The "Divergent" Series

Wandering the halls of my husband's old/daughter's current middle school the other night, waiting for our turn to talk to our daughter's English teacher for three minutes, I came across a small table full of books for sale.  I'd just read the recent Tribune article on Veronica Roth - her sweeping success, anxiety issues and the fact that she's a newly married twenty-five year old.  So I picked up the first book of the series, Divergent.

The minute I walked through the door, my daughter eyed the book.  "Mine!" she said.
She reads as fast as I do so I shrugged.  "Fine, but don't give it to anyone else until I read it."
The next morning, Lilly was gushing about this book.  "It's soooooo good!"
A few days later, I got my shot at it.  And it was good.  The premise was deeply interesting, the main character was badass and there was a thin layer of romance threaded through.  I marveled at the fact that the author was so young, but then it occurred to me that a young person was exactly necessary for a premise that divided a post apocalyptic world by people's dress and personality type - just like high school.

Lilly brought the second book in the series home from the library and we read that one too.

Ok, fine.  Kinda repetitive.

And our timing was great because the third and final book in the series had just been released so, while I was reading number two, I downloaded number three onto my Kindle and handed it to Lilly.  At that point, she'd given up sleep for ten days in order to read until all hours of the morning.  Glazed and baggy-eyed the next day, she handed me back the Kindle.

Our Review: Da fuh?

What happened in this book?  The original premise blown to smithereens, the interesting plot twists mangled and the main characters shuttled through so much loss that it's unbelievable to imagine they could still stand upright.  Like me, other reviewers felt the author had been rushed into producing an ending to the trilogy.

Ah well, this author's first book is better than most of the post apocalyptic novels I've read ever, and the pleasure of reading it trumps the disappointment of the next two.  This is an author whose career is just beginning and whose work will only improve over time and experience.

I look forward to what she comes up with next.  But I hope she puts her foot down, enjoys her success, and takes her time with her next book because if the first one is an indicator, this young woman can construct one hell of a great story.