Allegiant

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

This is the third book in the Divergent Series.
This book really brought out the whole question of society and how it works or how it should work.  The expectations we lay upon members of society and in what situations do we expect less and should we expect less or more.

I found myself comparing Roth's societal discourse to that within the Hunger Games trilogy (mostly because I just saw the movie Catching Fire).  The worlds were similar in that there was a controlling government that was monitoring the activity of the controlled.  In the Hunger Games, the people of the Districts knew they were being monitored and controlled.  In this trilogy, the people of Chicago are in ignorance of the reality of their situation.  There are cities mentioned who know they are monitored and controlled and their societal structure is much more broken and dissolute than that within the walls of former Chicago.

I found this book, and the series, entertaining and thought provoking.  I think it would be a good avenue for discourse with young adults about society and the expectations that we place on ourselves and others in order to live and function within society.  This series didn't have the rated R psychological twisty-ness of the Hunger Games nor was is as violent so I think it will have a broader audience.

There is one more book in the series which is Four: A Divergent Collection. This gives us a more in depth look at Tobias Eaton aka Four and why he is the way he is.  I am fine skipping this one although I'm sure it will be an entertaining read as the others have been.  Roth also has a series of Divergent Short Stories.  I think I've lived in this world of her long enough and I'm ready to move on.

Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Tris, formerly known as Beatrice, and her boyfriend Four are at the heart of the second book in the Divergent series.  They join forces with members of Abegnation and later some of their Dauntless family in order to battle the mind-control invasion of Erudite.

A war has begun within the walls.  Other than the woman who orchestrated the whole thing, only one man is certain why it happened, everyone else is speculating.  That one man has proven himself to be cruel and untrustworthy.  Four will absolutely not listen but Tris thinks that despite his flaws, he may just be telling the truth.  In the meantime, they must try to stay alive and save as many others as they can.

While they stay with the Amity group outside the walls, Tris realizes why she could never be part of their faction.  Their happy peacefulness is so contrary to her nature that she must leave before she explodes.  When they seek refuge with Cantor, their black and white way of seeing the world is both refreshing and painful.  Revelations of truth cause a strain in the relationship between Tris and Four.  Being young in a young relationship, they aren't quite sure how to handle absolute honesty.

Four decides to ally himself with his estranged mother and her group of Factionless.  Tris is increasingly weary of her agenda and finds herself an ally with Four's cruel father in attempt to reveal what the leader of Erudite started a war to keep hidden.  As Four and Tris grow more familiar with the attributes and flaws of each faction, they become more certain that a world of factions is no way to live.  The way they each seek a new world could tear them apart forever or the truth of it all could bind them like nothing else could.

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Some sort of horrific war has occurred.  Chicago has a wall around it.  There is a gate in the wall and the lock is on the outside.  Everyone inside the wall lives in one of four factions.  A fifth faction lives outside the wall.

Beatrice is sixteen years old and today is the biggest day of her life.  She has grown up in the faction Abegnation in which the members give selflessly to others in time and service.  She will undergo an aptitude test which will tell her in which faction she belongs.  She then gets to choose and decide if she will follow the advice of the test or go into another faction.  The one thing she absolutely doesn't want is for the test to be inconclusive.  If that were to happen, she would be Divergent.

This is an engaging story.  Beatrice is like-able and believable as a sixteen year old girl who has grown up struggling to be selfless.  She sometimes behaves stupidly but so do all sixteen year old people.  This is a story about a girl growing into her own, coming of age in a dystopian world full of turmoil.

This book has been made into a movie and I am looking forward to seeing if the movie does justice to the story.

World War Z

World War Z : An Oral History by Max Brooks

So the zombie apocalypse has come and gone and our narrator was given the job by world leaders to compile information about the event and write a report.  Once the report, full of facts, numbers and statistics is published, the narrator decides to publish the interviews as a book so that the world can read about the different personal experiences of those up-close to the action.

This book is sort of written in documentary form.  There is a reason the movie version differed from the book, it would have been a boring movie if it was done just like the book.  The book isn't boring though.  The book paints a big picture by giving you small glimpses into the lives and experiences of different individuals.

I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to anyone interested in this type of novel.

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is book 1 of the Maze Runner series.

Lately there has been a bunch of hoo haw on-line regarding whether the movie The Hunger Games (rated PG 13) is appropriate for elementary students. The book was extremely violent and dark and was all about the government forcing 12-18 year old kids to fight each other to the death.

The Maze Runner is of the same ilk. It is young adult fiction and the youngest kid involved in this particular scenario seems to be about 13 but no one actually remembers exactly how old they are or where they came from. They remember their name and that's it for personal information.

The book begins as Thomas wakes to find himself inside of some sort of metal box and it seems to be moving up. He can't remember anything about himself, save his name, and he's pretty freaked out about the whole thing. After awhile the box stops moving and the ceiling is pried open. A bunch of boys ranging in age are peering down at him. After they hoist him out of the box, their leader, Alby, barks orders at Thomas and the others and Thomas is left in the care of Newt. Thomas has a million questions but no one is answering them. It seems as though telling someone too much, too soon, results in death but this is never really explained.

Thomas learns that he is in a place they call The Glade. It is surrounded by a Maze. Small lizard robots keep an eye on everything and make sure no one is breaking any rules. The rules aren't spelled out, they have been deduced over the past two years as kids who break the rules, die horrible deaths. Thomas makes a friend of Chuck, the newest arrival prior to Thomas. Chuck seems extremely like-able although hapless. The inhabitants of The Glade are all boys age ranging from about

Thomas is frustrated by the fact that eve

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is book 1 of a young adult series.

The book begins with Thomas waking up in a dark metal box that seemed to be moving up. Aside from his name, he couldn't remember a thing about himself personally. He's understandably freaked out and a bit angry as well. Once the box stops moving, the ceiling is pried open by a group of boys. The boys all seem to range in ages from 13-19. Thomas is hoisted out of the box and his nightmare continues.

Thomas encounters a couple boys who seem rather disagreeable as well as a couple who seem genuinely nice. He had a thousand questions and no one will answer them which intensifies Thomas' anger. Thomas soon learns that many of his questions can't be answered. Where he is is a place they call The Glade. The Glade is at the center of The Maze. Why they are there, no one knows. Why supplies show up every week, a new kid shows up once a month - no one knows. Why are there bio-mechanical killing creatures called Grievers in the maze especially at night? No one knows. Thomas really wants to know.

Thomas goes through the tour of the Glade and starts taking turns at the different jobs available. He continues to ask questions and some are answered and some are not. After only two or three days in the Glade, Thomas breaks the number one rule in an attempt to help save two other kids. He steps into the Maze as the doors are locking the kids into the safety of the Glade at night. He and two others, one seriously injured, are trapped with the Grievers for the night. No one has ever survived a night in the Maze.

When Thomas and the other two survive their night in the Maze and appear at the door to the Glade shortly after sunrise, everyone is freaked out and now suspicious of Thomas. Some think he is some sort of spy sent by the "creators". Later that day, a girl appears in the box with a dire warning and then she drops into a coma of sorts. This new turn of events heightens the tension in the Glade as well as the negative feelings toward Thomas.

Soon, Thomas, the girl and the other Gladers are racing to solve the Maze or the puzzle of the Maze to get out and get home. The big question is, once they escape, will the world they find be a better place than the Glade or much, much worse?

This series seems as dark as The Hunger Games. The violence is less about kids killing kids and was more about kids getting killed as part of the puzzle. The book was okay but the plot and the characters didn't draw me in as much as The Hunger Games did. If I didn't have about 30 books to read, I would probably read the rest of these but I have too many other books I am interested in so I think I'll stop here.