Four

Oh Four, that classic gorgeous bad boy, with buns too boot, that also has a sensitive side!

I’ve have finally gotten around to reading this collection of short stories, about the Divergent series, as written from Four’s perspective.

I have to say I enjoyed revisiting the story of Four and Tris, it was like catching up with friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile. 

There really isn’t too much to say about this as the vast majority of it the reader is already well aware of after having completed the trilogy.

It certainly gives you a few background pieces to fill in and especially that of Fours life before he meets Tris. 

I loved getting a glimpse inside his head and the softer side of him, he often comes across a little hard when viewing him from Tris’ angle so it’s always nice to get to know someone through their own thoughts.

I would’ve loved to have seen this as a full length novel though and I think it would have added another layer to the series, but heck I’d like to see Roth keep writing this series regardless.

So if you’ve read the trilogy and not Four, you really aren’t missing out on anything, just an extra little glimpse into his world.

Did you see my thoughts on the Divergent trilogy?

Divergent Trilogy

Oh YA novels I have such a love hate relationship with these. You see there is this huge part of me that keeps on yelling, how you can enjoy these books they are for kids, rubbish, twaddle, why would you read them and at times I even feel quite smug when I get it right as in the case of Heavens Waiting Room, but damn it, what happens when I get it wrong, really wrong?

Just this afternoon I closed the last pages on the Divergent trilogy and whilst it isn't perfect, is there such a thing as a perfect read anyway? I applaud Roth, at the ripe young age of 22 when she wrote Divergent she has done a tremendous job.

I'm writing here about the trilogy as a whole simply because I was already well within the third book, Allegiant, before I even realised that I hadn't written anything about Divergent and Insurgent.

So yes, we find ourselves in yet another Young Adult Dystopian Society, a wonderfully strong main female character and a series that is primarily about bravery, love, selflessness and finding oneself in what has become a world of chaos.

This is the story of Tris and Four, the story of the world they currently live in, and the imminent demise of their entire society. The story of their growth into adulthood, the pigeon holing of their personalities, character, strengths and weaknesses. The pain they endure time and time again and the scars they bare from loss, betrayal and the continual chaos of the world that surrounds them.

But aren't we already living within a world of chaos, don't we already become pigeon holed based on

our personalities, our strengths and weaknesses. Don't we spend our entire lives fighting to overcome this. To allow our true selves to break through the shell that encases us all? To live a life of pure freedom, however that they may look to each of us.

In so many ways this book is simply our reality, shared in the guise of a mixed up Dystopian society. If you are open to it, truly open to it, you will see that it is simply the world we live in today. A world of distorted priorities, where power and brutality masquerade as strength and inspiration.

Roth pens wonderful quotes and insights that I fear some will be missed on many members of her audience, simply because of the stage of their lives, they may not be open to receiving them. Or possibly it is simply that I am just in a funky zone and taking on each and every quote with sheer gusto.

I was about a third of the way into Allegiant (the third book) when I felt a strong desire to go back and read the series so that I could note down all of the passages that stood out to me.

Passages on love, such as this, "I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed.............but I don't just stay with him by default.................I choose him over and over again and he chooses me." or this, on finding oneself, "I belong to the people I love and they belong to me-they and the love and loyalty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could"

I'm not here to give you a plot overview, you can find those anywhere online. Whilst the plot is absolutely important I read for emotion, I want to feel something, anything, whether it be love or anger or a bit of both I want my emotions stirred.  I read and love books for the way they make me feel, the way they inspire, envelope me and reach out with both hands, I mean pages and pull me straight into the story as if I am just another one of the characters within.

The Divergent Series did all of this for me and more.

It has actually taken me a few days to complete this post and I'm still not certain I have gotten across what I had intended to. I am in that bittersweet moment of the story coming to end, the sadness of dealing with the ending that had my cheeks wet with tears and the complete admiration I have for Roth in being brave enough to end the series with a finale that she had to have known would upset her readers.  

Whether you are looking for a fast paced, action packed novel that is full of all of the usual greatness of dystopian novels, bravery, murder, sabotage, twists and turns, or a story of love, friendship, selflessness and honour you will find it here in the Divergent series.

I think though, that I need to take some time before I pick up the book Four and see some things from his perspective.

Heavens Waiting Room

I was really excited to read this month's book club pick! As I do each month I spend five minutes reading through the reviews over at Goodreads, so I can get a bit of a feel for what I am in for.

I actually tend to scan for the negative reviews as the positive ones all tend to say similar things. I struggled to find much negativity surrounding this book though so figured we were on to a good thing.

I settled in really expecting to fall in love with this story, the premise behind it sounded like something that I would really enjoy exploring. The story of the afterlife, now I was most definitely intrigued.

Let me just say that this review will be decidedly short as I don't really have much of anything to say except, don't bother.

In all seriousness I have tried so hard to find positive things to say about this book, as I truly believe that there is always something good to be found in pretty much any situation, however this just left me so utterly disappointed.

Disappointed in the lack of plot.

Disappointed with the character development.

Disappointed in the complete lack of depth.

The moments when I felt on the edge, where we were about to truly delve into the story and gain something, it quickly switched gears and continued to do this again and again. On so many occasions the story was completely illogical and really very oversimplified

I was also sorely disappointed in the writing, this read was so disjointed and all over the place. It had so much potential, oh so much potential but I'm afraid for me it was so poorly lacking.

I closed the book and uttered the words that one of my dear friends uses, "Well that's 3 hours of my life I will never get back!"

Next book please!

The Kill Order

Wow, was this violent or was this violent!

Yup it was pretty darn violent. By far the most violent of all the Maze Runner books. That was kind of over kill with the use of the word violent huh!

I guess like every other Maze Runner fan I read the Kill Order because I was looking for answers. Answers to the million and one questions that the original trilogy brought up.

So did I receive the answers I sought?

The Kill Order is set years before the Maze Runner trilogy. In fact it takes you right back to when the sun flares first struck the earth. The chaos that ensued after that catastrophe was quite incredible to say the least.

The story follows what becomes the two main characters Mark and Trina, as they fight with everything they have simply to survive.

As the adventure unfolds we also come to understand the story behind the insidious virus, The Flare. This is where the worst of the violence  begins and it doesn't cease until the book has just about come to an end.

The Kill Order is full of all the twists, turns and climatic events that we have come to expect from The Maze Runner and it certainly keeps you hanging on to the edge of your seat.

Overall, I enjoyed The Kill Order, however as I said earlier on I found it really quite violent.

Now the wait begins for the next instalment due out 2016.

In simple pleasures we find life's treasures,
Kylie x

My Heart & Other Black Holes

Book Club pick for March! Clearly, however I am at least twenty years above the target age for this novel.

Now I've never ever been close to feeling suicidal so I can't for a moment begin to even try and fathom what a person experiencing this does actually think and feel but I'm pretty darn confident that lumping together thoughts on what I'm going to eat, or what we are covering in the next physics class with, casually adding in, umm yeah I'd really love to 'off' myself some time soon, isn't quite how it goes.

This is the story of Aysel, an extremely bright, well spoken sixteen year old that's had a pretty rough ride in life. For several reasons she has decided that the world will be a better place without her in it.

Aysel scours obscure websites in search of a suicide partner, until she finds Roman, who also feels the same way about his precious life. Together they make a pact to end their lives together in one months time. This is the story of how that month unfolds.

A topic that is such a difficult one to tackle, a topic that has so many layers and yet for me this story was rather superficial. If you have a spare Sunday afternoon and a couch available you will easily read it in only a couple of hours.

If, as the author intended, this book opens dialogue about depression and suicide then she has done her job and she has done it well. However for me I needed more to fall in love with this story and the characters within the pages.

I simply felt as though I was going through the motions reading this. I wasn't particulaly bored but I was far from enthralled with it. The storyline was very predictable the entire way through but , maybe I completely missed the entire point of it all together. I shall let you make up your own mind on that one.

Reading this did take me back to Jodi Picoult's, The Pact. Now that was a book I enjoyed, even if all of Picoult's books follow quite a predictable pattern. For me it had so much more depth and character development, but that book is not what this post is about.

Thoughts from the Book Club Girls -  the overall vibe was one of lots of potential but didn't really deliver, we were all felt far too old for this story, but overall it wasn't too bad of a read.

Until next time friends.

In simple pleasures you will find life's pleasures
Kylie x

The Death Cure

Well for certain there is only one cure for the Flare, and my golly gosh what an awful lot these teenagers must endure in the hopes of finding that elusive cure.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Stop reading now , spoilers to follow, not too much though I really hate when book reviews do that too me.

I particularly enjoyed how The Maze was woven back into the story here. Tying that up helped to clear up a portion of the questions that had arisen regarding specific details about the maze itself. Little by little more answers to that ever growing list of questions are forthcoming. But don't think you're getting all of your questions answered, there is a great deal left unsaid and this is pretty darn frustrating to say the least.

Once again there are what seems an insurmountable number of obstacles that need to be overcome by these kids. They are constantly staring death right between the eyes, losing more and more people around them.

Whilst I still stick to how I felt in regards to character development as mentioned in my thoughts on the first book, by the end of the third I had made definite connections with many of them. Feeling genuine sorrow whilst being the innocent bystander watching on as they lost friends along the way.

I have to admit that there was a part of me that really did not want to enjoy yet another damn teen novel!! But enjoy this I did. From beginning to end I could not put down this trilogy. Yes it had some obvious flaws but Dashner certainly knows how to spin a great tale and let's face it, not all of us have that ability.

I loved watching the relationships grow between the characters, their twists and turns. The devastating loss of friendship, but not just added for shock value but because it truly adds to the story telling and the development of the plot itself.

Let's hope that Dashner does not let us down with the prequel in regards to filling in some more of those gaps, with The Kill Order.

Once again I found this novel rather violent and it probably affected me more so because the violence occurs amongst the humans. Call me a sissy but I don't cope so well with that. As a parent of a fairly sensitive 13 year old I'll be trying to hold off for a bit on handing this trilogy over to him. There's just a tad too much over zealous violence for my liking.... but I guess we can say that about a great deal of what we expose to our kids to these days.

Did you catch my thoughts on The Maze Runner or The Scorch Trials? Have you read this trilogy? I'd love to hear from you if you have.

In simple pleasures you will find life's pleasures,
Kylie xx

The Scorch Trials

Just as the Gladers think that it is all over now that they have finally succeeded and are on the outside of the maze, they quickly realise that WICKED has other plans for them.

What do those plans consist of you ask.......

The Scorch Trials.

Another page turner, one I easily completed in three days. I can absolutely see though that some readers could become quite tired of this as it really is more of the same.

Ok, yes it’s a completely different environment, different trials, different variables but in a nutshell it is essentially just more of the same.

The environment of The Scorch though is absolutely horrendous and I did find this particular book slightly more gruesome than the first. In imagining the movie for this one I’m not sure I would like to see it, what I have conjured up in my mind is more than enough of a scare factor for me.

But you know what, Dashner still has the ability to leave you hanging at the end of nearly every chapter and yes those chapters are still only 3 to 5 pages in length. That’s a pretty cool skill I think.

Once again there is a gamut of extremely weird occurrences and characters, Cranks, strange body tattoo’s, betrayals, memory dreams, weapons and even a few monsters thrown in for good measure.

It would be near impossible to finish your reading of the series with this book, the third is a must to at least try and seek out some answers to the million and one questions you’ll now have running through your head.  I am really hoping it ties up some loose ends but considering the prequel, my guess is I’ll need to be reading that also.
 
Did you read my thoughts on the first book, The Maze Runner?

Happy Reading!

In simple pleasures you will find life's treasures,
Kylie xx

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner.

Seems everyone is either reading this, has recently read it or has just seen the movie. I was given the boxed set as a gift and have just completed the first book in the trilogy in only a matter of days. I am yet to see the movie though.

Firstly I have to say, what's up with all the post-apocalyptic novels that are out there at the moment? Am I showing my age or are our kids truly only reading about the end of world in every single thing they pick up these days? Do we know longer enjoy feel good stories? Books that actually mean something and truly connect with the reader or are we all that screwed up that all we are concerned with is the end of the world?

Don't get me wrong this was for sure a page turner, with chapters averaging 3 - 5 pages in length it was super easy to grab a few minutes and chew through another page here and there.

In case you've been living under a rock and haven't heard of The Maze Runner, the premise is a bunch of teens locked in one giant killer maze scrambling to try and find their way out. Their memories have been wiped, they have no idea why they are in there and what they need to do to escape, that is until Thomas arrives with feelings of having been there before.

With Beetle Blades watching their every move and Grievers trying to kill them every night they scour the maze looking for a way out. Will they ever figure out the clues and escape the dreaded world they have been thrown into?

If you don't mind hanging out with teens that have created their own versions of swear words, full blown action, some death and violence with even a small amount of romance thrown in then you will no doubt enjoy this novel.

The one big plus this book has for me, when compared to The Hunger Games, is that for now at least, the teens actually work together. There is no all out bloodshed on each other within the pages. Whilst there isn't a huge amount of character development the plot is well laid out and Dashner does a great job of setting the scene and the overall feel of the world in which the story is set.

You simply cannot read it though and leave it at the first book, it quite clearly needs the follow up books to finish the story and I have just found details that the prequel, The Kill Order was released in 2012 and another prequel The Fever Code will be released in 2016. So this whole Maze Runner saga may be with us for some time to come.

This is absolutely a teen novel, and truly for me verges on twaddle but I have enjoyed it for what it is and absolutely struggled to put it down. I can see for sure why the teen market is loving it! Now that I have just closed the last page on the first book I can clearly see that James Dashner has an overall plan and he has me wondering where it is all headed. Looks like I'll be starting book two sometime this evening.

Happy Reading!

In simple pleasures you will find life's treasures,
Kylie xx