, good book and another quick read.
Allegient (4 Stars):
A really good way to end the series. The author definitely took a different approach to the story than the one I thought it would go but I liked it in the end. I know that there has been some hatred from fans about the way it ended in terms of some the characters but I think it was fitting and it felt natural. In fact, I liked the way this series ended more than I liked the ending to The Hunger Games. Very much looking forward to the movie franchise as well as more books from Veronica Roth.
elijahdummyheadolson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this series is one of my favorite dystopian books ever. its fast paced story and emotional arc, make it super interesting and epic. Tris's adventure with the dauntless and love life with her mentor and friend, make this book fun gut-wrenching and amazing.
professional_strawberry's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
boozybook's review
3.0
Tris and Tobias are the best together!! Love the factions system. Book 2 was the best. Book 3 was soooo sad :(