Divergent

"Divergent"
Veronica Roth
dystopia
(Divergent #1)

Summary
War, mature, crime, and suffering are all cased by the weakness in human kind. We often fail to live up to the most important attribute that would lead to an end to all of this. But what attribute would that be? The world has divided itself in to five factions based on which human attribute leads to a better world. Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).

Beatrice is a young Abnegation who is turning sixteen. At that age all children must choice whether to stay with the faction of their birth or choose another. Luckily there is a test given to all children before their choosing telling them which faction would be best.

Like all children before there test Beatrice was scared for her test. But knowing that after this test she would know what to do made it better. Sadly for her she was wrong. During her test something went wrong after it the tester told her that she different, she was divergent. This meant that unlike most people Beatrice was equally suited to mutable factions and that was dangerous.

To protect herself Beatrice picked a new faction against her parents’ wishes. But will her new faction saver her or put her in more danger.

Review
I know I'm a little late on this book. With the movie coming out and the books popularity there are a lot of reviews out there, but a friend gave me this book and I had to review it.

I really loved this book. Throughout the story I feel with the main character. She is both strong and vulnerable which leads to a feeling of connection that is often hard to create in novels. I also really liked that the main love interest is a strong male role model.

I also enjoyed the basic concepts of the book. It feels both real and futuristic. The story builds on basic human ideas that we all know and understand. This leads to a thought provoking story that is not to difficult for the average man to understand and enjoy.

I do have one problem with it over all. As good as the book is and as much as I liked it there was just something missing. I got to the end of the book and felt a little lost. The writer fits a lot of the most powerful stuff in to the end chapters and it creates an awkward feeling for the reader.

Over all I would give this book 8.2 out of 10.

Ship Breaker

"Ship Breaker"
Paolo Bacigalupi
Post-Apactoliptic

Summary
In a post-apactoliptic world a young boy names Nailer works as a ship breaker, taking apart old ships ships for the metal and oil. Nailer works on a small crew ripping out copper wires from the inside of the ship. In the crew loyalty is everything so when one of his crew mates leaves him to die in the belly of the ship, he thinks that would be the end of him.

When he makes it out alive he starts to see the world in a new way. For the first time in his life he sees others as more then threats. He starts to see all human life as worth saving so when a rich girl washes up on shore instead of killing her and taking her money he fights to save her and this choice changes his world forever.

and just maybe help change everyone else world as well.

Review
This is a really great young adult novel. This book does something that has been lost in much of modern litterateur. In the pursuit of telling a fun story the writer forgets to look for something deeper. With more and more books coming out everyday the stories often become cheaper and cheaper. Ship Breaker "breaks" away from this this new trend and brings something more powerful to the table.

The main character shows a powerful and believable growth throughout the book. As I read the book the story and writing pulled me along. The original ideas and creative setting made for an interesting combination.

If I was to give this book one critique it would be that the flow is a little choppy. Although I ate right through the book, there where times when I was bored or the writer would add something out of place into the story line. This created a brake in the flow of the book that was sometimes annoying.

I would give this book a 7.7 out of 10.