[REVIEW] Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Published: March 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: Divergent #2

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.(From Goodreads)

Insurgent: "Noun.  A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not neccessarily regarded as a belligerent."
Well now that explains the title.

Insurgent was as amazing as Divergent. The middle book of the trilogy, I often find, is the worst one, not because of bad writing but because there seems to be more explanation than actual action.  Insurgent is no different.  Divergent was the book that introduced us to this dystopic world while Insurgent is the book that explained the complexity of the world.

Tris and Four's relationship improves (of course!).  I loved the fact that their relationship seemed normal as well.  They had arguments and made up afterwards and that made it seem more like a relationship anyone could be in. I found it more relatable. Sadly, there were some parts that I felt were forced. As much as we all love a good romance scene between our two love birds, I feelt Veronica Roth included them just because the fans wanted it.  At times, it really didn't seem necessary, rather not even in the right moment.  It's just like intense battle or strategy time and then romance scene.  It just didn't seem to fit.

There comes a time when I'll stumble upon a book that leaves me too scared to read further, often because I don't want to know what's going to happen next.  Of course I'll cave and read it.  That moment happened while reading Insurgent.  300 pages in and getting more and more excited until I come upon one part where I just couldn't go forward.  I remember staring at one page for 10 minutes telling myself that everything was going to be okay and that I just had to keep reading but inside I just couldn't.  Guess I definitely wouldn't pass for being Dauntless, eh?  For a book to make me feel that way is absolutely amazing and I applaud Veronica Roth on that.

Now on to the negative, this book wasn't as exciting as the first.  Probably because I could sort of predict what was going to happen. Some parts seemed obvious (anyone else felt that too?) unlike the first where the entire book seemed like a completely different story.  I guess since this is dystopic lit, it had to follow the whole pattern of a somewhat utopic society turning dystopic through a rebellion/revolution of some sort.  Like the hunger games (but not the same!) it was clear that Divergent would get it's uprising in this book so some of the actions weren't that surprising.

It also seemed like Veronica Roth had planned an ending to the second book and wrote towards it because throughout the novel, there seemed to consist of several mini sub plots, more like arcs, that combined together helped in developing the main plot.  I won't say that's bad just that the last couple pages seemed more intense and suspenseful than the entire book.

Honestly thought, Divergent was my favourite book for 2011 but I can't say the same for Insurgent.  It just lacks some parts that made Divergent special for me.  Insurgent is amazing but just not as good as it's first. (BUT YOU SHOULD STILL READ IT BECAUSE THE SERIES IS AMAZING!!!)

BUY (although leaning very closly to the MEH side)

[REVIEW] Bitten by R. L. Stine

Published: 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: Dangerous Girls #1 & 2

Twin sisters Destiny and Livvy Weller return home from summer vacation with a dark secret . . . and an inhuman desire to drink blood. What have they become? Can they ever turn back? As their deadly secret becomes harder to keep, more questions arise and loyalties are tested. And as one sister descends into darkness, the other must find a way to save her—and herself. Who will live to see the glow of the next full moon? Which sister will survive?

In Dangerous Girls and Dangerous Girls #2: The Taste of Night, published together in Bitten, bestselling author R.L. Stine explores the dark creatures of the night. (From Goodreads)

Well first, this book is about vampires.
Shocker there. 

Secondly, the vampires aren't like the ones from Twilight that sparkle in the sun or the ones that have to drink immortal elixer, no. These vampires are the ones that live forever, suck blood and terrorize people. 

In the book there are twins, Destiny and Lizzy who end up being bitten by the same vampire while they are camp. The reason why the vampire bit them? Well they looked like the girl he loved that got killed. To be with her again, the vampire attempts to make them immortal but is interrupted in the process. That starts this whole crazy adventure. This book is made up of two parts, so in the first part, the girls are confronted with the truth that they are becoming hungrier and hungrier and that they thirst for blood. The other thing is that the vampire that bit them, well he can't continue the job unless it's a full moon so he ends up stalking them...kind of creepy in my opinion. Destiny (Dee for short) also starts to get stressed about finding a cure when the twins stumble upon another vampire that told them "The Restorer" could cure them if there was enough time left. So begins the hunt for the Restorer. Along the way, the girls also realize that there are vampire hunters in town and that their dad and the entire baseball team is a part of it. SO now they have to run for their lives as well as trying to save them. At the end of the first part, the twin's dad tells them that he is actually the Restorer and he saves Dee but Lizzy chooses to stay immortal, even turning someone else too. Well in the second part, it's completely about the psychological harm Lizzy does to her family by leaving her home. We also see Lizzy constantly homesick and wondering around at night finding people to drink. It gets serious later on when people start dying and the twins both think that the other twin had something to do with it...

Bitten reminds me alot of the Vampire Diaries, without the witches, werewolves, angelic blood and hot romances. It's sort of the sample of it.
I'll be honest, at first I thought this book was horrible. There's no depth in the plot and the girls are just constantly chasing some made up tale. It got better when people actually started to die and the plot deepend. 

What i did like abut this was the characters really expressed their emotions well. It was also a really easy read. I read the entire 480 page book in a little bit more then two hours. So I guess if you like books about vampires then give it a try but don't expect much.

3/5
(originally posted in the TPL Word Out program)
BORROW

[REVIEW] Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Published: January 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Agee Group: Young Adults
Series: Unearthly #1

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart. (From Goodreads)

Unearthly is first a book about angels, yet again. 

In this book though, every angel gets a purpose that they recieve through visions later on in their adolescent life. Clara is a girl with a quarter angel blood and at the beginning of the book, she starts to recieve her purpose. Clara's mother is half angel blood and immediately decides after listening to Clara's brief vision, that they need to move to the location of her purpose, that being Wyoming. When they first get to Wyoming, Clara's glory starts to show in her hair. Glory is essentially when someone of angel blood starts to show their angelic light and it also makes those without angel blood become shocked, unable to speak. Because of this, Clara is forced to die her hair an unpleasent carrot orange. Later on in the story, as the visions become more frequent, Clara recognizes what her purpose is, that she has to save Christian Prescott, the official hottie of school. That starts Clara's attempts at trying to become his girlfriend although he already has one, and completing her purpose. 

The one thing that I absolutly loved about this book was that I didn't know which boy she was going to end up with. There's Christian and someone else, who I won't say because that sort of spoils the story. Usually the guy that the main character loves is pretty obvious but in this story, you think it's one person but no, it's the other then it switches all over again. It definitely will keep you on the edge and the pages turning until you get to the last page.

I also really like surprises in the books I read because usually I figure out what the surprises are going to be as well but i guess I was so caught up in the romance of this story that I didn't even pay attention and expect the surprise. 

The setting isn't explained with much depth and the focus is more on dialogues. 

The one thing I found bad about this book was the some of the characters weren't developed fully until they showed up later. A character would appear with a brief description of who they are and then leave. Later they would reappear and have more description but not fully. I guess what i'm trying to say is that everytime a minor character appears, you learn more about them. I don't like describing characters and it could just be me who feels that way. 

The main plot of this book is also throughout the story but often is forgotten in the main characters social and romance problems. Often it's problem problem, back to the purpose, problem problem, and the purpose, problem again and then new vison. There are alot of sub plots in this story. That being said, this is probably my favourite new series and i absolutely cannot wait for the new sequel! Go read it if you haven't!!!

5/5!
(originally posted in the TPL Word Out program)