by Veronica Roth has been touted as the "next Hunger Games" and I've even seen reviews that claim it's better than The Hunger Games. Could it be? Could there be a new novel that will engage your students as well and leave them thirsty for more? As much as I hoped there would be, I was disappointed.Perhaps my expectations were too high for Roth's debut novel. After reading numerous rave reviews, I expected so much more. I expected to fall in love with the characters. I expected that once I started reading it I wouldn't want to stop. I expected to feel more emotion while reading the story. And I expected to be yearning for more once I was finished. But I felt none of these things.
I do think Roth is a good writer and I am sure she will improve as she continues to write the series. The story is interesting, and I liked picturing Chicago in the future (though scary, still fascinating). But when it comes to telling a story, Roth is no Suzanne Collins. Collins has the ability to keep you on edge, want to turn the page, cry when a character dies, and practically drive yourself insane waiting for her next novel. But Divergent does not even come close. And, believe me, I would love to read a novel even better. I didn't think I'd like a series as well as Harry Potter until Twilight. Then THG came along and all was good.
I do like the characters even though the story was predictable. But there was no strong connection. And Tris is pretty tough, but sometimes pretty cruel. The way she goes back and forth from being selfish and selfless is a little annoying and her feelings for Four aren't really expressed in way that made me interested to see what would happen between them. Will I change how I feel about Tris and Four when I read the next book? Maybe. But right now, I'm definitely not hungry for the next installment in the trilogy.
On the bright side, Roth is only 22 years old. Yes, just 22. She has many, many years to perfect her already good writing style.
You can learn more about Divergent on Veronica Roth's blog: http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/
Find out which faction you would belong to here: http://www.facebook.com/DivergentSeries?sk=app_203946119628644
Where would I belong? Results showed me Amity, which didn't surprise me. Peace-out. :)
by Lauren Oliver. I've heard great things abut this book, so hopefully it will live up to its reputation. If I could get a copy of an arc of 
(which is book #1 in the series) soon. I am developing materials for teachers right now and am going to see if this is a book I might want to read with one of my English classes. Next year I'll be teaching a small group of seniors and I could see reading the entire trilogy with them. If you are interested in materials for your students, I hope to have some posted by the end of the week. In the meantime, you can download a 
to the series called 
by Ally Condie, but I do believe one of my students has it checked out (which is great; I do love that they read my books!). I've already pre-ordered 
on Amazon based on the reactions of those who have already read it.
by Rebecca Skloot. 
will be released this fall. I read the review a while back in 
edited by Leah Wilson and published by 
(the third book in the Chaos Walking trilogy) and how I really wanted to finish reading that before starting another book. So I plan to sit down for a closer read this week and take in all the different authors' perspectives on the trilogy. 
