Tris Prior knows what Erudite is doing. And she is going to do whatever she can to stop. Tris, Tobias, Peter, Christina, Uriah, and more are back. But will they make it out alive, or will the effects of grief, guilt, and revenge cause death and destruction to the factions as they know it and the people trying to save themselves and the entire society?

I loved this book, I read it in one sitting. I loved that the characters were not perfect. Tobias and Tris had some fighting, development, and all the characters developed and had great personalities. You see Tris struggle with her past and what has happened, and I love how her thoughts and actions make her seem real and relatable. The pace was good, not too fast or too slow, and the story kept me on the edge of seat and was full of suspense.

Parental Guidance/Age: Do not remember language but there might be. Brief sex scene and kissing throughout. People are killed fairly frequently and some intense scenes. 13+

Genre: Great for dystopian lovers and action fans. 2nd Divergent book.

This follow-up to Divergent, in the series of the same name, is a better book than the first in the series. It's pacing is faster and the characters become better defined. The way the book starts is almost like it was simply written along with the first and was just torn in two, much like the way J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Therefore some readers will have a hard time starting this book without having read the first one to gain more background. What I like the least about this book is the way that Tris, the narrator is developing. She is constantly bickering with her boyfriend, Tobias, in this book, and that Tris seems to spend a great deal of her time sneaking around spying on other people and listening furtively to what others are saying. For being a character of action in book one, she has become much more like a secretive passive spy in book 2. Also, sometimes I think that both Tris and Tobias, who are just 16 and 18 respectively, say things that no teenager would say or even think. Veronica Roth could do a better job in developing a more aunthentic sounding voice for them. Still, this book is a good one and the series remains interesting. Onward to book three -- "Allegiant".

Actual rating 3.5 stars

There was a lot of hype around this trilogy, and I resisted picking up the box set for a few years after being disappointed with some other YA series released around the same time. News of a film franchise being kicked off is what finally encouraged me to start reading. Though I didn't power through the books "“ I really enjoyed "˜Divergent' and rated it for the experience I had, thinking this was going to be an amazing trilogy. I'm not a big lover of dystopian novels, so the subsequent sequels were spread out over the following two years, each spurned on by looming release dates of the film franchise.

Overall, it is a fun, imaginative and gritty series, but I would probably recommend some others in this genre to my friends before the Divergent trilogy. My satisfaction diminished with each volume. It has a great conclusion, but ultimately the narrative style is what dragged my rating down.

I'd probably rate the boxed set as a solid 3.5. It has become a big part of the YA reading culture, and with the films, hard to ignore. So while a phenomenal story, fantastic packaging and a strong female protagonist role model, it didn't make the impact on me I'd hoped for"¦ whether my expectations had been elevated by the hype, or that I did not gel with Roth's writing style, it's still an action packed journey worth a look.

On the whole I feel as though I have enjoyed the movie franchise a lot better than the books, especially the SPFX, and much of the superfluous story lines stripped away, leaving it compact and throwing a punch. Really excited to see the final movie, 'Ascendant.'

To read individual reviews:
[...]
[...]
[...]

After reading The Hunger Games and falling in love, I was directed to Divergent. The second book in the series was available for pre-order, so lucky for me there was a lot of updates and reviews about the book... They sounded decent so I figured it was worth a shot...

Now, it's one of my top 5 all time favorite series!!

Veronica Roth was totally surprising as a first time author and wrote so vividly that years later, I can talk about the book and picture the whole world that she created. I'll admit that it was a little slow starting, but it didn't take long to catch up/on... And then I was hooked.

I absolutely adore the lead characters - you get to see their flaws, their strengths, the way they see their world. I loved "feeling" the doubt and the resolute determination to not succumb to weakness. Even as an adult, I could relate to so many different aspects of these characters. I could understand where certain ideas came from, how a character could equate their options at hand, see the debates. Without spoiling anything, it was such a pleasant surprise that characters were not instantly disliked or favored by the main character, yet the reasoning behind her emotions were explained and completely relevant.

Technically, it's YA but I genuinely feel like it's one of those rare stories with such incredible characters that it transcends age limits and is easily relate-able to any given person... Or at least, any person who's ever had questions about who they were and how they fit in, anyone who's had self-doubt, anyone who had to fight their self-proclaimed weakness...Just get through the first chapter and you won't be able to put this series down!

As with many trending "It" series, I was brought into the world of Divergent by my sister and her fellow book loving friends. Honestly, I was easily hooked and quickly read through Divergent followed by Insurgent, which leaves you hungry for more. So when I realized that there was one to come and it was to be the end of the trilogy with all the answers, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I even pre-ordered a copy so I didn't have to wait on a friend's copy like the last two. Sadly not even a third into the last book, Allegiant, I found myself regretting staying up till midnight awaiting its release.

Living in dystopian Chicago among one of the five factions, Beatrice Prior is at the age where they must take a test which will reveal her true faction. Born in Abnegation (the selfless) Beatrice wonders if she is in fact Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent) or simply still Abnegation? However when her results come back inconclusive and read as Divergent, Beatrice is told to keep it a secret and choose for herself or else . . . Yet during Faction initiation Beatrice chooses a new faction no one expected, the Dauntless. A new faction means a new family and new name, she becomes Tris. It's in Dauntless that Tris finds out more about herself and learns the truth of how the system everyone trusts is failing. Tris eventually leads a group of friends to help stop the corruption of the world they live in and the world around them, while learning and showing what it means to be Divergent.

Overall, you'll love the trilogy then hate it. The first two books are great but the last book makes little to no sense. Allegiant basically needs another book to explain itself, but the first two are worth reading again and again, hence the conflicting feelings about the trilogy. Tris as a character is relatable being constantly different and yet willing to be strong, plus when the time comes she doesn't just rely on her hot BF, but takes action herself. The sad thing is in the last book you lose some of that strength of character as Tris looked to others too much and ended up making rash decisions in the end. Plus there are a few other issues, but I'll not spoil too much. Divergent and Insurgent were told only from Tris' perspective, but Allegiant was split between Tris and Four which wasn't executed properly since their voices ended up sounding the same and Four lost all his manly appeal. There is also a HUGE controversial plot point in the end of the trilogy which I'd actually be okay with IF the scene had been better crafted and the rest of the story better explained to give meaning to the huge moment. So if you haven't already dove into this series I suggest its worth a read even if the ending isn't at all what everyone and I mean EVERYONE expected.

------Read more of my reviews at: [...]------