Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Ok, I enjoyed Hunger Games. I like dystopian literature in general. But... I just finished the three books of the Divergent series and... I dunno. The main character was nicely developed, as was Four. But the writing in general was unclear, the back story was full of holes and poorly fleshed out, The social structure of Chicago was poorly explained and not very believable, the technology of the society was not believable and inconsistant... Has anyone read these? Did you enjoy them? Were you disappointed? The first book was... ok. The second book was just one long drawn out lover's spat, and the third book, which could have explained it all... didn't do a good job. Sigh. I had high hopes, as it was recommended to me as another Hunger Games type story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I also read it thinking that it would be like The Hunger Games, which I adored. Horrible. Especially book three. The dual narrative was so badly written that I had to keep looking back to the beginning of the chapter to see which character was speaking. When I figured out how it was going to end, I threw the book across the room. It was an insult to her readership. I will not see the movies, not even for free on HBO. (Later, I might tell you what I really think, LOL!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 My oldest dd and I both read and loved the Hunger Games series. She read the Divergent series and told me not to bother. I don't know that I've ever seen her so angry over a book as she was the final one in this series. She says she will not watch any of the movies even if she was paid to do so. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupOCoffee Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 We were SO disappointed by the third book...as I think most fans were! Otherwise, I thought it was "eh". It was no Hunger Games to be sure. Both kids liked it, I'd say more the 12 year old than the 17 old. Not sure we'll see the movie. ~coffee~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inmyopinion Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I agree with what has been said. I read them, I am glad I read them, but I am not sure if I liked them. I almost want to see the movie to decide if I liked the book. I despised the third book. Overall though there was too much going on. I think I was more bothered that anything after I read all three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I've only read the first one and I'm not sure I'm going to bother reading the rest because of the kind of things said above. I read some reviews (I don't really mind spoilers) and saw a lot of complaints about the dual viewpoint but with no real difference in voice between the characters and about the ending. A lot of people were saying they aren't going to see the movies because of the way it ends. Maybe if the movies end very differently from the books (wouldn't be the first time - My Sister's Keeper?) I don't think I'll finish the series or watch the movies. I don't mind sad endings but I want it to at least make some sense. I can't stand senseless AND depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aura Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Pretty much what's already been said. I was not impressed with the writing. Divergent did pull you in, but the other two got progressively worse. The ending, IMO, was pointless and a lazy attempt to make an acclaimed series that readers love. It failed miserably and was a violation of the readers' trust. I will never read another Veronica Roth book. My dd hated the ending as much as I did, but she still wants to see the movie. If they change the ending, then maybe I'll watch the movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 Oh good. Reading some of the reviews out there, I was beginning to wonder if I was just somehow missing something!!! SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT I have some specific questions/problems with these books... - I'm really just trying to understand this, I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything, but, is this the basic back story? - The world is an ugly place, full of conflict. Sort of like our world is now. Some scientists decide to invent a medication/treatment that modifies genes, and these treatments specifically enhance various "virtue" genes. However, the treatment makes people too lopsided, and the over-virtuous traits are worse than the normal human gene pool. People whose genes were modified to be more honest, for example, lose their kindness, people modified to be more brave become cruel, etc. (Apparently no one was modified to enhance all the virtues together in one person???). Those people who underwent treatment are considered to now be GD, genetically defective. The original, unmodified human gene pool is considered GP, genetically pure. - So now, war breaks out between the GP and the GD. No clear explanation as to why, or how it ended. BUT, it was blamed on the GD. Former wars prior to genetic modification are concealed, so that no one realizes that GPs are violent/have conflicts. It doesn't occur to anyone to wonder why scientists attempted the virtue enhancement in the first place, if GPs were such great people to begin with. - Without any sort of human rights uproar, some dozen metropolitan areas are emptied (?) of their populations, then replaced with a bunch of GD volunteers who agree to have their memories wiped in exchange for food for their starving families. All of this is arranged and set into motion by the government as "experiments" in an attempt to fix the GD problem. No clear explanation why the GD problem will go away more quickly in the cities than in nature, where people are all interbreeding at similar rates. ??? Not to mention that most of the people in Chicago at least would be breeding with people with the same GD as them (that is, within their own faction), so it seems like it would be counterproductive to the production of divergent GPs. But anyway... - Everyone's memory is wiped clean. No one within Chicago attempts to get out. None of the erudite or dauntless are curious enough or reckless enough to want to see what's outside. No one is curious about what's out there.... at all. For some 100 years or so. - The falling apart US gov't manages to continue funding these experiments despite the country consisting almost entirely of homeless GD people. - Eventually, the "divergent" GPs are supposed to come out into the world and "help". How? By breeding? By increasing the GP/GD ratio? I mean, it sounds like Chicago has produced a whopping 200ish GP divergent after 100 years or so??? IS THAT ABOUT RIGHT??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I loved it because it is the first real multi-chapter, at her age level/reading level, book that DD has been able to read (dyslexic). She got it for Christmas and read it in 5 days after a LOT of reading remediation this past year. But even though she was thrilled to read it and I read it, too, neither one of us has been terribly excited about continuing the series. Especially after reading the Chat thread regarding the awful ending of the third book. So we have happily moved on to other things, but the first book in this series will always have a special place in my heart. It gave DD the confidence to believe that after all her hard work she really CAN read now...(but secretly I do wish it had been some other selection ;) ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 MORE SPOILERS!!! What did you find disappointing about the ending? I didn't mind that Tris died. There's only so many times that "running in a zig zag" or ducking will keep bullets from hitting you... What disappointed me is that it was just unbelievable. - So, there is this memory-erasing air-born virus that has a 100% infection rate within a 24 hour period. And yet, this highly, highly, highly contagious virus doesn't leak out and infect both the people of Chicago and the people on the fringe (and therefore, the entire globe). Hmmm... - Tris is immune to death serum... a serum that can magically cross through clean suits, so no one else can possibly, possibly survive. Convenient! - Tobias is now working in politics. I hate to be all teenagery, but SRSLY? - Other experiments are not shut down. No one else outside of the O'Hare airport has forgotten the GD/GP conflict or oppression. Useless. A few more things... In all that great Midwest, the fringe people choose to live in cardboard villages with absolutely no known food resources, rather than simply do what we've always done- move west and settle and farm. Where is their food coming from? Where is ANYONE'S food coming from? Should we assume the Amity faction is huge compared to the rest of the city, in order to have the agricultural base necessary to support Chicago? - Does anyone really believe the people in Abnegation could or should run the government? Any 16 year old with a whiff of ambition would simply transfer to Abnegation and find rising to power to be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Which means within a few years, that entire faction would just be flooded with people pretending to be do-gooders just long enough to seize power. Marcus would not be the "exception", he would be the rule! Amity- where's the motivation to do the hardest labor and feed the entire city? In exchange for what? Technology to farm better? Hmmm... You be my slave long enough, and eventually I'll reward you with a better broom! ummmm......... Ok, there's more, but I'm just so irritated! I am terrible about just stopping a book in the middle, but I probably should have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I've not finished the third book. I enjoyed the first. Slogged through book two. Book three is feeling like more book two. But now I'm wondering if I should finish it to see how bad it was. The series had so much potential! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I read the first one but I couldn't bring myself to read the 2nd and 3rd. The story did really pull me in but the writing was just wretched. I felt reading it was a huge waste of time. I'll be seeing the movie. I'm hoping the movie is better than the book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 And now, just another thought... I know this was teen lit, but I found myself thinking several times, This book would be way better if the s_x scenes were just a liiiiiiiitle bit more detailed. LOLOLOLOL! I mean really, the only really engaging part of the book for me was that Tobias was a handsome, tatooed guy in black leather. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 It's definitely "if you liked hunger games and want something a lot like it....."For people who read based on plot, not quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Dd just informed me that another reason she will not watch the movie is the casting in it and Fault in our Stars (one of her all time favorite books). She feels watching the Divergent movie would ruin the other for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I read the first book and was unimpressed so I didn't bother with the other two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I really liked The Hunger Games, and I am a fan of dystopian fiction, in general. However, I didn't care for Divergent. I read the first one and just couldn't get excited about continuing to the next. I agree that the society's structure didn't really make a lot of sense. I thought most of the characters were under-developed. And there was entirely too much time spent describing the training in far too much detail for my taste. The "hype," I suspect, is that the film studio hopes they can create another Hunger-Games-type hit franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I didn't hate the series. I loved the first book. The second book annoyed me (but often the second in trilogies does). The third was... weird. I was okay with what happened, but it seemed like she had really good ideas but wasn't quite sure where to go with it. I love the premise of the factions and dividing society. I think it would have been better as a single book instead of a trilogy, but it's like she felt like she had to go with the YA dystopian pattern of there being three books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoseInABook Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I enjoyed the first book. The second one was meh. The third one, I had to force myself to read because it was so bad. I definitely won't go see them in the theaters, but maybe I'll watch them if they end up on Netflix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 This is refreshing. I only read the first one and just didn't like it. I enjoy dystopian but for many reasons stated here (esp. the unclear writing and back story), I just didn't like Divergent and gave up. It seemed like it was written by a very young writer. I have no plans to read anymore or to see the movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 I feel so much better knowing I'm not the only person scratching my head over the popularity of the books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I enjoyed the first book. The second one was meh. The third one, I had to force myself to read because it was so bad. I definitely won't go see them in the theaters, but maybe I'll watch them if they end up on Netflix. This was my experience exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I've not finished the third book. I enjoyed the first. Slogged through book two. Book three is feeling like more book two. But now I'm wondering if I should finish it to see how bad it was. The series had so much potential! Book 1 I got through on the strength of the recommendation of a young lady who was quite eloquent about it. Book 2... I ran out of time to finish reading halfway through (IE It was automatically returned to the ebook-library). I haven't been heavily interested in getting it back and these reviews are not encouraging! Anyone want to throw me a hint as to whether Book 3 of the Matched Triology is worth reading? By Ally Condie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Anyone want to throw me a hint as to whether Book 3 of the Matched Triology is worth reading? By Ally Condie Yes! After Crossed I wasn't too sure, but Reached was really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 MORE SPOILERS!!! What did you find disappointing about the ending? I didn't mind that Tris died. There's only so many times that "running in a zig zag" or ducking will keep bullets from hitting you... What disappointed me is that it was just unbelievable. I wasn't disappointed that Tris died either. I think her death could have been a great ending for the series. I was disappointed in how/why it happened, and just the book as a whole. I mean, she breaks into this hugely important room and doesn't take a gun. David is there because he knew she'd try something, despite the fact that he kept inviting her into their super-secret planning meetings. Her brother was dying (literally) to prove himself and bring himself a sense of redemption, and she took that away from her because she judged his reasons as not good enough. She didn't need redemption... Caleb did, and could have had it, but she of course had to play the hero instead of taking into account what anyone eles wanted. Between the plot holes and the angst and the main characters being stupidly stubborn and only seeing things from their own perspective, Tris just felt arrogant and Tobias felt weak and everything that I grew to like about them in the first book was turned on its head. Also, the ending itself was totally unbelievable, as you pointed out. So this super-contagious virus somehow stops at Chicago's borders? The GPs are infected and just... believe everything that people tell them about what happened and what their stance was? The government lets them do their own thing in Chicago without interfering, but also without changing any of the other experiments? It was just illogical and all the characters felt washed up. On the plus side, in the final book Roth finally managed to make some extremely realistic teenage characters. Selfishly persuing one's own agenda without considering how it affects others? Check. Hormone-fuelled irrationality? Check. Brooding refusal to forgive someone even though you understand where they were coming from? Check. Being so sure you're right that you just go ahead and do whatever you want? Check. I half expected Tris to shout out "But Mooooom I don't WANNA carry out your mission and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" when she was reading the journal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I finished the first. I liked it, but didn't "love" it. I do "love" The Hunger Games Series, but the Divergent series (so far) is not nearly as exciting or interesting. Right now I'm a few chapters into the second book of The Divergent Series, and I'm just not that into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I wasn't disappointed that Tris died either. I think her death could have been a great ending for the series. I was disappointed in how/why it happened, and just the book as a whole. I mean, she breaks into this hugely important room and doesn't take a gun. David is there because he knew she'd try something, despite the fact that he kept inviting her into their super-secret planning meetings. Her brother was dying (literally) to prove himself and bring himself a sense of redemption, and she took that away from her because she judged his reasons as not good enough. She didn't need redemption... Caleb did, and could have had it, but she of course had to play the hero instead of taking into account what anyone eles wanted. Between the plot holes and the angst and the main characters being stupidly stubborn and only seeing things from their own perspective, Tris just felt arrogant and Tobias felt weak and everything that I grew to like about them in the first book was turned on its head. Also, the ending itself was totally unbelievable, as you pointed out. So this super-contagious virus somehow stops at Chicago's borders? The GPs are infected and just... believe everything that people tell them about what happened and what their stance was? The government lets them do their own thing in Chicago without interfering, but also without changing any of the other experiments? It was just illogical and all the characters felt washed up. On the plus side, in the final book Roth finally managed to make some extremely realistic teenage characters. Selfishly persuing one's own agenda without considering how it affects others? Check. Hormone-fuelled irrationality? Check. Brooding refusal to forgive someone even though you understand where they were coming from? Check. Being so sure you're right that you just go ahead and do whatever you want? Check. I half expected Tris to shout out "But Mooooom I don't WANNA carry out your mission and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" when she was reading the journal. :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I really liked the first two books but hated the third. I almost quit several times because it was so dull, and I was so glad to be finished I didn't even care about the WTH ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I liked the first book...after all, what's not to like about Four???? I thought the second book was a disaster and because of comments on here about the third I said no way. We did see the movie last night...it was a fair adaptation of the first book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Oh no. Dd is reading them now, she isn't quite done with the third book. Not looking forward to her getting to a bad ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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