Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

I'd planned to read Veronica Roth's Divergent ages ago. I mean I bought the thing in early 2012 and then got Insurgent that same year and Allegiant this past Christmas, so it's not like I didn't have plenty of time! And yet the movie's release rolled around and the trilogy was still waiting in my TBR. So yeah, I saw the movie first. But that's ok. Apparently that was the motivation I needed to finally tackle the books, which I did in a binge this past weekend.

I'm not going to include synopses of the books so if you're a late comer like me you don't have to worry about spoilers. Plus I figure there are enough other reviews of the books out there by now that if you really want a synopsis and in-depth review of each one you can easily find them.

First I have to say that I did rather enjoy the movie. I had a few very minor complaints but overall I thought it was really well done and I was quite happy with the casting, especially after diving into the book. Surprisingly the film adaptation follows the book fairly closely. There were a few changes and most of them seemed logical for the sort of edits necessary in adapting for film (accounting for the length and pacing of a film as opposed to a book). All in all, it's definitely a great adaptation. 

One complaint that I've seen in reviews of both Divergent and Insurgent is the lack of world building. Why did the world get this way and how did the factions really come to be? There's a very small explanation and now that I've read all three I can assure you that there's a good reason for this. The story behind the factions is a big part of Allegiant so hang in there, you'll get your explanation.

Insurgent was an excellent sequel. There was no lag in story - it picks up immediately after the end of Divergent and maintains the great pacing and action I came to expect after Divergent. There's no second book slump that often happens in trilogies (when we kind of realize that the three books were always meant to be one and the second installment serves simply as a connecting piece between the introductory installment and the actual climax!). Nope, Insurgent moved the story along nicely, building further on Tris and Four's relationship and the conflicts between the factions. In other words it fit and it felt necessary on pretty much all points, rather than being filler.

And Allegiant, the buzz around this one is part of my recent delay in reading the books. Talk about eliciting some passionate responses from readers worldwide. Holy cow! Even halfway through this one I couldn't begin to imagine what Roth had coming that could have angered so many readers!

Then I got to the end.

I get it, I really do. I shed some tears but all in all I have to admit that I'm really not disappointed or angry. The end was the end. It worked.

I kind of zipped through these, it was a bit unavoidable. They just begged to be read in one go but it did kind of mean a bit of a book hangover at the end! It was super hard to transition away from the dystopian built paranoia and into a completely different read (which I did with the Titanic based The Girl Who Came Home). Now I really can't wait to see the other two movies!