The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: Divergent
by Veronica Roth
by Karen S. Wiesner
In the first half of the 2000s, Young Adult series were all the rage, dominating the attention of teenagers and adults alike. Several that became household topics at the height of their popularity, enjoying fame as both book and movie series, seem to have fallen by the wayside since. Even still, I find many of those unique tales are well worth returning to for a fresh perspective. Over the next month or two, I thought I'd revisit a few series that would make any hit list of past favorites.
Divergent captured me the very moment Four (Tobias) made an appearance. Before that point, only the very unique, unexpected plot kept me turning the pages. The basic story here is set in a dystopian future where society is divided into each faction, each dedicated to a particular virtue in order to remove any one person exercising independence and freewill, which is seen as a threat. Those who don't fit nicely into any of the factions, or refuse to, are factionless and live on the fringes of society, poor and shunned. Those who are divergent are required to hide within their chosen factions because such a thing is illegal and feared. As one might expect, in this series, one of the factions wants to dominate all the others and set up their own leader.
Although this series has been around a long time and, if people wanted to read it, they probably already have, in fairness, I'm including this disclaimer: Warning! Spoilers ahead!
I didn't find the initial chapters particularly well written, though I didn't notice that as much as my first taste was of the audiobook of the first book in the series, listened to nearly from start to finish on a trip across the country. After that, I knew I had to read the rest of the series, but I started by reading Book 1 myself. The beginning was underwhelming, but I kept reading more out of intrigue of the faction concept until Four became the highlight of the book and, in my opinion, the series. The main character, Beatrice (who becomes Tris after she makes the choice to join Dauntless instead of remaining in Amity), never won me over. There was almost nothing likeable about Tris after, in the first few chapters of the first book, she stood up bravely and changed her whole life to join the faction that best fit her, even when it meant leaving her family. In fact, the major issue I had with the series was that this weak-playacting-strong heroine who turns into (sorry for the bluntness but it's the most accurate description) a total bitch and basically disintegrates her way through the series until she just gives up at the end and sacrifices herself needlessly, making everything they'd fought for worthless. Tris and Four's romance in Divergent, Book 1, is beautiful, passionate, worth every effort they made to be together when it was forbidden. It was simply breathtaking. But that fragile miracle was destroyed by the author's mistreatment after the initial series offering, and the relationship was hard to even look at in what followed.
Four was the whole reason for following the story to its bitter, disappointing conclusion. His character was complex, admirable, strong and yet vulnerable. If this series had been written from his point of view instead of Tris's, it could have been all it was meant to be. I think the author must have agreed with that because she followed up the trilogy a year later with a collection of short pieces (a prequel and disjointed other not-quite-a-story offerings, retelling parts of the first book) from Four's viewpoint. Unfortunately, this set of contributions felt too little, too late for me, after the crushing letdown of the last two Divergent books, which, albeit exciting, suspenseful, and very readable, did little but show us Tris shattering beyond repair when Four's love and their efforts leading the rebellion should have been able to heal her. Always, she was stuck in Book 1--in all she'd lost instead of finding any new motivation and purpose in her life. How unfair to Four and all who followed her lead.
A movie adaptation was made with the intention of it being four movies--the final book Allegiant was split into two (just like for Hunger Games' Mockingjay). However, the second part of the film was never completed, for which I've always been grateful. The Allegiant movie ended on such a high note. For the first time, we see Tris in a good place, finding strength and healing with Four, proud of their accomplishments and ready to begin a new life, rebuilding their world, for all. Why would fans have wanted to see the outcome of the second part of the book, where Tris sacrifices herself for absolutely no reason and leaves Four grieving? The end of the book relegates the reader to a sense of such devastation that there seems no reason to go on. I prefer to accept the movie's conclusion as the proper ending that should have been provided by the author.
While researching this review, I found that yet another story was added to the series four years after the last. We Can Be Mended was a short-story epilogue taking place 5 years after the final book in the trilogy. It's Tobias's redemption story--along with another character from the original trilogy, in a romance that I'm not sure I could feel right about accepting. As much as I disliked Tris, the thought of her best friend taking her place in Four's life just seems like a tragedy pile-on. I do intend to read it, but I don't have high hopes for being satisfied by this ending any more than I was with the previous.
Ultimately, I recommend this series, mainly for the first book, for the strong, admirable hero, for Four and Tris's early romance, and for the unique story introduced here.
Next week, I'll review another favorite YA series published in the early 2000s.
Karen Wiesner is an award-winning,
multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.
Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Find out more about her books and see her art
here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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