Summer is for fun and frivolous reading, don't you think? Easy, enjoyable, quick reads are the perfect thing to pick up while lounging by the pool or on that trip to the beach. Keeping that in mind, I have the perfect suggestion to keep you company as the temperatures continue to rise.
I was first introduced to Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy back in March by the lovely Miss Sara of Project Soiree. She featured Divergent as a part of her What I'm Reading Now Series. I tell ya, I just couldn't be more thankful to her.
This series is another (in what is becoming a long line of incredibly successful) young adult dystopian trilogy. But what makes this trilogy distinctive and so exciting is that it is set in a future Chicago!
The world's population has been split into five factions. Each faction values and embodies a different facet of human nature. While individuals may be raised by parents in one faction, there comes a time in their lives where they are tested and subsequently choose to live among the faction that defines who they truly are. The story begins right around the time the novel's heroine, Beatrice "Tris" Prior, is preparing for her "choosing" ceremony.
What I think I love most about this trilogy is its heroine, Tris. She's a bad mother (shut your mouth). She's smart, brave, resourceful and *gasp* multi-dimensional. There is a love story element to the plot, of course. But unlike a few other heroines we know, she's NOT paralyzed by (Bella I'm looking at you) and caught in the middle of a love triangle.
Here's what you may already know about the series - and if you don't what you should know:
- The first two novels are already available and the third is scheduled to release in the Fall of 2013
- Roth is a Chicago (suburbs) girl in her early 20s and studied creative writing at Northwestern University
- Both novels have spent time on the New York Times best sellers list
- Lions Gate (the Twilight film studio) has already purchased the screen adaptation rights
I found the books to be largely reminiscent of the Hunger Games (as I'm sure you guessed) with a little bit of Harry Potter sorting hat drama thrown in for good measure. I also found them to be deliciously entertaining to read - both quick and addictive. Once I started it was tough to get much else accomplished. There is no doubt the Chicago element added to my fun. Roth wisely uses popular loop attractions and buildings as locations in the story. Let me tell you, that has definitely made me more
Have you jumped on the Divergent train yet?
p.s. I've seen Elle Fanning as Tris while I've been reading the novels.
I'd like to take a moment to suggest her to the eventual casting director - who I'm sure will be looking to A Foreign Land for advice.
