Divergent by Veronica Roth

Summary: Beatrice Prior lives in a world divided into five factions. Each faction bases its lifestyle on a virtue, in the belief that it is the most righteous way to live. There is Candor, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, and Abnegation. Until your sixteenth birthday, you live in the faction in which you were born. But then you must make a choice. Do you stay with your family, or do you forsake the virtue (and the people) with which you grew up? Though it’s a tough choice to make, most people know to what faction they belong. Beatrice is different; she’s what’s known as a Divergent, someone who doesn’t fit into just one group. This makes her very dangerous in a world whose motto is “faction before blood.”

It’s official – Leaky Con is over. Our blog posts are done, I’ve assimilated all the THINGS I accumulated, and I’m battling the last vestiges of Leaky Flu with some serious antibiotics. In short, I’m depressed. Real life kind of sucks compared to the one giant wizard party that was Leaky Con.

To fight this Post Potter Depression, I plucked Divergent from the library stacks after hearing several rave reviews from my patrons. (Yes, I know – nothing like a dystopian novel to lighten the mood.) While it was an engrossing premise, it left me a little under-whelmed. And some things just plain annoyed me.

Let’s get this out of the way – Hunger Games comparisons are bound to happen. This novel is also written in the first person, present tense. Girl heroine fights dystopia. Other similarities (some rather striking) beg the question – is this derivative? Answer: This novel doesn’t come close to the Hunger Games, and I will review it without further comment upon the matter.

Divergent has a really interesting social concept: people form groups based on one ideal that they think should be valued above all others. Over time, the lifestyle of each group evolves to be vastly different from the others. Everything from clothing to food choice is framed by the ideal. At first, it seems to work out. It even makes job distribution easier. Abnegation are selfless, so they are leaders. Erudite are smart, so they are researchers. Dauntless are brave, so they protect the city. I could just imagine humans trying to do something so deliciously stupid and reductive. As the book progresses, you see the flaws this sort of society produces.

Some people aren’t able to function in the faction they chose, so they are forced out. They are called the factionless, and the way they were portrayed really bugged me. They basically live in the ghetto and survive on charity from Abnegation. Beatrice is terrified at the prospect of having to be factionless, as they are devoid of community. She describes their lives: “They live in poverty, doing the work no one else wants to do. They are janitors and construction workers and garbage collectors; they make fabric and operate trains and drive buses.” OH MY GOD THE HORROR. A busdriver, or even worse – a factory worker? Who could even imagine such an awful, dirty life? UGH. This passage couldn’t reek more strongly of privilege if one tried. Blue-collar-kid grumbling aside, I don’t believe the factionless would just not have a community. If you’re thrown into an area with other people of very similar circumstances, you’d form bonds and friendships. Not just become homeless drunks who also happen to drive the city buses. Yeah, it didn’t make much sense in the book either.

Another flaw in the society is the trait known as Divergence. Our heroine, Beatrice Prior (which is far too similar to Beatrix Potter), is one of these apparently rare people who can belong to several if not all of the groups. They also react differently to a serum used rather frequently in this world, but that gets into spoiler-y territory so I can’t really delve into that. Anyway, Beatrice is Divergent and is told that she should keep it a secret. Following the logic of the society, being that different would be dangerous. Because it would basically mean it’s not possible to have one correct faction; that people don’t have to make just one right choice. If your existence conflicts with the way society runs, then yeah, you want to hide it.

Stepping out of the logic of that world – why isn’t everyone Divergent? I’m honestly perplexed by it. Unless I missed something in my Leaky Flu haze, it seems like most people happily fit into one of the five categories. It doesn’t seem likely that there are so few who can belong to different factions. I think most people could belong to a different faction every day of the week. Or maybe they need to institute a sort of Rumspringa, in which every 16 year old visits each faction and then gets to decide where they belong. As is, I thought it was going to be revealed that everyone is really a Divergent (like everyone turns out to be a witch in Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones). Sadly, this is not the case. Perhaps we will find out more about what makes so few people Divergent in the sequel.

Speaking of that sequel… I don’t really know where this series is headed. And that is mainly because of the pacing of this novel. It seems so normal. Beatrice finds out she is Divergent, makes her choice, and becomes an initiate. She faces extremely difficult tasks, makes friends, finds a love interest, and learns about sketchy plans that will cause problems between the factions. Then the day of her initiation comes and bam – all hell breaks lose. Characters start dying all over the place. (A note about this – there are a few Movie Dobby Deaths, a term I coined after seeing Deathly Hallows Part I. Essentially, characters that should’ve been given more development come in right before they die to do or say something heroic/poignant/etc/ and then are killed off. It’s a cheap, cheap filler that pisses me off to no end. Ahem.) Basically, the plot advances rapidly in the last fifty pages, which feels off after the sometimes slow pace of the previous 420 pages. Seriously, so much shit happens in the last part that I don’t know what’s left to happen in the sequel. Maybe Beatrice will make everyone a Divergent with a special serum and all the factions will implode. Hooray implosion!

Let’s talk about writing – Roth pulls off the first person present, which is difficult to do. I think it really works because Beatrice is a good narrator. Born into Abnegation, she doesn’t want to talk about her self too much because she is supposed to be selfless. And when she does talk about herself, it’s usually highlighting her struggles with selflessness and how she isn’t good enough to be one of them. It’s never whiny, which is a relief. Nothing gets old faster than a whiny first person narrative. There are some clunky parts, (at one point, Beatrice is clubbing us over the head with an explanation of how her fears are metaphors) but overall the writing contributes to the readability of Divergent.

THE GOOD:
-Interesting world building
-First person present grabs your attention and keeps you engrossed in the narrative
-Beatrice’s struggles with the self are refreshing and add some deeper philosophical notes to the novel

THE BAD:
-Overstuffed ending
-Blaaaah at the Christian undertones
-Factionless just sound like working class people, which is the worst thing to be, like, EVER *eye-roll*
-Where the eff is this story going?
-Some logic problems (including one GAPING plot hole that I want to talk about but can’t because it’s a huge spoiler and it’s driving me batty so I threw it in here in hopes someone else has read it and noticed and can discuss with meeeee)

Ultimately, Divergent is an easy book to get through. It’s interesting enough that you want to see where it’s going, and it has enough substance to sink your teeth into. But after the end, I was supremely unsatisfied. I was left with more questions about the logic/workings of the world than about what would happen next.

So it looks like the search continues for something to bring me out of Post Potter Depression. Maybe I’ll pick up Crime and Punishment next…

The Warlock by Michael Scott

Summary: In the fifth (and penultimate) book of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, the twins of lore Sophie and Josh Newman face tough choices. With the help of their immortal allies, they must do what they think is right for the world and use their powers accordingly. But will their choices turn the once inseparable twins into mortal enemies?

Have you ever read a book quickly just to get through it? Plowed through the pages, stopped reading critically, skipped all the nice language and nuance, just to get to the end of the damn book? If yes, multiply that by five and you will have my relationship with this series.

The premise is interesting – which is why I picked up the first book The Alchemyst. There are two twins who don’t know that they have magical powers and that their birth was foretold 10,000 years ago. One is supposed to help save the world while the other tries to destroy it. Intrigue! Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle are there to awaken the kids’ powers, along with a ragtag gang of immortals humans and god like beings The Elders. Shenanigans!

Except the books fall flat in comparison to what the book jackets promise. But at this point, I am committed to seeing it through to the end. Dammit.

Okay – we need to cover some stuff. Sophie and Josh – twins of lore. Pure gold and silver auras. Helping or hurting the twins are immortal humans. They have been made so by an Elder, a powerful being who has been alive for thousands of years. All the Elders come from Danu Talis – a beautiful world that was destroyed thousands of years ago. So the Elders made other worlds, all referred to as Shadow Realms. The earth is actually a Shadow Realm, albeit a very populated one. Some Elders want to take over the earth, while others want things to remain the same. So, two factions. Sophie and Josh take different sides. Shit happens.

Maybe this is my biggest problem – I don’t think the twins are all that interesting. They don’t seem like they deserve magical powers or adventures. They are supremely boring and privileged, and that is not a good foundation upon which to build a series. Sophie is kind of whiny and sad that Josh chose to be with the evil Dr. John Dee. And Josh – ugh. He is just insanely stupid and easily manipulated. It’s fairly obvious when the dude you’re supporting wants to set a bunch of monsters lose on your hometown that he is NOT an okay guy. That he is in fact a psychotic asshole. But no, Josh doesn’t see that. He blindly accepts that it’s for the greater good. Especially since he has a cursed sword that makes him think bad thoughts. So Josh isn’t even the deliciously evil twin – he is just stupid and jealous and boring.

Though, there is some creepy twincest vibes. Like Sophie will do “anything. Everything” to get Josh back to the good side. And they talk as if they are a couple that had a bad breakup. It’s kind of disturbing, but perhaps my brain was trying to tart up this story a bit.

I also don’t like the magic set up. There have to be rules! JK Rowling spent years mapping out rules of magic before she wrote the series. But Sophie and Josh are Awakened, and then immortals and Elders help them learn magic extraordinarily fast. Like, one second – no magic. Next second – I am the master of the four elements. It would be like Aang was born the Avatar and then on his 16^th birthday woke up with all the skills. Sorry, it shouldn’t work like that. It was just too easy. And the twins already had an easy life, so when even their powers came easily, I was just bleh about the whole thing.

Oh and did I mention a warrior vampire named Scatty, along with Shakespeare, Joan of Arc, and other immortal humans, travels back in time 10,000 years with Death (who has a hook for a hand) to Danu Talis to do SOMETHING? And that Billy the Kid and Virginia Dare are on Alcatraz with Machiavelli and then the plot explodes in my brain and I just want to take a nap. There are also flying saucers and mermaids. It seems Michael Scott wants to cram in every bit of mythology and fantasy trope that he possibly can into this series.

There is just so much going on with the plot that it started to become unwieldy. One chapter we’re onAlcatraz, the next back in time. Then Sophie, then Josh, then Anubis and Bastet, now back to Alcatraz. You don’t have time to sink into the characters and their experiences as you’re too busy being constantly jerked around. This book gave me reader’s whiplash. At least it’s all starting to come together, because in the last book when they first traveled back in time I almost threw in the towel. Now I know why Scott had the characters doing so… but it still seems like things are too easy and convenient.

The ending… I can’t even. The last page is a ridiculous plot turn. It’s not like a “oh man I can’t wait to find out what happens!” It was a blank stare of disbelief which quickly morphed into narrowed eyes of annoyance.

THE GOOD:
-Some of the immortals are fun and interesting characters (like Billy the Kid). I actually wish the books were just about their adventures. Cut out the twins entirely!
-Plot threads are coming together so now some things from previous books finally make sense

THE BAD:
-Sophie and Josh aren’t fun or interesting
-Plot is overstuffed
-Why is Death really Captain Hook? And why isn’t he wearing a silly hat?

I was actually disappointed when I found out this wasn’t the final book. That pretty much says it all. Whomp.

Summary: London, 1856. Professor Adolphus Hatton is a forensic scientist working a baffling case. A society lady has been brutally murdered in her bedroom, followed by a string of other deaths. At the center of the mystery lies a packet of missing letters, written by Benjamin Broderig while he was abroad in Borneo. As he is a scholar and free-thinker, the letters may contain information that will rock the foundations of current scientific thought. Or there may be something more sinister hidden in the letters. Who took the letters, and for what purpose? Hatton must work quickly, using the new science of forensics to solve the case before even more bodies pile up.

This book should’ve been interesting. The title is so evocative – Devoured. It sounds sinful and slightly wicked. It take place in Victorian London- an era of new science and public prudity. And tophats. Murders, political intrigue, underdog scientists, this book had a lot of promise. Sadly, it did not deliver.

The first thing I noticed was how the narrative jumps around incessantly. I assumed we would get Hatton’s point of view for most of the novel, with some secondary characters woven in to build suspense (like other mysteries). Half the book seems to be written in the POV of random characters. We go from Hatton, to Ashby, a clerk for the shitty Duke Monreith. Then there is Madame Martineau, prostitute/dressmaker to high society ladies/publisher of seditious pamphlets/dastardly foreign lady who also blackmails people. Sometimes the maid Flora will get a few pages. And then there are the letters themselves. They tell the story of Broderig’s time spent abroad as he searches for exotic specimens to study. But bad things happen while he’s in the wild, and those bad things are deeply connected to what is going on in London. Here’s the problem with that – I DON’T CARE WHAT IS HAPPENING IN LONDON.

A good mystery novel starts with a good detective, and this books fails on the most basic level. Hatton is not a well-developed character. Besides being flat, I didn’t even like the few characteristics he was given. And I can pinpoint the exact moment that I really started to dislike him – page 42. “he often gave the dog a sharp kick, but not in full view of the owner.” Few things can alienate me from a text that quickly, but animal abuse is one of them. On an authorial level, why was that detail necessary? You aren’t going to spend time developing well-rounded characters, but you throw in kicking puppies? Where was the editor! Ugh.

Besides that, he didn’t have any interesting qualities. He didn’t smoke or do drugs. He was a bachelor without any attachments. No fiery temper or funny quips. Not saying you need these things to be interesting, but he didn’t have anything. Just really, really dull thoughts. When the narrative actually followed Hatton, I just didn’t care. The idea of forensics being a new field was so intriguing to me. I expected people resisting the new science, or Hatton being more proactive about his field. But this was barely explored in the novel. It focused more on characters running around “advancing” the plot.

As for the other characters, there was no consistency. For example, there is a detective named Inspector Adams who has become a celebrity based on prior cases. But in the case where we see him working, he is awful. He doesn’t see obvious connections; he is racist and more concerned with image than solving the case. How did he become a celebrated detective behaving as he does? The obvious answer – he doesn’t. He blows at his job. The kicked puppy has better deductive reasoning. Another poorly developed character! Ashby the clerk starts off as a lackey for the evil Duke, but switches to an almost sympathetic person by the end of the novel. The problem with that is it’s not done naturally. It’s not character progression – it’s poor writing. The only character that had some life was Hatton’s lab assistant, Albert Roumonde. He actually cares about the victims, and advocates for his profession. Sadly, we don’t see enough of him to make up for the other characters.

The plot – okay, it’s a mystery. There has to be a twist, or something that is difficult to figure out. This twist left me underwhelmed, as it connected two big and seemingly disparate plot points into one rather obvious solution. The missing letters were intriguing at first, and the language Meredith uses to describe the jungle is really pretty and enjoyable. But they weren’t enough to hold this book together. In fact, I was far more interested in Broderig’s adventures than the mystery at hand.

Oh, and mild spoilers. Almost everybody dies. Seriously, Meredith’s way of tying up loose ends is for everyone to MURDER each other. But hey, blank slate for the inevitable second installment. Which I will not be reading.

THE GOOD:
- The letters were beautifully written
- A few interesting scenes dealing with early forensics

THE BAD:
- VERY underdeveloped and unbelievable characters
- The mystery aspect wasn’t that difficult to solve
- Ending is out of control ridiculous
- Puppy abuse

Far from devouring this book, I could barely choke it down.