Ryan Wenneker

A vastly better written book than the first in the series.

Many reviews of the Divergence reviews include the cultural references of Twilight, The Hunger Games, etc. - that is valid to compare against such given its release date, but its also not accurate. I'm sure when the movie of this is made... and its written for such, clearly. It will be compared against the last of the Mortal Instrument Series.

Insurgent, deals with some pretty intense emotional content and proto-typical relationship drama, but not in an inappropriate way and not without some significant plot infrastructure, and there is even at one point (Kuddos to Mrs Roth) work on defining healthy relationship boundaries.

At points she even transcended the normally prosaic elements of teen lit and provided those brief snippets and lines of a story that are art.

Taken more broadly than the work likely merits: its an interesting conjecture on governance. The structures are non typical and the divisions are intriguing and could be looked at as a weak allegory to partisan behavior in her home country. [I went there.]

Why not five stars? Timeline. Overly used themes. Derivative work - though everyone who said its like Twilight - I challenge you to support that without stretching reason.

I think the author would have benefited from a better developed or drawn time line, I might be mistaken but their are some elements which seem to suggest temporal inconsistencies... perhaps that will be resolved in the final book in the series. Let's hope.

Is a big “twist” or reveal in the final book? Likely, it is again derivative, but its the rage - ala Snape/Dumbledore; Jace/Clary ewwww etc. etc. etc.

This is the book I wish I would have written.

Deep fried in 80s culture, this was a walk through my childhood.

I'm sure it didn't hurt that the internet archive released over 700 Jmame compatible browser games, and that I was doing spring cleaning and found my old notes on Zork I, II, and III.

Ah, I want to read this to my children and go the arcade with them.

A simply wonderful book for those who grew up in the 80s.

I was advised to get the Audiobook version, which is read by Wil Wheaton, which I have to say was a perfect choice. It only added to it to hear Ensign Crusher talking about a Star Trek and the current Oasis player presidency.

It is a better book than the last, but I find myself fumbling over the hypocrisy that Goodkind engages in with his protagonist, who continues to engage in the ‘righteous slaughter' of the those who do not share his belief that those who seek through violence to press their options upon on others are evil.

If this is the type of duplicitous thought process that he wanted to highlight as a analogy to real world conflict, then I commend him for such a message.

If however its not, then Mr Goodkind's expositions about logic and objective rationality may need to be revisited.

HOWEVER; I will say that the book indicates that the series' story arc was well thought out and that even over a decathalon of novels he's made efforts from the first to foreshadow and develop elements. So for the effort and as an example of success in such efforts, its still worth the read.

Super Scooby Doo Happy Ending. yeah.

This was an unexpected find.

Were it not for Landen's book club, I'd never have picked it up, and were it not for a Thanksgiving away I'd never have read it.

The story is about Gabe, a ward of the state, who goes to live with his Uncle Vernon, a distinguished veteran, who is about as crusty as they get, and doesn't like to toot his own horn. One day Gabe returns home to find Uncle Vernon dead, and that's were I was hooked.

The young man does his best to keep that from those around him, working to establish his life - in respect of his Uncle's guidance - and to avoid loosing his newly found home, to be put into “the system” again.

The writting and style are easy and technically adept. It was a quick read, and I often attribute that to the best writters, because even Dan Brown's book was hard to put down, BUT it was formulaic in it lay out to be a series of short reads - which worked for his story.

I'll read it again, found myself overcome at times, so if you're a softy - its not a book to read around little kids or on a company lunch break.

Written as a teen/YA lit book, I am getting a bit concerned by the ongoing repetition of rape in a series that works to mitigate things like decapitation and whose explicates all appear to be “Bags!”

I'll work my way into the third book, but this series appears to be a forced exposition rather than a narrative progression of the story.