Review: The Girl With All The Gifts

M/R. Carey

Book Title: The Girl With All The Gifts
Author: M.R. Carey
Published: 2014 by Orbit (Little, Brown Book Group)
Pages: 403
Find it at: Amazon
My Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Blurb!
Not every gift is a blessing...

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.

When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.

My Thoughts!

The Girl With All The Gifts is what would leave you shuddering, for various reasons, depending on how you interpret it. Melanie, a ten year old girl living with her classmates at the 'base', knows no other home. Getting strapped into a wheelchair every morning with a gun pointed at her, she gets ready for classes, and a few other routine things every week or so. As you read this book, get ready to dive into a future where nothing seems safe anymore. Guard yourself with arms, lots of e-blocker and only then go about your day. If you have a day left, that is.

At the base, Melanie takes classes with different teachers, none of whom are as good as Miss Justineau, who frequently tells them stories. Nobody likes Caroline Caldwell, the woman who runs the 'programme'. What happens when one day, Mrs Caldwell asks for Melanie? Who are those men slinking around the boundaries of the base? And when everything is turned around, how can things get even worse? But they do. And that's when you, as a reader would start realizing what is happening. Set in a dystopian setting (or something more imaginative and horrifying than that), this book is about the life of a girl who likes imagining herself as Pandora - the girl said to have all the gifts. This book is also about fighting for survival and about goodness in the midst of evil. It is also about personal life goals and crossing limits, boundaries and whatever has been set for you, just to achieve those. It's about love for fellow humans, even strangers, because sometimes those are all you have. It's also about surrender and about why it can be okay to give up, to make the best of the situation at hand.

The story has been written in third person, but even that narration seemed different to me somehow. It transitioned from nearly one person's perspective to someone else throughout the book, which I thought was inventive. This is also a great book if you want to increase your vocabulary. I've underlined so many words I didn't know even existed! Other than that, I liked all the characters, even the horrendous Mrs Caldwell, since they all seemed to be carrying their own back stories and even if you hate anyone, it's not without good cause. More than that, it's Melanie and Miss Justineau's relationship and their strong character sketches that keep the book going. It's hard not to empathise with characters like them. The sequence of events is such that the book's bound to keep you hooked, especially since it'll be a long time when you start understanding what's it all about. That's when you'll find yourself in a confounded state, because you'll be wanting to shut your eyes as you read on about unimaginable stuff, but you'd be automatically reading it nonetheless. 

I really can't talk a lot about this book without giving away anything, which I don't want to, because that'd be spoiling the reading experience for you. But I'd recommend all lovers of futuristic, apocalyptic, horror stories to read this book. It's also part fantasy, but mostly about human relationships, especially that of a child and parent. It's classified under horror not because it's the 'OMG-there-comes-a-foul-ghost' kind of scary, but the kind that slowly seeps into your veins as you read the words, and since it's already running in your blood, you'll feel cold all the time. Yes. That kind.    

Quotes marked from the book:

'You can't save people from the world. There's no where else to take them.'

'Melanie finds this interesting in spite of herself. That you can use words to hide things, or not to touch them, or to pretend that they're something different than they are.'

'It's not just Pandora who had that inescapable flaw. It seems like everyone has been built in a way that sometimes makes them do wrong and stupid things.'

'When your dreams come true, your true has moved. You've already stopped being the person who had the dreams, so it feels more like a weird echo of something that already happened to you a long time ago.'

'The horror of the unknown is more frightening than any horror you can understand.'

Book Talk: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury

Book Title: Fahrenheit 451

Author: Ray Bradbury

Published: 1953 (Ballantine Books)

Pages: 159

Find it at: Amazon

Spoiler alert: This is also kind of a summary, not just a review.

They call it dystopian. I feel what Bradbury predicted might not be far from a potential possibility. A haunting tale of a future where 3D, televised 'families' are more important than the people you live with, where firemen are armed with kerosene and matches and light fire in houses where books are reported to be. They cannot remember a time when firemen used to put out fires and people like the young girl Clarisse, who dare to ask questions or spend time to 'think', are considered mad and unsuitable for society. The basic premise is that no one should ever be sad, and for that, everyone has to be ridden of things that make humans sad.

Guy Montag, a fireman with a wife (Mildred) devoted to her TV 'family', meets seventeen year old Clarisse and finds her strange because of the kind of questions she asked and how she made him think about things he hadn't thought about lately. When did he last smile? Was he happy? But soon, it becomes a routine when he meets her every evening for a few minutes as she walks along, an air of wonder and curiosity in her features, something that's so new to Guy that he feels sad just spying on her family next door. One day, he feels something's off and he never sees Clarisse again. Then there was another house reported where the firemen find an old woman clinging to her books, and when she refuses to leave them, Guy looks on horrified as his boss lets her light up her house herself, and dying in that fire inside.

That incident shakes him up and for the first time in years, he's craving for real company, but his wife doesn't understand his sadness and wants to stay with her TV family, his boss seems to know something, to understand this stage in a fireman's life, but is mean about it, the robot dog at the station seems to be growling at him more and more, and he's started hiding books in his own home. Soon enough, he realizes that he cannot live there anymore. There's the war coming and people are to busy driving rashly, staring into 3D people and screens, listening to talks with earpieces permanently stuck in their ears, looking at advertisements constantly running on billboards so people cannot pause to think for themselves. He soon turns into a Wanted man, and makes a run for his life.

A lot many things happen with Guy in this book, beginning with coming across Clarisse and getting a jolt out of the everyday desensitized living, to being hunted by the whole city and escaping into another world. He realizes he's not alone, but the power of the world overtaken by the craze of keeping everyone from thinking is too much and the rest are too small in number. Yet, they're hopeful. As the frenzied society comes to an end, these men, with memorized books and knowledge, armed with hope and ideas, set to rebuild the society, all of which has been wiped out by war. 

With a title that refers to the temperature at which paper burns, Fahrenheit 451 talks about books and censorship (because academic plain texts, I think, and user manuals were allowed) and the power of independent thought and ideas, things people are banned from indulging in. It's a good, short read, well described, although you might feel like it's become stagnant in between. It picks up pace, however, in the later half of the book. It's also been written in a way that made me wonder if there were perhaps printing errors, with phrases repeated, but that's how it is. It leaves the reader to ponder over what is happening even now. What makes me praise this book is the timing and the imagination. This was written in 1953, and what Bradbury imagined then seems much too possible right now. So what if we don't have radios plugged in the ears? We have headphones. We have more screens - LCD, computer, tablets, smartphones, etc - than books. If this situation of an imagined world would shake you up and make you slow down a little, be sure to read this book. If you still have the time to read, that is.

Some quotes from the book:

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there."

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” 

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.”

“The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are.” 

“Do you understand now why books are hated and feared? Because they reveal the pores on the face of life. The comfortable people want only the faces of the full moon, wax, faces without pores, hairless, expressionless.” 

“Most of us can't rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for... are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book.” 

Review: The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

Sangu Mandanna

Title: The Lost Girl

Author: Sangu Mandanna

Published: 2012 by Definitions (Random House Group)

Pages: 390

Genre: Futuristic, Dystopian

Find it at: Amazon

My Rating: 5/5!!

Starting this review with a *drool* because one, this book is amazing. Two, it is amazing. Three, it was beyond any expectations I had and so it is amazing! I can officially call this year as the Year of Discovering Awesome Indian Authors! Seriously, maybe this book isn't in the top in its category (whatever that is), but the fact that it is written by an Indian makes it all the more appealing to me because I did not think a lot many Indian authors would explore and be successful in this genre. Besides, I have certain criteria and ideas of what all a book should have if "I" were to write one, and this book had almost all those ingredients! How can someone not hyperventilate after that?

Goodreads Blurb!

Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination – an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her ‘other’, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.

Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known – the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love – to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive ...

My Thoughts!

The Lost Girl is based in a future time featuring The Loom where The Weavers stitch together echoes of real humans, placing a part of the human souls in them and making them live a life that echoes the lives of their 'others', the humans whose echoes they were made to be. This would give humans another chance at life, since the echoes could replace them if they died. This has been going on since the past 200 years and at present, there are three Weavers: Adrian, Matthew and Elsa. The world is aware of this, but everyone hasn't accepted the existence of The Loom to be good, and so most of the echoes are hidden from the world, and looked at as non-human creatures. The research and technology hasn't yet reached that level where the Weavers would be able to stitch an echo in the form of another body of the humans, waiting to encompass their souls, and so the present-day echoes very well have their own brains and emotions. 

But it is against the law for an echo to do anything apart from what their others are doing. Amarra, a 16 year old teenager lives in Bangalore, India, along with her parents and two younger siblings. Her echo, also named Amarra lives in England along with her caretaker, Mina Ma. Now, the story revolves around this echo Amarra's viewpoint and life, reflecting how as a man-made-'creature', she lives according to those rules and how her guardians and caretaker love her. The echo Amarra is strong, rebellious, and very curious. Her guardians love her enough to allow her a little bend of rules every now and then, but there is always the fear of Hunters, who are against echoes and hence, a threat to them. The book very successfully and from the very beginning, is able to pull the reader into looking at life from the echo's POV, to feel her anxiety, helplessness, strength, wants, wishes and dreams.

The reader is transported from one place to another, feeling all and everyone's thoughts and feelings as the echo Amarra (who has now named herself Eva, after a difficult baby elephant she saw in the zoo) experiences a painful transition in her life as her 'other', the real Amarra, dies in an accident. Eva now has to leave behind everything she has known, the boy she loves (a forbidden love) and her loving mother-figure, Mina Ma to live Amarra's life with her family in Bangalore. This part of the story talks about how she adjusts to Amarra's life, her family, her boyfriend and deals with the many troubles: not just teenager problems but also of being accepted as an echo and yes, of hunters. 

Apart from the easy, engrossing way of writing, there's such a mixed element of emotion in those words, interspersed with metaphors that sometimes don't even seem to connect, but they make you imagine and think anyway. I loved this aspect of the author's writing style. It makes the book have a lot more than just the story itself, which by the way, is unique and so creative! It's been inspired by Frankenstein, I think, which is the book that sent the author into a writing spree which turned out to be The Lost Girl and which has some references in the book too. The interesting story base compiled with the emotional, philosophical and psychological aspects make this book a complete, holistic read with hardly anything missing. 

I had put off the ending for almost two weeks since I wanted to finish it when I had enough time to contemplate. The book ends well, but I so wish it would have had more scenes, some more details!! I can't get into the details here because it'd be a spoiler, but seriously!!! I want more details!! I was almost tempted to reduce the 5 star rating to a 4.5, but I'm choosing to look beyond this flaw because one, there's a difference in the way the author thought and the way I think and two, the rest of the book more than makes up for it! And oh, I think the chapters don't really need those one-word titles. 

This is one of those books that don't reveal all their secrets at once! Or maybe since I read most of it while traveling, I missed out certain things that are roaming around in my head as intriguing questions, making me want to re-read the book again. Who is the 'lost' girl in the end? Amarra or Eva? Most probably it goes for Amarra, but since the protagonist is Eva and for me, it was the echo's story, it might have been Eva too. Let me just wait for my book-friends to read the book so I can discuss it and maybe I'll re-read it soon myself and figure it out! I'd recommend it to all teenage readers, young teenagers, YA readers, etc. I mean, everyone would love this book! :D Plus, it has a gorgeous cover, which is such a big plus too!

Some awesome lines from the book: 

'I don't think anyone ever really lets go of the people they love.'

'It's a funny sort of word to use at a time like this: lost. You lose your keys. Your phone. Your favorite shoes. And often you find those things again, days or weeks later, under the sofa or buried in the back of a closet. But it isn't quite the same for a lost life. A lost girl. Can you find those things again?'

'The simplest solutions are usually the best' 

'If you expect the worse, you're only denying someone a chance to be better'

'But maybe that's what the dead do. They stay. They linger. Benign and sweet and painful. They don't need us. They echo all by themselves.'

'What is this power the dead have over the ones they leave behind? It's strange and beautiful and frightening, this deathless love that human being continue to feel for the ones they've lost?'

Thank you Random House publishers for this book! :)

Review: The Selection

Title: The Selection (The Selection # 1)

Author: Kiera Cass

Published: April 2012 by HarperTeen

Pages: 327

Find it at: Flipkart / Amazon

My Rating: 5/5!

*Warning: May contain spoilers!*

Goodreads blurb!

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

My Thoughts!

*Swooning* and *Sighing* all through was practically the most of what I did while reading this book, which I did non-stop. Thank goodness I chose a Saturday evening and an entire Sunday for that, or else it’d have killed me to wait to read while I trudged around in classes in college. I had been quite fascinated with the beautiful cover, all the while I saw the book coming up last year, reading reviews and the like. You know how much just a little, I’m biased towards going for books by their covers. And pretty covers almost always win! ;) So I picked up The Selection yesterday for the weekend read (even though I still have tons of work for college, but then, an amazing book is a book is a book! :D ) and managed to sleep through last night and continued in the morning. For starters, I didn’t want to stop reading, or rather, it didn’t let me. It’s a light book, yet there’s something weighty about the story so that it’s not something you can discard from your mind easily. At least for me, it’s going to stay on for a while at least.

It’s a dystopian world where there are strict rules and the Nation if Iléa, with its somewhat quirky rules and governance has the population divided into castes, right from Ones through Eights, the Ones being royalty, Twos and Threes being close enough to luxury and so on, with Fives consisting of artists, Sixes having helpers, Eights being the poorest. People are classified based on their birth and they’re expected to stick to what they’re supposed to do. Mostly no one ever marries someone who’s a caste below, which is where the trouble arises for America Singer, the protagonist of this almost-fairy tale. America, a musician and singer-performer, loves Aspen, who’s a Six and by fear of having being caught and put into jail for this, the relationship is a secret. She totally wants to marry him, but gets caught up in ‘The Selection’. The Prince of Iléa, Maxon, is ready to choose a wife from the Daughters of Iléa and America is eligible. Her mom makes her fill out the form and for the final 35 candidates, she gets chosen.

Now America’s status naturally rises to a Three and with the compensation the palace is providing her family, she is no longer worried about their hard survival, almost saving up for food. Now, apart from the cover, I’m also in love with royalty and naturally inclined to like stories that talk about plush palaces, kings and queens and their lifestyles in  humorous detail, even more from the point of view of a common girl like me, which was something that happened in this book via America. Needless to say, I loved it! I was initially sceptic about the concept of the Prince looking for a wife this way, but turns out the Prince is confused too! Maxon is actually quite adorable, if I have to describe him. Or maybe I’d also use the word “cute”. He’s such a gentleman and caring and I love the chemistry between him and America.

This is where I was confused beyond repair! Who would be right for America? Maxon or Aspen? While I liked Maxon, I wished he’d stay a friend to America (like he was being) and the love interest should be Aspen, because of the simple fact that they had been together for two years and Aspen was hard working. As the story progressed, I wondered if Maxon wouldn’t be better, but then again I went back to Aspen. I’m still not sure but I think I’d be Team Aspen, as much as I love Maxon. The book was balanced, I believe. Though the main theme was romance, but it was still a dystopian world and the related themes of caste, poverty, rebel attacks on the palace, war, etc were neatly mentioned. Not a single thing went over the board and the whole book was pretty much clean (except for the occasional kiss). Even though I love details but if there had been more to this, I wouldn’t have liked it, maybe. It seemed just perfect, giving the sense of mystery and curiosity, owing to the things that were left unsaid.

These things aside, I quite enjoyed the training and the initial parts of The Selection, when the girls stayed in the palace, were put into pretty dresses and stuff. Told you, I absolutely love royalty! I love America’s character too. She’s strong, talented, loving, smart and honest. If I hadn’t been Team Aspen, maybe I’d have loved America to be the Selected One. Right now I wish it would be Marlee, but all this remains to be seen in the next books! The ending has left me wanting for the rest of the story, but I have to admit, it did end on a satisfactory note, what with it being the first in the series and thus, having a cliff-hanger-type ending. The next book, TheElite, will be out in April 2013 and I just cannot wait enough for it.

Recommended for: Young Adult readers, those looking for a nice romance story, dystopian lovers, and girls who love princess-stuff! ;)

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Published: 2012 by Harper Collins

Pages: 525

Find it at: Amazon

My Rating: 4/5!

Goodreads blurb!

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.

My thoughts!

Insurgent continues from where Divergent ended with Tris, her brother Caleb and friend-cum-lover Tobias walking away from a terrible simulation controlled war, towards what they hope is safety. Turns out it's safe nowhere. There are secrets, people hiding those secrets, people so vulnerable that they can be controlled and made to kill at the press of a button, development of new simulation technology, deaths, tears and helplessness. With the simulation controlled Dauntless killing off half of the Abnegation, there's a conflict among the different factions. The Erudite is in control, Candor and Amity do not want to get involved and Tris has changed. She's now controlled by grief, at the loss of her parents who died for Abnegation, at the loss of her faction, at seeing half the Dauntless turn into traitors and joining Erudite. More than that, she's overwhelmed with guilt at shooting and killing a friend who was simulation-controlled and a danger to her life. Later in the book, in parts where she faces danger, she's the one who'll act at the drop of a hat! Totally reckless.

As the story moves on, Tris and Tobias and the rest of Dauntless who want to stop Jeanie (who's controlling all the actions), venture from one place to another, one person to another, facing dangers and unbelievable situations. There's a growing strife between Tris and Tobias, as both of them are hiding some things from the other. Also, Tobias is frustrated with the reckless attitude Tris seems to adopt. There are many new characters in this book, all from different factions (made essential as all the factions ultimately get involved in the fight) and some old characters have been defined and stretched more than they were previously (thank you so much of action!). I wouldn't say any of them was a sore. I liked the way all of them seem real, they're flawed and behave much closer to how you or I would act. While it was good to see and read about new personalities, it did get a bit confusing, especially as the book is so long (which is good too, by the way. Too many pages of awesomeness!). Or maybe I felt this way because I read it little by little, in parts, rather than at a stretch. 

The story is great, very much capable of keeping you on tenterhooks, specially if you read it continuously. There's a lot of action and hopping around different factions, revelations after every few pages, suspense at just the right places, measured humor and sensible dialogues. Reading it is a pleasure, definitely. More than just looking at it from a simple reader's point of view, I would also appreciate the way these books (Divergent and Insurgent) have projected a possible futuristic society. I know it sounds too far fetched to be real someday, but the rate at which technology is going, I think mind-control simulations would be here someday,  and with this book, we know how, if power goes into the wrong hands, it can destroy a whole society. I like how this book goes to a deeper level, as if addressing these fears and pretending they've actually taken shape. Pretty much evident from the jump to a more serious writing style than I felt in Divergent. And oh, the ending! It's killing me. I want to know what happens next! This book has one of the most suspense-filled endings!

As always, some lines from the book I marked: 

"Do remember, though, that sometimes the people you oppress become mightier than you would like"

"People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them."

"You're insane," says Tobias, "that's not the way the world works, with everyone keeping score."

"It's not?" Peter raises his eyebrows. "I don't know what world you live in, but in mine, people only do things for you for one of two reasons. The first is if they want something in return. And second is if they feel like they owe you something."

"Those aren't the only reasons people do things for you," I say. "Sometimes they do them because they love you."

The only thing that didn't make me happy was the relevance of the word "Insurgent". It's been mentioned only once, that too towards the end when a character calls Tris Insurgent, a word he created to describe her. "Noun. A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily regarded as belligerent." I mean, yes, it does define how Tris has been behaving throughout the book, and probably it's right, meant to be this way, but it didn't sit well with me. Maybe because it came towards the end. I like suspense, but suspense over what the title means? Maybe not. Divergent was better in this aspect at least. We knew what we're reading about. Just to mention, I loved Divergent much more. But then , I always love the first books in the series best. It might be a first-book-bias, for all I know! 

Recommended for: Young Adult readers, Teenagers, Science fiction and dystopian lovers! 

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Book Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Harper Collins
Find it at: Amazon
Pages: 487
My Rating: 5/5!

Many thanks to awesome book bloggers for awesome reviews for this book and its sequel in the trilogy, Insurgent, that made me purchase this one! It’s no wonder I loved every single word of it and just don’t know how to go about telling everyone how it is such a ‘must-read’. If you like fantasy and dystopian.

Storyline

A dystopian fantasy, Divergent is the story of a world that’s divided itself into five different factions, in order to stop the wars between humans. They believed that if people can be trained to stay true to their faction and help in the running of their society with the traits they inherit and skills they learn, there would be no wars. But is living in a divided society with the motto, ‘faction before blood’ and just focusing on five good traits the solution? Humans are humans, after all and it’s only a matter of time before greed and hunger for power consumes them.

The five factions are Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Dauntless (the brave), Erudite (the intelligent), Candor (the honest). Sixteen year old Tris belongs to Abnegation and has always been taught innumerable acts of selflessness and living a plain life. Every year, the sixteen year olds are subjected to an aptitude test and then they get to choose the factions they would want to spend the rest of their lives with, during the Choosing ceremony. The aptitude tests are supposed to help the takers understand which faction they’re best suited for, by throwing them in a simulation, but what happens with Tris? Is her test result Abnegation, where she already belongs or another faction where she feels she belongs? Or is the answer neither?

When she chooses her faction and struggles to get through the initiation, so that she’ll finally be accepted as a member of the faction and not just a child, there’s a lot going on. Only no one knows what, since inter-faction communication is not appreciated. Is the society at the brink of war? And what role does Tris have to play?

My thoughts

Brilliantly brilliant! First, the story, with the whole society divided into five different factions with extremely strict rules to adhere to, was quite different for me. Plus the fact that Tris, the lead protagonist doesn’t seem to fit. She’s different and her qualities are such that they scare those in power because of which she and others who’re the same, have to hide this secret, but Tris has no clue why. She doesn’t know why she’s forbidden to use the word what she is and why those few who do know that have forbidden her to use it. I loved the mystery behind it all and I especially felt my breath get caught up when the word ‘Divergent’ was first mentioned. I just knew it then that I’d be loving this book!

I like Tris. I mean, I really like this character! From what I make of it, Tris is the representative of how many of us really feel about our life. I could totally connect with her since page 1 because I think I understood how deep ther portrayal went. It’s not just about any girl who’s a misfit and a danger to those in power. She’s what we all are. She’s been brought up to be selfless all the time, in any action, and she’s learnt to be pretty good. But every human has a set of personal traits that has nothing to do with how you’re brought up. It’s just in you and whatever’s done on the outside, in whichever way you’re groomed and polished, there’ll always be some part of you that’s your true self. Tris likes adventure but it’s considered self-indulgent in Abnegation. She’d like to take the elevator but the Abnegation use the stairs so the elevator can be used by others. The personal preferences aren’t taken into consideration. That’s what happens with us too, right? I loved the way Tris gives a message of how we should be who we are, she’s brave, she can handle leaving her family behind, but she’s also a young girl who’s desperate for some love. She feels lonely without her family, but she loves the independence the other faction provides. I don’t know, I just love you, Tris!

Four (not his real name, it turns out) is Tris’s love interest. He’s the initiates’ trainer and there’s something mysterious about him that attracts Tris. He’s brave, but not really brutal and since that makes him different from the leaders, Tris wonders what the reason could be. Four is an admirable character too, protecting Tris, but mostly he acted as a guy with secrets who likes Tris and wants to keep her away from trouble. I have to say I warmed up to him a lot when he was with Tris and as their relation progressed. Maybe it was the way it was written, but I loved it! This is another love story within a story that I’ve liked!

The writing. Divergent is extremely well written, in first-person account, with perfect amounts of mystery, action, description of characters, their thoughts, the events and every single thing! It isn’t a book I’ve just read, I’ve actually lived the whole story, seen the different factions, the people and gone through the fights and sequences of action. It’s picturesque and not just with the scenery, but with everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie adaptation turns out to be exactly as I saw it in my mind. I just adore such authors! <3

One thing about the whole book, that it’s so not predictable. I didn’t know what to expect, what will Tris choose? Will there be a war? Who are those who’re really dangerous? What is the matter with ‘Divergent’? Though I kind of guessed Four’s secret early on and was so pleased when it turned out to be what I’d thought it’d be, it was otherwise unpredictable and that’s why I think this book is awesome! It was quite clean and light in the beginning and for more than half of the book, in fact. When the action begins, it’s heart-stopping-thrilling and you wouldn’t feel like putting it down before it’s all over! I wouldn’t call the book fast-paced, because it was fast towards the end, but even then, the ending didn’t seem to be rushed.

There are a couple of things I’m not happy about, like the loss that two factions had to face, plus the personal tragedy that Tris goes through. I didn’t want that to happen, at all! Now I’m completely on edge and will be, until I get to read the second book in the trilogy, Insurgent. I’m pretty sure I’d love this whole series! I wouldn’t have said this a few months ago, but now I know that there are too many books I “love a lot”. Really, you cannot just confine yourself to a few books; there are just so many great ones! :D

Some lines from the book I like:

‘I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another’

‘What good is a prepared body if you have a scattered soul?’

Recommended for: YA dystopian readers, adults, fantasy lovers.

Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Author website: http://suzanne-collins.com/

Price: Rs. 295 (discounted to Rs. 221 At Flipkart)/

 $ 9.80 at Amazon

Publisher: Scholastic

Published in: 2010

Pages: 390

Mockingjay is the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy, continuing the story of futuristic Panem and its people ruled by the harsh Capitol. This is one series I truly loved to read; it’s written so well that I couldn’t-just-stop-until-I-read-all-three-books! The basis of Mockingjay is the war that’s brewing between the districts and the power hungry Capitol. Katniss is ready to play her part as the Mockingjay, to act as the symbol of rebellion to bring all districts on their side.....

From the Book cover

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay- no matter what the personal cost. 

My Thoughts

Mockingjay is a book that’s fast-paced throughout. Since it mostly talks about the rebellion, there’s action everywhere: in District 13, in other districts, in the Capitol and that’s what makes this one maybe slightly different from the other two. Not that there wasn’t any action in the first two books, but that it was in plenty in Mockingjay, so that there was hardly any page going by without something happening! It might have been a put off for some readers, but because of so many things happening, I couldn’t put it down, being the action lover that I am!

Katniss is as strong as ever, just this time she’s accepted herself as the Mockingjay and understands her importance in the rebellion. I like that power that’s inside her, evident from the way she thinks and the way she acts, a strong force internal to her. There are some new characters into the story, mostly those who play an important part in helping Katniss and the rebellion in their favour and it was kind of interesting to see some people other than the regular characters. Peeta’s sad state gets kind of scary when we learn about the technique the Capitol people used on him, shocking it was and sent shudders through me. I seriously was afraid of the outcome (though I knew of course, it would be fine towards the end, or how else could the story make any sense, but still). Though, sometimes it seemed like a pain, dragging him along to the Capitol when he wasn’t totally sane yet, because he was there before and could help the others get into President Snow’s mansion; but also at the same time, gives a perspective of Haymitch’s mind and his mysterious strategies. And yes, Haymitch! No alcohol permitted in District 13, so he was usually grouchy about that fact, but otherwise is alert and “in action” throughout, which was good. I was bored reading about him being drunk and lost most of the time.

Overall, almost all characters are alive and very much have a role to consider for themselves: Katniss and her family, Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, Plutarch, Snow, Coin, Beetee (who turns out to be the wire meddling genius doing tricks to the Capitol’s system!), Johanna, Finnick and everyone who could survive the Quarter Quell. Though there’s a lot going on during their preparations, the action speeds up when the force reaches the Capitol, where there are dangers at every corner, literally! It could be a bit tiring, reading all that action in a go.

Even though it kept me hooked onto it till the end, there were a few things that were disappointing. Like there’s a lot of misery, darkness hovering all around and deaths, one of which I really didn’t want to happen and which made me really mad. Then there was the unsatisfactory ending. On second thoughts, maybe I wouldn’t call it unsatisfactory, but it could have been made better with some more explanation. It ended abruptly, with all closings cramped into a few pages. There are many questions in the reader’s mind, not only about what finally happened to the main characters, but to the other, small ones too. When those questions are unanswered, it can be disappointing, like it was in this case (though I quite liked the small epilogue :) ). There are just a few words that explain why Katniss finally chose the person she decided to be with, at the end, and those words were just beautiful!

“What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.”

Recommended for: Young Adult readers, dystopian lovers and those who like lots of action!

My rating: 4/5