Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

May 2012, HarperCollins

544 pages, Hardcover
Personal copy

YA Dystopian  
Violence, kissing, betrayal and a hearty dose of guilt

Summary from HarperCollins:

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.

Amy's Thoughts:
**Some mild, general Divergent spoilers**
Picking up right where Divergent left off, Insurgent explores what Tris will do now that war has erupted. As far as she knows, almost everyone she loved is dead - some by her own hand, something that she can never forgive herself for. Plagued by doubt and overwhelming guilt, Tris has to decide if there is anything worth living for after all. And of course, we all know what Tobias thinks about that :D

Look, you all know I loved Divergent. Insurgent is even better. I really like this trend that I'm seeing of YA trilogies/series getting stronger and stronger as they progress. Roth really steps things up here in terms of stakes and plot twists, but most importantly (for me), she really digs deep into the psychology of the characters to create compelling motivation and character growth that feels so real, it's like you know the people involved. If you fell in love with Tris and Four in Divergent, you'll really never want to leave them after Insurgent.

Speaking of love, I have to say I really admire the way that Ms Roth dealt with Tris and Tobias's relationship in this book. Without spoilerising, suffice to say it is real, and difficult, and an exceptionally honest portrayal of love that you don't often find in mainstream fiction. Well done Roth.

Of course, being book 2 of 3, Insurgent ends on a cliffhanger that had me literally screaming at it (ask Boyo, the husbandical one) and I CANNOT BELIEVE I now have to wait AN ENTIRE YEAR for the conclusion. Urgh. Want.

In terms of the bad, there are a few copyediting/continuity errors that have crept in (Ms Roth apologises), but only in one instance did it jolt me out of the story, and it still wasn't a biggie - I flipped back a few pages to double check, went "Huh, must be a mistake", and kept reading.

Final Conclusion:
LOVE. THIS. BOOK. Mostly for Tris's character arc - her growth and development, and the sensitive way that Roth handles it. 


More:
Find Ms Roth on her website and on Twitter.

Prizes! Contests! BOOKS!

Hurrah! I love announcements like this :o)

So I know I just had a couple of contests, but I found some awesome books recently and needed a good excuse to give them away, and you guys provided me with the perfect opportunity: the blog has hit 100 followers :o) You guys are awesome. I'm really not sure why most of you follow me; I'm rarely coherent, frequently random, and I'm not entirely convinced that anything I say here is of the slightest use, but nonetheless, there are a whole CENTURY of you that approve well enough to let your little avatar be displayed in the box over there --->

THANK YOU.

Thank you, also, to the exact-number-indeterminate of you that follow through other methods, like feedreaders, or who click through from CC, twitter, or facebook. Seriously: you guys rock. I quite literally would not be here on this blog without you, because really, what would be the point? I talk to myself enough in my own head, I don't need a blog to acheive that :D

SO. Contest #1.

To say thank you for being awesome and tolerating my weirdness, I will be giving away to one lucky winner their choice of the following:

Danyelle Leafty's debut Catspell (ebook pdf version)

Kiersten White's debut Paranormalcy (trade paperback)

Brenna Yovanoff's debut The Replacement (trade paperback)

Michelle Davidson Argyle's short story anthology True Colors: And Other Short Stories (e-version, multiple formats available)

And randomly, John Steinbeck's The Pearl (mass market paperback - Popular Penguins series)

To enter, you must be following me somewhere (either the blog via the sidebar gadget, me on twitter, or my facebook page) and leave a comment in the, er, comments. Just say you want to enter and which prize you'd like; I'll extricate the private details from the winner privately ;) :D

And now, Contest #2!

I recently review Divergent and raved about the awesomeness that it is. It is, in fact, SO awesome, that I bought a second copy ESPECIALLY so I could share the awesomeness with someone else. Because truly, it is awesome. So, to enter for your chance to win Divergent, all you have to do is sign up for my newsletter. It's delivered right to your inbox's door once every second month (or so) by the carrier bats, and has an article, a book or blog review, a contest (yes, THAT'S RIGHT, you could WIN A BOOK EVERY SECOND MONTH! *dies of the squee*) and more of the fun and random stuff you'd expect from me. Because, you know, I live to bring the random into your life. #mottos #likegrottos #onlylesswet

So! Contests! Hurrah! Spread the word (or, you know, not, if you want to increase your chances of winning??) and join the love! HURRAH.

Remember, for Contest #1, leave a comment below saying where/how you follow my crazy ramblings.

For Contest #2, sign up for the newsletter. If you're already subscribed to the newsletter, you're entered by default ;)

BOTH CONTESTS will close on February 2 when I will draw the winners at random. I'll announce the winners asap - I'm planning to announce on Feb 2, but I reserve the right to extend that a little should the minion not have appeared by then (which he jolly well better have OR ELSE).

Yay! Contests!

The AWESOME That Is Divergent

Ie, how Divergent is awesome. Not divergent awesomeness, although that could be also fun.

May 2011, HarperCollins

487 pages, Paperback
Personal copy

YA Dystopian
Some violence, discussion about not-having-sex-yet

Summary from HarperCollins:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Amy's thoughts:
OH. THE. SQUEE. I know, I know, I keep going on about the books I've read recently, but SERIOUSLY. YOU GUYS. There has been a whole spate of REALLY AWESOME YA debuts recently. REALLY. AWESOME. Divergent is definitely one of them, and if you're at all curious/unconvinced, note that you can read the first 100 pages free online.

I'm warning you, though: you'll knife anyone who gets in the way of you and the rest of the book once you have. (Though at least the book is out now; I read the first 100 pages 6 months before the book was released, oh the horror).

Ahem. Okay. Actually reviewey stuff. Divergent is YA dystopian fiction premised on the idea that society has been divided into five factors, each of which live life according to a particular value because they believe that that is the best way to restore peace to society. Tris's (Beatrice) story begins when she has to decide whether to stay in her family's faction, or defect to another. It's a pretty standard YA coming-of-age set-up, in an original-yet-familiar social/conceptual setting; it's good, sure, but this is not what makes Roth's book astounding. What makes it astounding is the amazing voice and the characterisation.

Roth absolutely nails Tris's voice; Tris is innocent and naive, yet determined and brave all at the same time, and the conflict that she feels between her old way of life and her (self-) imposed new way of life is treated with subtlety and delicacy and is just... *melts* *pats the pretty*

Topped off with a twist I didn't really expect (hurrah!) and your obligatory hot guy (though please note, his characterisation is equally as subtle as Triss's), this really is an amazing, amazing book. Go on: read the first pages already.

Final Conclusion:
I am speechless, and Ms Roth is on my auto-buy list. Read the first 100 pages of Divergent here, stalk Ms Roth on twitter and on her blog, and watch out for an announcement later this week about how you can win your very own copy of Divergent-shiny that I bought especially for you :o)

Monarch Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Monarch contest. Sorry I'm a little late drawing the winners, but I hope that those who won a prize enjoy it. There will be plenty of opportunities for everyone else to win more prizes soon* (hurrah).

So, without further ado, the winners!



First winner, who will get their choice of either the final Monarch ebook, or the ARC Monarch ebook:

Chrystalla Thoma!

Second winner, who will receive the other ebook:

Cee Martinez!

And the final winner, who will receive a signed mini-poster and bookmark:

Emily W!

Congratulations, winners (I'll be in touch shortly) and thanks once again to everyone who entered.

*Hint: Sign up to my newsletter for a chance to win Veronica Roth's Divergent in November.

Spring Reading Challenge

So, I've decided that, as I appear unable to write at the moment, I can at the very least READ lots. To that end, I've signed up for the Spring Reading Challenge on Good Reads. Note that's Australian spring ;)

Here are the rules, along with my choice of book for each category:

"With spring at our doorstep the temperature is starting to warm up, so shed those woolly blankets and grab a book that warms the heart instead..."

1. Spring clean your bookcases by reading a much loved, but yet unread book - either novel or biography.

We all know I have a bazillion unread books on my shelves, but for this category I've chosen To Kill A Mockingbird, because I need to read it for school anyway ;)

2. Choose a book that features a new life - a baby (animal or human) on the cover/in the story.

Zombies vs Unicorns. What? Zombies are 'new life', right? O:)

3. Choose a book for it's cover - a spring image with all it's colour.

You know, I have a really lack of springy, flowery kind of covers on my shelves. I found, in fact, only three. The most springish is the non-fiction, I'm Not Good Enough, and given I'm in the mood for a happy-cheery pick-me-up kind of book, this the one.

4. The Royal Adelaide show is on 2nd - 10th September, so a book about a show/carnival rides/handicrafts/cookery/livestock - anything to tie into the event.

Also lacking books on this sort of topic, and without close scrutiny I couldn't determine if any of the novels might have a show or a fair or something in them. Hence, I picked How Dogs Learn, which is livestock-related, right? Plus, Royal shows totally have a dog showing component, so you know. I say it fits.

5. The Brisbane Writers Festival is on 7th - 11th September, so choose a book written by an Aussie author, released somewhere in the 3 months of Spring.

Look, really? I've just spent over half an hour searching the internet for somewhere that will tell me what Aussie authors have coming out in the next few months, and I got NOTHING. I hit the Spring Reading Challenge list to see what others had posted, and I'm fairly uninspired, PLUS I don't really want to shell out money for a book just so I can fill this space on my list. SO, I'm going to cheat, but only a little. I just finished reading Blood Song, which is coming out Sept 1, by Rhiannon Hart, who is an Aussie author - so this book fits this section, I just happened to accidentally read it two weeks early. Right? Right.

6. Seeing as Spring colours are predominantly red and yellow, pick a book with either a red or yellow cover, and post the book cover as well, so everyone can see (and get colourful suggestions).

I also lack red and yellow books o.O I have about 5 options, but Seven Little Australians is the shortest, and conveniently fits the theme ;) Plus, you know, flowers on the cover and all... O:)

7. Sydney Eisteddfod is running until 20th September and they are searching for the best young Australian talent, so pick a Young Adult book, not necessarily by an Aussie author, for this event.

I found If I Stay in a remainders bin the other day and snaffled it up, so this is my YA book for spring.

8. The Spring Racing Carnival culminating with the Melbourne Cup is in November, so a book about horses/horse racing/betting/money won and lost.

Dark Horse - I've had this one for a while and am curious.

9. How about a book with the title beginning with the first letter of your name, e.g. I could choose Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them.

A Zest for Herbs, because I was going to use this for #10, but realised it fits here too and is shorter than the other options O:) Plus it gets rid of another non-fic on my TBR list, and the non-fics take FOREVER to move.

10. For the last one, you have a choice: a book with a garden connection for spring or a non-fiction/biography, again with a spring connection!

As I do actually really want to reread Backyard Self-Sufficiency, this is the perfect excuse.

Not a bad list: 1 reread, 1 cheat, and 4 non-fiction. And I'm sure I'll squeeze another book in there in place of the 'cheat', so you know. All in all, I'm looking forward to this :o) What do you plan on reading over the next few months? Anyone care to join me in the Spring Challenge (even if it's not spring for you)?

ARGH-SQUEEEEE!!!

ALSO! I got a parcel in the mail today. It pretty much made my entire week.

My wonderful, amazing, insert-more-fantabulous-adjectives-here friend Nayuleska from Nayu's Reading Corner sent me a BOOK, in my capacity as a sometimes-reviewer on her blog! And not just any book: an ARC of Maggie Stiefvater's brand new book, The Scorpio Races.

I've read the first chapter, despite the fact that I really NEED to be writing reports, and let me tell you - it's amazing. I can't WAIT until reports are done and I can snuggle down and read it for reals.

So. Much. Squee :o)

Monarch by Michelle Davidson Argyle

This week's bonus post: a fantastic book trailer for a fantastic debut book :o) I had the privilege of reading this novel in its early draft stages, and even then it was beautiful - yes, a beautiful thriller! Michelle is a very talented author :o)



Monarch will be released September 15th, 2011 and is available for pre-order RIGHT NOW. I've ordered my copy - a signed one, of course! :D

* Amazon (pre-order)
* Barnes & Noble (pre-order)
* Signed Copies from the author (pre-order)

Congratulations to Michelle. May this be the start of a long and wonderful career for you :o)

Anyone else have some happy successes to share?

Reading Challenge Update

So, the 25th of January has come and gone, and you might have noticed the lack of bookish posts lately. Or you might not have. But either way, there haven't been any for a while, and yes, sadly, this is testimony to my failure to reach my GTTBRPU200 goal.

That's 'Get The To Be Read Pile Under 200', for those of you who missed it.

If we discount the books that were added to my collection over the holidays (ten of them, almost exclusively books for school), then I only missed my goal by a tiny three books. That, I think, is award-worthy, even if it isn't quite what I was aiming for. I read 25 books between Dec 1 and Jan 25, and given my average for the previous two years is 33 for the entire YEAR, that is Pretty Jolly Good.

Sadly, however, it isn't Good Enough. I still have 214 books in the TBR pile of books I own. No, wait, a package arrived this week. So that's 219. Oops O:)

So. New goal. I thought that aiming for a book a week was kind of insane - but I ended up managing 49 books last year, and a book a week is only three more! Plus, even with the burdens of the new and sadly fulltime job, I have actually been managing a book a week so far, with extras. So. Happy times.

Thus, my new reading goal: 52 books in 2010. And yes, I'm totally counting all the books I read in January that counted towards the GTTBRPU200 >:) Bwa ha.

Bookish reviews will start reappearing.

And hopefully soon, so too shall puppies >:) 'Zah!*

In the meantime, forgive my lack of braininess; new job is... emotionally wracking. I'm barely managing writing at the moment, let alone blogging. If you have any suggestions for topics you like me to mangle - er, discuss O:) I'd be wholeheartedly appreciative :)

Otherwise, be good, or at least happy it's the weekend. Yay!

* My dog is pregnant. Puppies due Sunday. Whee!

Christmas Fun

Merry Christmas, everyone!! Yay!!

So, just in case anyone is totally at a loss for things to do today, here's a fun exercise: In the comments of Wednesday's post, Merc mentioned that books are always a good thing, and I agree, saying that I couldn't think of any circumstance that couldn't be improved by the addition of books.

Here are some examples:

Lying in the bath? Read a book.
Long car trip? Read a book.
Need to know how to assemble a tricky piece of furniture? Consult a book!
Attacked by velociraptors? FEED THEM THE BOOK!!!

...Your turn. Give me situations and how a book would improve them :D

And then turn of the computer and go eat some Christmas lunch ;) If you're out of lunch, let me know and I'll package up some leftover and send them via carrier bat.

*hugs*