Ordinary Acts of Bravery

Ordinary Acts of Bravery

• Jan 11, 2013

Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Release Date: May 2011; May 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins | Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 487 pages; 525 pages
Series: Divergent #1-2

Source & Format: Bought; Kindle ebook

Summary (from Amazon)

Divergent: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, 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.

Insurgent: 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.

Thoughts on Divergent & Insurgent

I don't think there is very much I can write about these books that hasn't already been said. Divergent was the Goodreads Choice 2011 Favorite Book of the Year. It's received rave reviews, but I owned it for almost year before I actually got around to reading it. I honestly thought it had been hyped too much and couldn't possibly be as good as everyone was saying.

Well, surprise, I was wrong and now totally understand why everyone loves this book! At almost 500 pages, this is not a book you expect to finish quickly. But that's exactly what happened for me! Once I got started, I couldn't put this book down.

The dystopian setting was so interesting and unique, which really impressed me after having read a number of them. I'm continually impressed by the imaginative worlds that I've read about in the last year. And the one in this book is no different! In fact, I wanted to know even more about the factions, how they came about and what led to city to make the decisions they did. It wasn't a lack of world-building - I just had extra curiosity because I found the setting so interesting.

I was also in love with the characters. Tris and Four are awesome! Tris is still coming in to her own, learning who she is and how to face her fears. But she's also kind of a badass. She's self-reliant, exciting to read about and also kind of tough to love. She's prickly, in some ways. But I still fell for her and Four. Oh, Four. That's all I'll say about that until you read it for yourselves.

As soon as I finished Divergent, I immediately had to buy Insurgent. I couldn't just leave the story hanging! Divergent has a great story in its own right, but it also really sets everything up for the second book. Insurgent got off to a fast start, and it felt like it never stop. This one is definitely all about the action. Unfortunately, there were a few times I felt a little jerked around in terms of pacing. But overall, I enjoyed it as much as the first book. I think I liked Tris a little less in this one, but I'm hoping I'll find more reasons to love her in the final installment.

If you're like me and are one of the few people left you haven't read these, I definitely recommend losing yourself in this exciting world and falling in love with these memorable characters.

So Quotable

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

"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."