Divergent: The Initiation

Good news: we have less than a month until Allegiant hits the book shelves and we can all finally get our hands on this highly-anticipated ending to the Divergent trilogy!

If you read my review for Insurgent, you'll know that I'm dying to see what happens in Allegiant. Insurgent left me with too many questions and a huge plot twist that left my head SPINNING.

This tells me that Allegiant is going to be a very different book from Divergent and Insurgent. And personally, I think that's why I'm going to love it. Divergent stands out from so many other futuristic, quasi-dystopian books by taking the story in a direction that others haven't gone in.

I want to share with you a few reasons why I think you should give this book series a chance, in light of Allegiant coming out so soon!

1. Captivating world building:
   
   This is my favourite thing about Divergent, hands down. Veronica Roth has put together a very interesting world, one that I'm always dying to learn more about.
   
2. Faction sorting:
   
   The first thing I did after I finished reading Divergent? I took a quiz to see which faction I'd be belong to if I lived in Veronica Roth's Chicago. For the record, I'd choose Dauntless (because if I'm brave, then I'm brave enough to do anything. And that includes being selfless, being honest, etc).
   
3. Swoon-worthy romance:
   
   Okay, we've all heard about Tris and Four by now. To me, their relationship is a bit different than others because of how their relationship progresses compared to other fictional couples. The angst is there, but it's just a wee bit different.
   
4. Crazy plot twist:
   
   I love plot twists. I love plot twists that surprise me even more. And the twist in Insurgent is a doozy!
   
5. Upcoming movie adaptation:
   
   We all have our fingers (and toes) crossed that the Divergent movie will be amazing - but for those of you who may not have read the book yet, I always recommend doing that sooner rather than later. Jump on the bandwagon now, so you can wait impatiently with the rest of us.
   
6. Action + fight scenes = awesome:
   
   If you've read some of my other book reviews, you've likely figured out by now that I love some good action sequences. I think they're so much fun and really take a book to a whole new level. The fact that Tris joins Dauntless means we start right off the bat with a number of fight scenes.
   
7. Reflections on society:
   
   Divergent considers some societal attitudes and norms and challenges them by exploring some of these issues within a story. That makes the story easy to relate to, and thoughtful.
   
8. Challenges the reader:
   
   I like a book that challenges me. A good book will make me think and reflect, especially on how I feel about myself and how I process the world around me. The use of factions in Divergent-Chicago readily reflects that, because it makes the reader wonder which faction they'd belong to and what that would mean for them.
   
9. Fantastic character development:
   
   Characters should grow throughout a book or a book series, and Tris shows such natural progression through Divergent and Insurgent that I'm really looking forward to seeing what she's like in Allegiant!
   
10. Heart-pounding:
    
    There is always SOMETHING going on in these books. Whether it's because of the Tris & Four relationship, or the fight scene, or some crazy secret revealed. 

HCC Frenzy Presents...

I was recently invited to visit HarperCollins Canada along with a number of other local bloggers to meet some of the faces behind HCC and hear about some of their most exciting fall releases. If you aren't familiar with Frenzy, it's the feature HarperCollins Canada has put together to showcase their awesome teen books. You can even find them on Twitter!

It was such a great night, finally getting to meet some of the lovely ladies over there and just socializing with other book lovers!

Plus there was pie. Really good pie- with fun bookish names! I tweeted along during the event, so you'll find the same information in this recap post that I shared there :)

HCC did a great job of introducing us to Shannon, Vikki, Jessica and Hadley, all who took the time to share with us some of the work they do - everything from designing the Frenzy mag, publicity, author, and editor!

 

Besides introducing their fave fall books, we also held a mini Insurgent/Divergent book club where we discussed some of the themes and ideas in the series.
And our highly scientific faction poll ended up with a fairly even split among us for which faction we would choose - the most, however, was Erudite which doesn't surprise me too much (book bloggers tend to be super smart, I find). (Fun fact: I chose Dauntless, much to Angel @ Mermaid Vison's surprise at first!)

 

There was also a special guest who arrived... a few of us had used our sleuthing skills to guess that it might be Tahereh Mafi (author of Shatter Me) and we were right! It was so great getting to meet Tahereh, who is honestly one of the sweetest, most down to earth people I've ever met.

 

Tahereh was incredibly friendly and realy took the time to talk to all the bloggers there. And amazingly enough, she surprised many of us by telling us she knew who we were from Twitter/our blogs! Seriously, there is nothing cooler than having an author remember the last thing you talkd about/your fangirl review for her book.

 

  

HCC also had a copy of Shatter Me for everyone attending which we could get signed by Tahereh (keep your eye on the blog for an upcoming giveway for a copy)!

 

 

Each of us left with a Frenzy gift bag including a HCC Fall 2012 catalogue, a copy of the latest Frenzy mag (you can sign up for your own here), excerpt of What's Up With Jody Barton?, signed Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, ARC Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon, Before I Fall book plate signed by Lauren Oliver, and Delirium & Divergent temporary tattoos. You can't see them in this photo, but there was also a Frenzy pin and Pretty Little Liars lip chap!

Okay, now on to the most important part: the fall books!

HCC Frenzy put together a list of the top 6 books they're most excited about this fall - they had plenty to say about them, and I'll try to sum it up for you here (also: each blogger received a different ARC in their gift bag of one of the 6).

• Breathe by Sarah Crossan:
  
   
  This pick's a new dystopian in a world where the outside world lacks oxygen - people can apparently go on little trips (kind of like camping) to the outside world, and so a couple teens do... and danger ensues. We were told this one has a definite survival feel to it, which sounds pretty exciting! Plus it has dual narrators: one male and one female.
   
• Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon:
   
  This one's a thriller, perhaps with a somewhat paranormal aspect to it. There's an international conspiracy, lots of action, and a computer hacker. Plus some really weird stuff starts happening to the main character, so she has to figure out the mysteries. This one is totally right up my alley!
   
• Starling by Lesley Livingston:
   
  Lesley Livingston's upcoming release is a new series, but I believe it's set in the same world as wonderou strange. Features a totally tough heroine (she's a FENCER, guys. SO COOL), some really awesome action, Nordic myths, and of course a cute guy.

• Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel:
   
  This one's the sequel to This Dark Endeavour, a fantastic series based off the Frankenstein story. Imagine Victor Frankenstein as a teenager and you get Kenneth Oppel's new series. And Frenzy tells us that this one is EVEN BETTER than the first one.
   
• Ten by Gretchen McNeil:
   
  As if this one didn't sound cool enough already, Frenzy just had to completely sell me on this one. Ten teens on an island - with a serial killer. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Total thriller/horror aspect which is awesome. Apparently Ten is super scary with an Agatha Christie sort of vibe.
   
• Debutates by Cora Harrison:
   
  Perfect new book for fans of historical fiction (oh why yes, that IS me!) - we were told that it's somewhat similar to The Luxe by Anna Goldberg but A MILLION TIMES BETTER. This is promising. It has 4 sisters in it, and they have a really great relationship with each another.