Allegiant Book Review

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
# of Pages: 526
Series #: Divergent #3
Reading Span: October 29th - November 17th
Rating: ****/

Allegiant, as I'm sure all of you know, is the final book in the Divergent trilogy written by Veronica Roth. Before going into the book, I heard some very mixed things, particularly surrounding the ending, so I was a bit hesitant to like it at first. All I have to say to this is that I thought that everyone was wrong. I didn't cry... I'm heartless.

Okay, they weren't necessarily wrong, and yes, it was sad. BUt the ending I thought fit the book absolutely perfectly, like the missing piece of the puzzle. Especially how it was written. If it were anyone else that had written it, I don't think I would have lived through it. So well done!

Okay, enough of "ending talk". I want to dig deeper into characters, as they really stood out to me in this novel especially. There is a lot more character development, and we get to know a lot more about Tris, Four and the rest of the gang. Roth also goes into detail of specific relationships and I think that really added to the overall story and plot line. There were also lots of family and value issues floating around which I really liked.

The plot of this story was a lot slower paced than the other two books in the series, which was great because it gave Roth more opportunity to get into the characters and world-building. That being said, I think that the 500 plus pages was a bit long for what was actually there, and it could have been shortened to at least 300, and maybe even less.

SPOILER ENDING DISCUSSION
I had suspicions about the ending and what was going to happen before, so I wasn't really surprised when Tris died. I thought that it showed who Tris really was, and that was a wonderful addition to the story. The epilogue was sort of random though, and I didn't buy the fact that everything was perfectly okay. It did leave me satisfied though, so I guess it gets points for that.
SPOILER OVER

One last random thought. You know the cliff-hanger at the end of Insurgent (by the way, if you haven't read Insurgent yet then don't read this part)? Well, that "fact" wasn't really put into play in all of Allegiant, and that frustrated me. And the title as well... Just... grrrrrrr.

Okay, that's it from me! I hope you enjoyed this review of Allegiant. If you have read the other two books in the series, then I defiantly recommend you check this final instalment out (although make sure you remember what happened in them before reading Allegiant). Until next time, happy reading! And may the odds be ever in your favour.

GINS Meets Consumerism

Consumerism affects us all, whether we like to admit it or not. For this post, I am going to be thinking about how consumerism affects others by comparing the two projects that I have been working on these past few weeks; The Global Issues Novel Study (GINS) and my Consumerism Tumblr. Links to both of these “projects” are linked on my blog sidebar.

In my novel, Gabrielle’s parents encourage her very strongly to continue in school, no matter what the cost. Many of the people in Gabrielle’s peer group are unable to attend because it cost too much money that their families need for food and other basic needs. In fact, Gabrielle’s family suffers from food shortages as well, since she is going to school. This is one example how the economic system affects my book.

After finding out more about Guatemala and it’s circumstances (2006-2011), I came across the fact that 14% of the Guatemalan population is below the international poverty line of the United States ($1.25) per day. This really puts perspectives on the difference between the girl in my book compared to myself. When reading, it’s sometimes is a bit hard to wrap my head around her living conditions, and this fact really brings that to my attention. This fact also shows how much Gabrielle’s family was really giving up to let her go to school, and why they were so desperate that she continues with it even as the genocide started.

  I hope that this informed you well and that you well and that you will consider it the next time you read Tree Girl. Happy reading!!

GINS: Roundtable Discussion (2)

Welcome to another roundtable discussion post! Prior to this roundtable, we were to research a little bit more about our book and the issue that it faces. Then, in a group of three, we discussed answers to the following questions.

1. What did you find out that surprising or powerful in your research?
2. What are you still wondering about?
3. Now that you have more information and background on your novel and its issue, what do you think might happen as you read further on in your novel?

Group Members:
Grace @ Reading you life away
Omar @ The Need to Read
Myself

Books Mentioned:
The Translator by Daoud Hari
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Tree Girl by Ben Mikaelsen

Link: https://soundcloud.com/user68152905/gins-roundtable-2

Happy reading! Look out for a few reviews and other posts coming VERY soon. I just finished Allegiant! Ahhhh!

Epic Recs: November 2013

Today I am here with a post that I am super excited about. I'm sure that you have all heard of Amber from Books of Amber. Well, she does this thing called epic recs (you can visit her blog to find out more). And now, I am taking part in it along with Danika from Books to Dream.

Each month we will recommend a book to the other person that we are required to read. Also, we will each have a secret back-up book that we will share with you if we can't get the top choice recommendation in our hands.

For the month of November, I have recommended Partials by Dan Wells to Danika, and Danika has recommended Shadow and Bone to me. I am super excited to start this book and this series, and watch out for more posts like this one in the months to come. Happy reading!!

New Consumerism Tumblr

Hello lovely viewers! Today I come to you with an announcement about a new assignment that I have started. In this assignment I will be creating a tumblr that expresses my consumer identity. If you are interested check it out in the sidebar!

Happy reading, and have a great day!

Link: http://briannnac.tumblr.com