Do you remember a promise I made to myself a few months back, then promptly broke as my willpower shattered into thousand of pieces? A certain promise regarding a certain game that spawns expansion packs at an unearthly rate in order to snatch pennies and pounds from unsuspecting fans.
Yes, I am talking about The Sims 3 and my addiction to it.
And the promise I am referring to is the one where I solemnly swore I would no longer buy an expansion pack, that The Sims 3 Seasons would be the last. I didn't even try to resist The Sims 3 Seasons because, well, seasons. Weather! Holidays! Anniversaries! Why bother to pretend resisting?
But wait, what's this? A new expansion pack seemingly tailored to my preferences and needs. That's right, The Sims 3 University Life burst onto the scene and my promises to myself fell away to reveal a weak willed woman unable to say no to this franchise. I bought it up after months of suppressing the urge to splurge, then promptly made a new promise.
No. More. Expansion. Packs.
What happened next was unforeseeable. Or maybe not. I mean, my track record doesn't suggest an ability to resist temptation, does it? And my laptop needs are orientated around my Sims needs. They are literally one and the same, as in sync as Merlin and Arthur, Ant and Dec, Sam and Dean. So clearly anyone with half a brain would have been able to see that somewhere in the future, my promise would once again fade into oblivion, because somewhere in the future I would buy a new laptop, enabling me to reclaim the expansion pack that got away.
That time is now.
A few weeks ago, I was browsing laptops. I didn't intend to buy one. I was just sizing them up, checking up prices, and seeing what specs are best for playing The Sims 3 (my poor, old Dell was doing just fine with all my expansion packs, if a bit jumpy, but I still hungered for guaranteed stability). I figured good graphics cards (and the rest) were more in reach now then they were years ago when I first bought a laptop and The Sims 3. That meant it was time to familiarise myself with the market.
Except I got too caught up in the market. I found a laptop that nearly perfectly aligned with the specs recommended by Simmers more in the technological know then me. It also sat in a reasonable price bracket and was gorgeous. I snapped it up and then my mind floated over to thoughts of Sims. The Lost Expansions Pack dominated my dreams. I knew the time to buy it was upon me.
What is this lost EP, I hear you say. Well, the one that got away is The Sims 3 Ambitions.
I could have bought Ambitions any time, and yet I didn't. Why? The simple fact that EA recommends installing its expansion packs in order. Since Ambitions is the second EP and I was up to University Life, I managed to abstain from it. I also ignored its LPs and reviews, telling myself I didn't need it. Then a new laptop marched onto the scene, which meant reinstalling all my Sims games, and thus an opportunity presented itself.
I began to obsess over Ambitions. I watched LPs, familiarised myself with its clothing, items, careers, traits. I realised I was missing out, big time, by not owning it, that my Sims playtime would be so much more if Ambitions was accessible to me. I needed it. Badly. And so it was that I broke another Sims promise.
I now own Ambitions and I am loving it. Absolutely loving it. The new laptop plays the games like a dream and I regret nothing. Nothing at all. See, I might not be able to resist EPs, but my Sims experience is all the better for it.
Everneath by Brodi Ashton [Review]
Everneath left me feeling blue. The tone of the whole book is morose, the main character's outlook bleak, the relationships flat, the narrative monotonous. It took a while to adapt to the style of writing, which distracted me so much for the first half of the book that the lack of a plot didn't click until I was too invested to quit reading.
Honestly, I should have known better. The warning signs were there.
There are many problems with Everneath, the least of which are the boring, flat characters and the worst being the complete destruction of Greek mythology. Now, I'm no expert on Greek mythology, but I know enough to figure that Ashton's Everneath is different from the Underworld, and that no matter how hard you try, the Orpheus and Eurydice story will not translate over.
It is annoying how hard Ashton tries to squeeze Greek characters into the history of her Everneath, because the world she builds and the world they belong in are wildly different. Everlivings and Forfeits are not the same as Gods/Godesses and the dead. And you can keep going on about how Persephone and Eurydice were Forfeits, but I won't buy it.
The time spent recolouring Greek mythology is time wasted, which, to my mind, only succeed in taking away from the world Ashton's created. Rather than stand on her own mythology, she spends too much time comparing her characters to Greek heroes/tragedies. The end result is a discordant story that never finds its own feet.
So, the world of Everneath is lacking in detail, in explanations, in logic, which means the precedent for the rest of the book is set. Cue the introduction of the leading cast.
There is Nikki, the girl who couldn't deal with life so decided having an Everliving parasite suck all her emotions/memories away was for the best. Why do so many YA teenagers throw away their lives with both hands? Why do authors make their MCs behave in this way? It annoys me.
Aside from making bad decisions while emotionally unstable, Nikki is a rather gloomy, insecure young woman. You can also add incompetent, completely reliant on other people to take care of her, and utterly selfish to the list. She ditches on her family during a period of grief, carelessly hurts her best friend on her Return to the Surface, and doesn't allow her ex-boyfriend to move on because she needs to say goodbye.
Needless to say, Nikki and I didn't click. She Returned to say goodbye properly, but spends half the book ignoring her ex-boyfriend, avoiding her little brother or father, and screwing her old best friend over. So much for achieving what she set out to do. All in all, she is a weak MC with a penchant for melodrama.
On to the boys! They come in two flavours favoured by Young Adult novels of late. In the left corner we have the American boy-next-door jock type, Jack, and in the right corner we have the typical "Bad Boy" stalker-who-happens-to-be-immortal, Cole. As you might imagine, neither of which are good for our leading lady, but she keeps them around all the same.
Now I can't say much about Jack, because he didn't come into his own until the latter half of the book. He seemed like an average teenager, clearly cared deeply for Nikki (although she didn't deserve his devotion) and showed a lot of loyalty (again, undeserving). Cole is the complete opposite, came off as a jackass and spent most of the book manipulating and mistreating Nikki.
So, considering how much of Everneath is spent on these three characters and their interactions, you'd think I'd have more to say on them. I don't. There really is very little going on in their heads, especially poor empty Nikki. Their motivations are very shallow: love and/or power. Rather than use these motivations to gently prod the plot (hah, what plot!), they are used as weapons against one another.
Plot. I guess avoiding the Tunnels could be considered a plot point, but since Nikki is resigned to her fate for 80% of Everneath, I'm discarding it. To say goodbye to her loved ones to make up for her disappearance? Maybe, if she bothered to attempt to fix the damage she left. Mostly she ignores everyone, because it will be too painful for them when she leaves, yadda yada. So no, not a plot point. Actually, it makes you wonder why she even came back to the Surface if she was just going to spend all her time avoiding everyone she cares for.
Ah, I'm all out of energy. To conclude, Everneath attempts to use mythology as a basis for its world, fails miserably and then proceeds to follow its moody cast around as they slowly gravitate towards a semi-interesting climax.
2/5 stars
Honestly, I should have known better. The warning signs were there.
There are many problems with Everneath, the least of which are the boring, flat characters and the worst being the complete destruction of Greek mythology. Now, I'm no expert on Greek mythology, but I know enough to figure that Ashton's Everneath is different from the Underworld, and that no matter how hard you try, the Orpheus and Eurydice story will not translate over.
It is annoying how hard Ashton tries to squeeze Greek characters into the history of her Everneath, because the world she builds and the world they belong in are wildly different. Everlivings and Forfeits are not the same as Gods/Godesses and the dead. And you can keep going on about how Persephone and Eurydice were Forfeits, but I won't buy it.
The time spent recolouring Greek mythology is time wasted, which, to my mind, only succeed in taking away from the world Ashton's created. Rather than stand on her own mythology, she spends too much time comparing her characters to Greek heroes/tragedies. The end result is a discordant story that never finds its own feet.
So, the world of Everneath is lacking in detail, in explanations, in logic, which means the precedent for the rest of the book is set. Cue the introduction of the leading cast.
There is Nikki, the girl who couldn't deal with life so decided having an Everliving parasite suck all her emotions/memories away was for the best. Why do so many YA teenagers throw away their lives with both hands? Why do authors make their MCs behave in this way? It annoys me.
Aside from making bad decisions while emotionally unstable, Nikki is a rather gloomy, insecure young woman. You can also add incompetent, completely reliant on other people to take care of her, and utterly selfish to the list. She ditches on her family during a period of grief, carelessly hurts her best friend on her Return to the Surface, and doesn't allow her ex-boyfriend to move on because she needs to say goodbye.
Needless to say, Nikki and I didn't click. She Returned to say goodbye properly, but spends half the book ignoring her ex-boyfriend, avoiding her little brother or father, and screwing her old best friend over. So much for achieving what she set out to do. All in all, she is a weak MC with a penchant for melodrama.
On to the boys! They come in two flavours favoured by Young Adult novels of late. In the left corner we have the American boy-next-door jock type, Jack, and in the right corner we have the typical "Bad Boy" stalker-who-happens-to-be-immortal, Cole. As you might imagine, neither of which are good for our leading lady, but she keeps them around all the same.
Now I can't say much about Jack, because he didn't come into his own until the latter half of the book. He seemed like an average teenager, clearly cared deeply for Nikki (although she didn't deserve his devotion) and showed a lot of loyalty (again, undeserving). Cole is the complete opposite, came off as a jackass and spent most of the book manipulating and mistreating Nikki.
So, considering how much of Everneath is spent on these three characters and their interactions, you'd think I'd have more to say on them. I don't. There really is very little going on in their heads, especially poor empty Nikki. Their motivations are very shallow: love and/or power. Rather than use these motivations to gently prod the plot (hah, what plot!), they are used as weapons against one another.
Plot. I guess avoiding the Tunnels could be considered a plot point, but since Nikki is resigned to her fate for 80% of Everneath, I'm discarding it. To say goodbye to her loved ones to make up for her disappearance? Maybe, if she bothered to attempt to fix the damage she left. Mostly she ignores everyone, because it will be too painful for them when she leaves, yadda yada. So no, not a plot point. Actually, it makes you wonder why she even came back to the Surface if she was just going to spend all her time avoiding everyone she cares for.
Ah, I'm all out of energy. To conclude, Everneath attempts to use mythology as a basis for its world, fails miserably and then proceeds to follow its moody cast around as they slowly gravitate towards a semi-interesting climax.
2/5 stars
The Pleasure in Procrastinating
2-for-1. Another foray into studenthood, though I still procrastinate like there's no tomorrow. What can I say? It's a habit that's hard to kick.
So, procrastination. Possibly the most fun a student can have without getting any academic work done. Because, let's be honest, procrastinating is still productive, just not in the way you want to be. It is a way of spicing up all those (household) jobs that are usually bland as rice. It makes them enticing, exciting, welcoming. Daily tasks become 100x more thrilling when procrastination enters the arena. Here is an accurately scientific formula for you:
NORMAL TASKS x PROCRASTINATION + (COMMON SENSE - GUILT) = SUPER MEGA FUN
(Disclaimer: this formula may or may not have been made up on the spot and therefore I cannot take responsibility for any consequences that may result in using the aforementioned formula).
It makes sense. You know it does. When you have a pile of academic and/or stressful tasks to undertake, everything else suddenly seems more important. You wash-up and dry-up in World Record breaking times. You vacuum the whole house, do the laundry, walk the dog all before the clock hits 10:00 am. Websites you usually scoff at (I'm looking at you, Facebook), become some of the most interesting sites on the whole interweb and you can't look away from them! You can't help but refresh your feed every. two. seconds.
The pattern goes a little like this:
YOU: Okay, a new Word document is open, I have a whole day ahead of me to get this essay started, I could probably hammer out 500 words by lunchtime. But, maybe I should check Facebook first, get it out of my system.
(Refresh Facebook feed).
YOU: Nothing. Guess everyone's busy. But it won't hurt to check again.
(Hits F5).
YOU: All clear. Maybe I should make a cup of tea, to help my mood while I work.
(Bustles off to the kitchen and clicks kettle on, before fussing with tea bags and sugar).
YOU: Right, I have tea, I have a fresh document open, time to work ...
(Hits refresh again and again, until something appears).
YOU: Hey look, Daniel is online. Better say hi.
And so a habit emerges, where you reward yourself after every sentence as though you were one of Pavlov's dogs. You allow yourself to check Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger. You drink unhealthy amounts of tea, run out of milk and then go buy more milk, so you can continue procrastinating by making and consuming more tea. You write a novel, find the cure for the common cold, catch up with relatives you haven't spoken to in a decade.
You do everything but the task at hand. You procrastinate. And it. is. GLORIOUS.
Until you remove the need to procrastinate, then those tasks become dull. If you have no obligations to attend to then there is no fun in productivity. Those chores are a lot more interesting when you're supposed to be doing something else. And you know they're boring when you'd rather stare at a wall then do them.
Ahem ...
So, procrastination. Possibly the most fun a student can have without getting any academic work done. Because, let's be honest, procrastinating is still productive, just not in the way you want to be. It is a way of spicing up all those (household) jobs that are usually bland as rice. It makes them enticing, exciting, welcoming. Daily tasks become 100x more thrilling when procrastination enters the arena. Here is an accurately scientific formula for you:
NORMAL TASKS x PROCRASTINATION + (COMMON SENSE - GUILT) = SUPER MEGA FUN
(Disclaimer: this formula may or may not have been made up on the spot and therefore I cannot take responsibility for any consequences that may result in using the aforementioned formula).
It makes sense. You know it does. When you have a pile of academic and/or stressful tasks to undertake, everything else suddenly seems more important. You wash-up and dry-up in World Record breaking times. You vacuum the whole house, do the laundry, walk the dog all before the clock hits 10:00 am. Websites you usually scoff at (I'm looking at you, Facebook), become some of the most interesting sites on the whole interweb and you can't look away from them! You can't help but refresh your feed every. two. seconds.
The pattern goes a little like this:
YOU: Okay, a new Word document is open, I have a whole day ahead of me to get this essay started, I could probably hammer out 500 words by lunchtime. But, maybe I should check Facebook first, get it out of my system.
(Refresh Facebook feed).
YOU: Nothing. Guess everyone's busy. But it won't hurt to check again.
(Hits F5).
YOU: All clear. Maybe I should make a cup of tea, to help my mood while I work.
(Bustles off to the kitchen and clicks kettle on, before fussing with tea bags and sugar).
YOU: Right, I have tea, I have a fresh document open, time to work ...
(Hits refresh again and again, until something appears).
YOU: Hey look, Daniel is online. Better say hi.
And so a habit emerges, where you reward yourself after every sentence as though you were one of Pavlov's dogs. You allow yourself to check Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger. You drink unhealthy amounts of tea, run out of milk and then go buy more milk, so you can continue procrastinating by making and consuming more tea. You write a novel, find the cure for the common cold, catch up with relatives you haven't spoken to in a decade.
You do everything but the task at hand. You procrastinate. And it. is. GLORIOUS.
Until you remove the need to procrastinate, then those tasks become dull. If you have no obligations to attend to then there is no fun in productivity. Those chores are a lot more interesting when you're supposed to be doing something else. And you know they're boring when you'd rather stare at a wall then do them.
Ahem ...
Strawpedo-ing (The Curious Drinking Habits of Students)
It's that time of the day/month/year again, aka time to wistfully review my student days and the lessons they taught me. Today we cover the (messy and controversial) topic of drinking habits.
Being a social drinker meant I went through the same gentle (okay, not always gentle, mostly persistent) persuasion, whereby my housemates tried to convince me to drink more, get a little drunk, do more shots. Since I am stubborn as a mule when it comes to my personal beliefs, I didn't budge, but I did get to watch the drinking habits of students from the sideline.
The art of strawpedos. A drinking trick I quickly witnessed on my first night at university. The older students were taking the younger ones on a bar crawl. We reached a pub in the city centre, settled down, and then one of the guides stepped up to teach us how to strawpedo a bottle of booze (actually, I was probably the only one who didn't know about strawpedo-ing, being as disinclined to getting drunk as I was at the time).
The general point of a strawpedo is to drink a bottle of alcohol as quickly as possible to reach intoxication as quickly as possible. The drink of choice at the time was a blue WKD, but as the guide happily regaled us with some of his drinking stories, it became apparent you could also strawpedo anything (my tipple of choice would be a J2O).
Other than not consuming my drink in one go, I also avoided drinking games (first year only, I came to enjoy them in my second and third years). Drinking games are used as a way of socially pre-drinking, cheapening a night-out. That said, they tend to offer more than a way to get drunk, allowing you to chat with strangers and get to know them. A personal favourite of mine was Irish Snap, but you can play that without alcohol and still have a lot of manic fun.
Pre-drinking definitely belongs to students, even though young adults will also pre-drink to lighten the cost of a night-out. This is purely because students are better informed in pre-drinking ways, are better at spotting a boozy bargain, and have a repertoire of games/methods to make the pre-drinking rite messier. No sensibly drinking wine from a sensibly sized glass while chatting about current affairs.
You might think that having witnessed the wild drinking habits of students that I swore off alcohol for life. Far from it, I learned that it is okay to loosen up a little, learned my own limits and found enjoyment in clubs (but only when surrounded with the right people). Sure, I won't be heading out to bars anytime soon to strawpedo them dry, or to do multiple shots of tequila, but I will be heading out to catch up with friends who I haven't seen in a long time.
So, alls well that ends well, even if the path there was befuddling.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth [Review]
Something went terribly wrong with this series and that something goes by the name of Allegiant. Never before have I been so grief-stricken by the complete self-destruction of
a series, but then never before have I read a book series that went into such
an illogical tangent.
Alarm bells for Allegiant went off when I heard it would be narrated by both Tris and Tobias. All I could think was "Why? Why are you doing this?"
Now this isn't an inherent issue with books that have more than one narrator, this is an issue with changing up the writing style of a series at its conclusion. It seemed, at the time of the announcement, so unnecessary. If you start a series with one narrator, you stick with one until the conclusion. Simple.
That Tobias is stepping up to narrating duties gives you a hint, pre-Allegiant, that Serious Business is happening. Do I still feel the dual narrative was unnecessary, post-Allegiant?
Oh God yes.
There are many reasons the split perspective didn't work. The simplest is this: it was very difficult to tell the difference between Tris' and Tobias' narrative.
Sure, Roth put the names of the narrating MC at the start of the chapter, but without that marker, there is literally no discerning difference in their voices. One chapter I was convinced we were following Tris' POV and only realised otherwise when the narrator mentioned their parents Evelyn and Marcus.
The inability to tell the difference between Tris and Tobias made Allegiant very confusing to read. Plus, it highlighted very poor characterisation that went unnoticed in the previous two books. There really are no quirks or idiosyncrasies to Tobias, or any other character for that matter (except, perhaps, for Tris). Surface details are all you get, which makes for a very dull cast.
So, the dual perspective was a big no-no and clearly didn't exist to add layers or enjoyment to Allegiant. It was a very obvious Plot Device, so contrived that it never sat naturally within the story arc. It also gives the reader an insight to Tobias' inner workings that effectively destroy him and any positive perceptions of him.
Yes, Tobias goes from being a competent eighteen-year-old with four fears, the ability to be a successful leader, to a bumbling eleven-year-old who hides behind the skirts and legs of bigger, more confident people. He crumbles throughout Allegiant into a pitiful shadow of his former self, believing every lie he is fed without question and getting narky with Tris every time she calls him out on his questionable choices.
So it comes as no surprise when their relationship crumbles too. In one sense this is a positive. Tris and Tobias act maturely and discuss the matters bothering them carefully so they can move beyond them. But, the issues that their relationship keep snagging on come up time and time again. There are trust issues, honesty issues, issues about respect ... the list goes on. By the middle of Allegiant I was convinced they were a bad fit for each other and that they should call it quits. Gone is the organic relationship from Divergent. Gone are the two respectable characters who keep each other sane. In their stead are two strangers with a huge chasm between them. And it is a true shame, and it takes away from the way Allegiant ends.
But what of the plot and explanation for Divergence/factions? How does that pan out?
Badly.
It is pretty clear from the start that Roth hadn't finished building her dystopian world before publishing Divergent, because the explanation for factions is so ludicrous it could only have been made up on the spot. It is safe to say that Divergent and Insurgent both focused on psychology as opposed to biology, so why Allegiant sees the sudden excessive appearance of genetics will remain a mystery to me. It is so unnecessary, so riddled with plot holes that it over complicates the series and makes all we've learned prior to Allegiant redundant.
The reasoning behind the experiments/factions is nonsensical, even within the realm of sci-fi. It is confusing. For a huge portion of Allegiant I didn't understand what the characters beyond the city limits were yammering about. Their research did not make sense. Nothing made sense, which is so damn upsetting because Allegiant could have been something. It could have been the defining moment of the whole series, if only Roth had thought out a darn good reason for factions and seclusion from the off-set.
Instead we get a world riddled with gaps, poor explanations, built on illogical choices.
And let me tell you this. It fails. It falls flat on its face. And, as the reasoning behind factions fails, so does the entire plot of Allegiant, rendering all the decisions the characters make from thereon in ridiculous, wasteful and pointless.
Allegiant could have been fantastic. It could have examined eugenics carefully, cautiously and warned us all of the dangers that come along when you tamper with human nature. It could have been clever. Instead, it assassinates its characters, dismantles its world and produces some of the most ridiculous reasoning known to man.
Avoid, lest you ruin the series for yourself, forever.
2/5 stars
2/5 stars
Insurgent by Veronica Roth [Review]
The problem with having an excellent series opener is keeping the momentum. You need to match or exceed the height of your first book, which can be tricky. Fortunately Insurgent has no problem hitting the bar that Divergent set, which was a great relief to me.
Insurgent picks up immediately where Divergent left off so there is no gap between the books to catch up on (although refreshing yourself on the previous book might be needed). Tris stopped the attack simulation and is fleeing with Tobias, Peter and Marcus to Amity headquarters outside of the city. Things are looking grim, with the Dauntless scattered and the Abnegation all but wiped out.
I was a little worried at the start that Insurgent would fall flat. Mostly this came in the form of Tris/Tobias relationship, which suddenly came to the forefront of the plot. Thankfully this was short-lived, otherwise there would have been another co-dependent couple in the YA world. As it stands, the moments where Tris breaks down and flees to Tobias are limited. However, their relationship then goes for a bumpy ride.
One of the strengths of Divergent is the way it put plot first and relationship second. Insurgent nearly saw the switch, but what actually occurs is a test of the strength of their relationship. Lies are told, secrets withheld and Tris realises she doesn't know Tobias at all. It was a thrill to see the female half of a couple keep her brains, personality and independence, although some of the repetitious motions of their relationship problems did drag. Overall Tris/Tobias get a big tick for being unconventional in a YA sense, but remaining true to how actual humans interact with one another.
On to the plot. Hand on heart I'll admit I got annoyed at the constant "go to faction, talk to people, move on to next faction" pattern that dominated the first third (or less) of the book. The constantly running around to get the measure of people in other factions annoyed me, but only marginally as I was also drinking in the sights. Amity seems like the luckiest faction to me, being outside the city and all.
I also enjoyed how all the characters are self-serving at least once during Insurgent. There is no banding together of deadly enemies for the good of the society, but individuals who stick together as long as it suits their means. There are tensions and arguments, even between friends where secrets and betrayals stretch out between them. Throughout it all Tris has to step carefully to find the truth and do what's best for the city. To be wary of everyone seems like the smartest approach.
One peeve that arose in Insurgent is the amount of bullet holes people amassed. Literally everyone gets shot at least once and if you haven't, well then you're missing out on a badge of honour. I would have liked a little more creativity with the fight scenes, but this never became a major issue. The other repetitive point that pops up is Tris' nervous habits, but somehow these flesh out her character and endear her to me.
In general Tris is conflicted throughout Insurgent about the events of the previous book. Grief, guilt and panic swell within her, rising up at inconvenient times to leave her more reluctant than ever to battle on. I felt compelled by her struggle and although the character growth is small, it is significant. She acts as any human in her situation would. She isn't invulnerable or inhuman. She needs to stop to catch her breath the same as anyone and this is another big tick.
Insurgent offers explanations about Divergent personalities, twisting and turning left, right and centre so that you are never a hundred percent sure who will prevail. There is a massive revelation at the end to do with the world/society that they live in and backs up my "the lack of detail in Divergent is intentional" mantra in my Divergent review. It wouldn't be very Amity or Abnegation of me to say "I told you so" but it would be Candor, so to those who criticised the little world history in Divergent. I. Told. You. So.
Self-indulgence over I will end on this. I read Insurgent in one day, a rare feat for me, so something must be right. It is a page-turner and I am very much invested in the series. Sure, there were little nagging details I picked up on, but these were small in regards to the bigger picture. I love everything about this series: the concept, the characters, the relationships and I will gush about it to anyone who listens. I am very much addicted to the Divergent series.
5/5 stars
Insurgent picks up immediately where Divergent left off so there is no gap between the books to catch up on (although refreshing yourself on the previous book might be needed). Tris stopped the attack simulation and is fleeing with Tobias, Peter and Marcus to Amity headquarters outside of the city. Things are looking grim, with the Dauntless scattered and the Abnegation all but wiped out.
I was a little worried at the start that Insurgent would fall flat. Mostly this came in the form of Tris/Tobias relationship, which suddenly came to the forefront of the plot. Thankfully this was short-lived, otherwise there would have been another co-dependent couple in the YA world. As it stands, the moments where Tris breaks down and flees to Tobias are limited. However, their relationship then goes for a bumpy ride.
One of the strengths of Divergent is the way it put plot first and relationship second. Insurgent nearly saw the switch, but what actually occurs is a test of the strength of their relationship. Lies are told, secrets withheld and Tris realises she doesn't know Tobias at all. It was a thrill to see the female half of a couple keep her brains, personality and independence, although some of the repetitious motions of their relationship problems did drag. Overall Tris/Tobias get a big tick for being unconventional in a YA sense, but remaining true to how actual humans interact with one another.
On to the plot. Hand on heart I'll admit I got annoyed at the constant "go to faction, talk to people, move on to next faction" pattern that dominated the first third (or less) of the book. The constantly running around to get the measure of people in other factions annoyed me, but only marginally as I was also drinking in the sights. Amity seems like the luckiest faction to me, being outside the city and all.
I also enjoyed how all the characters are self-serving at least once during Insurgent. There is no banding together of deadly enemies for the good of the society, but individuals who stick together as long as it suits their means. There are tensions and arguments, even between friends where secrets and betrayals stretch out between them. Throughout it all Tris has to step carefully to find the truth and do what's best for the city. To be wary of everyone seems like the smartest approach.
One peeve that arose in Insurgent is the amount of bullet holes people amassed. Literally everyone gets shot at least once and if you haven't, well then you're missing out on a badge of honour. I would have liked a little more creativity with the fight scenes, but this never became a major issue. The other repetitive point that pops up is Tris' nervous habits, but somehow these flesh out her character and endear her to me.
In general Tris is conflicted throughout Insurgent about the events of the previous book. Grief, guilt and panic swell within her, rising up at inconvenient times to leave her more reluctant than ever to battle on. I felt compelled by her struggle and although the character growth is small, it is significant. She acts as any human in her situation would. She isn't invulnerable or inhuman. She needs to stop to catch her breath the same as anyone and this is another big tick.
Insurgent offers explanations about Divergent personalities, twisting and turning left, right and centre so that you are never a hundred percent sure who will prevail. There is a massive revelation at the end to do with the world/society that they live in and backs up my "the lack of detail in Divergent is intentional" mantra in my Divergent review. It wouldn't be very Amity or Abnegation of me to say "I told you so" but it would be Candor, so to those who criticised the little world history in Divergent. I. Told. You. So.
Self-indulgence over I will end on this. I read Insurgent in one day, a rare feat for me, so something must be right. It is a page-turner and I am very much invested in the series. Sure, there were little nagging details I picked up on, but these were small in regards to the bigger picture. I love everything about this series: the concept, the characters, the relationships and I will gush about it to anyone who listens. I am very much addicted to the Divergent series.
5/5 stars
The Slow Descent Into Music
For a long time I was a musical snub, insofar as I refused point blank to listen to music because I thought it was terrible. I was at an age where puberty was about to hit, so my peers were going ga-ga over different artists and I, being oh-so superior, decided that music wasn't worth any effort. I actively repelled it.
It sounds silly now, but can you blame me when the only artists I had as reference points were Steps, S Club 7, Busted and Abba (along with a host of equally cheesy popstars). None of the above groups seemed appealing, what with all their songs being over the top in the peppy stakes. If that was all the music world could offer me, I wasn't bother with it.
In contrast, my sister loved music. She loved choreographing her own dance routines, lip-syncing and general bouncing all over our shared bedroom to hits by the Spice Girls. She would screech "reach for the staaaars!" whenever I walked by and I would smile to myself, reassured by my choice to boycott these atrocious tunes.
Considering these days I never leave the house without my iPod, I quite clearly hit a turning point. It came in the form of a rebellious teenage singer-songwriter who grabbed my attention with her hit single, Complicated.
Yes, you heard right. Avril Lavigne was my first proper foray into the music industry.
She did what no other artist had done up to that point; she showed me that other genres existed. She wrote her own music (something I respect immensely even now), it was about life, it wasn't overtly poppy and I was taken by how "meaningful" said lyrics were. I could relate to the song and I liked the way it sounded. I especially liked Avril's image and wanted to emulate her (I asked for a skateboard for my birthday and never used it, but hey, it looked cool).
I didn't find or discover Avril Lavigne or her album Let Go on my own. Actually, I didn't discover her at all. My Mum gifted the album to me one birthday and I decided to give it a go, shoving it into my portable CD player (I can assure you those things were not portable). I was immediately hooked and when I got my first MP3 player a year or so later, I uploaded the album onto it, along with a few My Chemical Romance and The Rasmus tracks.
Despite turning a corner with regards to the way I perceived music, I still didn't fall head over heels in love with it. I had no obsessions or bands that I absolutely had to see in concert. I didn't desperately count down the days to a new release. I just kinda liked a few songs and didn't hate listening to the radio. That cataclysm didn't occur until I was thirteen and the band at the centre of it was Linkin Park.
How I discovered Linkin Park is a little less conventional when compared with the ways in which I've discovered all my favourite artists since then. I happened to be at home alone, flicking through the music channels the way my Mum does whenever the adverts are on. I did this out of habit and I wasn't paying much attention as I continually hit the down button on the remote. After a while something piqued my interest. Not the music. No, my interest was piqued by the music video, which happened to be in the form of an anime.
I love anime and manga, and have done since I was a kid (you can thank Pokemon for that love). Interested by the style of this video, I stopped to watch it and was immediately struck by the story it was telling. Coupled with the lyrics and vocals, it was a very moving and compelling experience. I clocked the name of the song and band (if you haven't already figured it out, it was Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park), and set off to discover more about them via the internet (I think we were still on dial-up in those days).
After seeing Breaking the Habit on television, I then listened to Numb via Yahoo! Music (oh those were the days!) and decided I needed the whole album. I physically needed Meteora. For the first time in my life I was pining after an album and I had done so after listening to two tracks.
What followed went a little like this: I went on a shopping trip with my parents (I hated shopping as a kid too) and while we were in Woolworths, we browsed the music department. I must have deliberately sought out Meteora in the 'L' section of the albums stand and I definitely remember finding it. I turned to my Mum and asked for the album, to which she replied "you can wait until Christmas" or something along those lines. I persisted and asked to her to buy it there and then, since it was the first time I'd laid my hands on a copy and thought it highly unlikely that she would be able to find it again. She agreed and stashed it away for Christmas.
That year I hurried to my stocking and pulled out the first CD looking present I found. Once I had my hands on Meteora, I never let go of it. I spent the whole of that Christmas listening to Linkin Park whilst playing Spyro: A Hero's Tail on PlayStation 2, and I have super fond memories of that time. Whenever I load up Spyro now, I think of that Christmas and Meteora.
As for my love of Linkin Park, it started right then. There wasn't a track on Meteora that I didn't like. My gamble had paid off and I'd found a band to be a devoted fan of. I am still a massive Linkin Park fan to this day and have an array of varied artists on my iPod to listen to whenever I can grab a moment.
Music is a massive part of my life now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
It sounds silly now, but can you blame me when the only artists I had as reference points were Steps, S Club 7, Busted and Abba (along with a host of equally cheesy popstars). None of the above groups seemed appealing, what with all their songs being over the top in the peppy stakes. If that was all the music world could offer me, I wasn't bother with it.
In contrast, my sister loved music. She loved choreographing her own dance routines, lip-syncing and general bouncing all over our shared bedroom to hits by the Spice Girls. She would screech "reach for the staaaars!" whenever I walked by and I would smile to myself, reassured by my choice to boycott these atrocious tunes.
Considering these days I never leave the house without my iPod, I quite clearly hit a turning point. It came in the form of a rebellious teenage singer-songwriter who grabbed my attention with her hit single, Complicated.
Yes, you heard right. Avril Lavigne was my first proper foray into the music industry.
She did what no other artist had done up to that point; she showed me that other genres existed. She wrote her own music (something I respect immensely even now), it was about life, it wasn't overtly poppy and I was taken by how "meaningful" said lyrics were. I could relate to the song and I liked the way it sounded. I especially liked Avril's image and wanted to emulate her (I asked for a skateboard for my birthday and never used it, but hey, it looked cool).
I didn't find or discover Avril Lavigne or her album Let Go on my own. Actually, I didn't discover her at all. My Mum gifted the album to me one birthday and I decided to give it a go, shoving it into my portable CD player (I can assure you those things were not portable). I was immediately hooked and when I got my first MP3 player a year or so later, I uploaded the album onto it, along with a few My Chemical Romance and The Rasmus tracks.
Despite turning a corner with regards to the way I perceived music, I still didn't fall head over heels in love with it. I had no obsessions or bands that I absolutely had to see in concert. I didn't desperately count down the days to a new release. I just kinda liked a few songs and didn't hate listening to the radio. That cataclysm didn't occur until I was thirteen and the band at the centre of it was Linkin Park.
How I discovered Linkin Park is a little less conventional when compared with the ways in which I've discovered all my favourite artists since then. I happened to be at home alone, flicking through the music channels the way my Mum does whenever the adverts are on. I did this out of habit and I wasn't paying much attention as I continually hit the down button on the remote. After a while something piqued my interest. Not the music. No, my interest was piqued by the music video, which happened to be in the form of an anime.
I love anime and manga, and have done since I was a kid (you can thank Pokemon for that love). Interested by the style of this video, I stopped to watch it and was immediately struck by the story it was telling. Coupled with the lyrics and vocals, it was a very moving and compelling experience. I clocked the name of the song and band (if you haven't already figured it out, it was Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park), and set off to discover more about them via the internet (I think we were still on dial-up in those days).
After seeing Breaking the Habit on television, I then listened to Numb via Yahoo! Music (oh those were the days!) and decided I needed the whole album. I physically needed Meteora. For the first time in my life I was pining after an album and I had done so after listening to two tracks.
What followed went a little like this: I went on a shopping trip with my parents (I hated shopping as a kid too) and while we were in Woolworths, we browsed the music department. I must have deliberately sought out Meteora in the 'L' section of the albums stand and I definitely remember finding it. I turned to my Mum and asked for the album, to which she replied "you can wait until Christmas" or something along those lines. I persisted and asked to her to buy it there and then, since it was the first time I'd laid my hands on a copy and thought it highly unlikely that she would be able to find it again. She agreed and stashed it away for Christmas.
That year I hurried to my stocking and pulled out the first CD looking present I found. Once I had my hands on Meteora, I never let go of it. I spent the whole of that Christmas listening to Linkin Park whilst playing Spyro: A Hero's Tail on PlayStation 2, and I have super fond memories of that time. Whenever I load up Spyro now, I think of that Christmas and Meteora.
As for my love of Linkin Park, it started right then. There wasn't a track on Meteora that I didn't like. My gamble had paid off and I'd found a band to be a devoted fan of. I am still a massive Linkin Park fan to this day and have an array of varied artists on my iPod to listen to whenever I can grab a moment.
Music is a massive part of my life now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.