Final reflections/review

     So, as anyone who read my blog knows, I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. Since I won't be changing anyone's opinion anyway, I'd like to give an explanation of mine. Let's begin;

Reason 1: The main protagonist

     Let me just start by stating my hypothesis: I don't think the author knew exactly where she was going with Tris when writing this book. She wanted the character to be selfless, that's obvious, but she also wanted an edgy character. I'm not saying that those two traits can't mix, because they do all the time, It's how poorly the author mixed them that bugged me. You see, the author wanted Tris to be selfless, but she unknowingly wrote the most selfish hero I've ever read. What ended up happening was that Tris acted extremely selfish, and then the other characters would always comment on how selfless she was. It's as if the author was trying to remind us, "Hey, Tris is selfless. okay?" the whole time. The result was a lot of eye rolls on my part, usually on big decisive actions that Tris makes, Which is really unfortunate.

Reason 2: The setting

     Let me start by saying that this setting had lots and lots of potential, but was killed by plot-holes. The biggest being the fact that all of the other factions were just cool with Abnegation being in charge. That is the equivalent of the Republican party being all like, "Nah, we're good. You Democrats can just run the government. We don't care." Here is the definition of faction: A small, organized, dissenting group within a larger one, esp. in politics. This one huge plot hole could have been avoided by the author not calling the factions factions. Maybe call them lifestyles? Heck, career paths? While it sounds lame, it would kind of feel a bit more right. There are a lot of other ones (Erudite just happened to have that water tank laying around to kill Tris.) but that one had the most negative effect on the plot. 

Reason 3: The author wasn't too great at a dystopian setting

     While this might have fit in with setting, I feel it should be all on it's own, because this was a major gripe of mine. A Dystopian setting is one with a totalitarian government in control, usually with a strong military to enforce it's laws and policies. Well let's see, the government was basically comprised of charity workers, not iron fisted dictators. That strong military? A bunch of crazy adrenaline junkie goths. The setting was just too comfy! It felt like, especially during the Tris/Tobias romance scenes, the author wanted to write a book about societal outcasts. She actually would be pretty good at that, but when put in a world where there is supposed to be a rich, structured history, she falls a bit flat. In fact, when there were bad guys, there was strong evidence that they were fighting for a representative government, which made the whole power struggle a bit backwards.



     So while I had my gripes (the list could go on, but that would make this post way too long), there was some stuff I liked. The action was good, if a bit action movie-ish. Four was pretty cool, until he became Tobias (so to speak), and the idea of factions would have been cool, if the author hadn't quite messed it up with the different roles they have in society. At it's best, the book has loads of potential to be really great. At it's worst, it was filled with plot holes and had an annoying main character. If I had to give this book a rating, I'd say 2/5. It impressed me at times, just not nearly as much or as often as it should have. Well, it's been a blast, guys. Thanks for reading, and have a great day.

Chapter 39

     Is Tobias going to shoot Tris? Will the Erudite be stopped? Will Peter ever get his act together? Find out in this final chapter blog post. Back to where we left off, Tris is thinking she gon' die. However, she is able to get Tobias awake. A bit cheesy, but who wants to mess with a happy ending?

Besides you George, you jerk. JK I love you, release book six please.

     Tobias stops the simulation, causing the sleepwalkers to go nuts and murder each other for a bit, but the simulation does get stopped. The heroes make a pretty dashing escape after Tobias is reunited with his father (Tris doesn't fail at making the situation awkward by yelling at Marcus to get away from Tobias [LOL]). Tris, Caleb, Tobias, Marcus, and Peter are headed then on a train for Amity-land, knowing not what awaits them. Our final thoughts from Tris are, "I am no longer Tris the Selfless, or Tris the brave. I suppose that now, I must become more than either." Fin.
   

Chapter 38

     Remember how Peter beat the tar out of Tris in the training fight? Well, it's the same idea in this chapter, except it's pretty feels in this chapter because it's Four doing the beating. Remember when Black Widow fought a mind controlled Hawkeye in the Avengers? This kind of reminded me of that, except Tris didn't win. She did get a few good hits in.

Good on ya, Tris!

     She puts up a good fight until Tobias overpowers her and points his gun towards her head. She reflects upon what she has done in life, "Can I be forgiven for all I've done to get here?" These last chapters I have to say I liked. It seems like the author kind of got a feel for the book at this point, but everything just kind of feels a lot more right than the first 36, which is a good and bad thing. One chapter left guys...

Chapter 37

     This chapter covers the big raid on Dauntless HQ by Tris and friends. I'll have to admit, this was actually one of the parts of the book I enjoyed. The description was pretty good, if the action was a bit campy (I apologize in advance, I'm reading a military autobiography at the same time as this, so it's hard to go back and forth between the action-movie like combat and realistic account without the prior coming off as a bit cheesy). The action was nice and fast paced, and the storm trooper effect was evident of the sleepwalkers, which made Tris seem like Rambo. I really did like this part.

Pew pew pew

Tris gets some payback on Peter (Who the higher ups allowed to not be a sleepwalker, I guess? I didn't quite get his explanation of why he's conscious.), and unfortunately they have to leave Caleb and Marcus behind to tend to the gunshot wound Tris inflicted on good ol' Pete. Tris goes up towards the control room, and her dad dies defending her. She doesn't have much time to mourn because, "for every second that I waste, another Abnegation member dies." She makes it up to the control room, where the final boss awaits her: Tobias.

Sorry, I just had to make a Mortal Kombat joke

Chapter 36

     ... So who is the next death? Caleb? Four? Tris? Unfortunately no, it's not Tris. It's Will. So what, right? He's not really a major character? Well, let me give you his death:

       "The man running toward me is not a man, he is a boy. A shaggy haired boy with a crease between his eyebrows. Will. Dull-eyed and mindless, but still Will. He stops running and mirrors me, his feet planted and his gun up. In an instant, I see his finger poised over the trigger and hear the bullet slide into the chamber, and I fire. My eyes squeezed shut. I cant breathe. The bullet hit him in the head. I know because that's where I aimed it."

      Poor Tris right? Nope, let's think about this for a moment. A few chapters ago, she had a perfect shot on Eric, ONE OF THE MAIN ANTAGONISTS. She can't kill Eric, even when he is conscious and intentionally evil. Apparently she can kill one of her best friends when he's hypnotized and has no control of his actions. I get it, the author put her in that situation, it's just a book, etc etc. But the author really needs to keep her characters consistent. It should be no surprise to readers of this blog that I'm no fan of Tris, and one of the main reasons behind that is because she never acts how we think she should. It's almost as if the author wanted to write her two different ways, and instead of making two different characters she just gave her both personalities (Selfless and extremely selfish).

Indecision, wanted dead or alive for the double murder of logic and plot lines

     Tris makes it to the Abnegation hideout and recruits Caleb, her dad, and Marcus (gasp) to go on a raid to the Dauntless compound and stop this mess.

Chapter 35

     Remember when Tris had the fear simulation in which she was in that glass container filling with water? Apparently the Erudite just had one of those laying around and that's how they're going to kill Tris. Tris is saved however by mom. Mom pulls up Tris and explains to her that people who are Divergent are immune to the system. "I am Divergent. And I can't be controlled." They make an escape, and mom gives her life so Tris can make it to where the Abnegation are hiding out. Thankfully we do get something in return for her death, we don't feel like we just got screwed over, unlike the next death....

Chapter 34

     The Divergent rebels are taken to the mastermind of the Erudite plan, Jeanine Mathews. Before I talk about what goes on between them, I just have to wonder; Do the Erudite want a representative government, or total control? Tris seems to believe that they want total control, but we have to remember that she is extremely biased towards the faction. The articles written by Erudite all point to a representative government, though they could be deceitful. I just have to hope for this book's sake that the Erudite do want total control. If they don't then the main character of this book is fighting to keep a government dominated by one party, while the bad guys are basically championing the American way of life.

And also, how were the other factions okay with just one faction being in charge of the government in the first place?

Back on track, Jeanine shoots up Four with a serum that makes him want to kill Tris, and he tries to strangle her in a way that would make Mockingjay proud. Some Dauntless guards take him away, and Jeanine gives the guards the order to, "Take her to room B13." referring to Tris, of course.

Chapter 33

     So Tris wakes up the night after the initiation ceremony to find all of her friends and enemies becoming sleepwalkers to the effects of the control serum of the Erudite. She pretends to be one of them, and finds out that Four is too when they get on the same train. They head to the Abnegation compound, and the sleepwalkers start to kill everyone wearing a hint of gray. They all stand in formation once Eric comes to inspect them. He finds Four in the ranks, but Tris shoots him before he can harm her little boy toy. She decides to shoot him in the foot instead of killing him, and I'll tell you why this annoys me in a future post. They run, but they don't make it far. Tris is shot, and Eric's voice echoes, "Divergent rebels, surrender your weapons."

This is sort of how I pictured the Dauntless sleepwalkers

Chapter 32

     In this chapter the initiates' class ranks are put up, and surprise surprise, Tris is number one. They have a fun time chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool, when Tris realized that Erudite was making trouble in the neighborhood.

For those of you who didn't get it, that was a reference to that show starring Woll Smoth

For real though, what Tris realized is that the tracking serum that they'd all been given is actually going to run some simulation that will essentially let the Erudite mind control the Dauntless. Scurry stuff. Since the Erudite have no army to kill off the Abnegation government, as Tris says it, "I do know how the Erudite will get us to fight."

Chapter 31

     So Tris gets out of the simulation and the Dauntless leaders congratulate her. Eric then has her take an injection, which is apparently a "tracking device" (That's sketchy). Tris and Tobias go back to his room and analyze Tobias' tattoos (For lack of a better term). Basically, Tobias' tattoos reflect how he thinks people should be brave, selfless, peaceful, intelligent, and honest. Good ideas all, but what I got from this is the hint that Tobias is probably Divergent. So they basically just make out for the rest of the chapter, "Maybe you won't be in my fear landscape anymore" Tris ponders after some intimacy.

Here's a photo from my fear landscape

Chapter 30

     This is the chapter in which Tris goes through her fear landscape. I'm not really going to go fear by fear, because you don't want to read that and I don't want to write that because it would just become a boring list. Most of the fears she goes through are ones she has conquered in simulations. There were two that stuck out to me though. The first is one where Four tries to have sex with Tris... and she turns him down. For real? Tris has got to be the most back and forth character, "Oh I love this boy." and then, "Oh wait, no I don't." I realize that it's just a simulation and whatever, but for real? I apologize to Veronica Roth ahead of time, but make up your mind when writing this girl! Have I touched on the fact that she might be the single most selfish character I've ever read, yet everyone in the book is always going on about how selfless she is. If you want to make your character a certain way, Mrs. Roth, show us how they are. Don't just expect that your readers are too stupid to make their own conclusions about your characters based on their actions. Sorry, had to get that one off of my chest.

Make up your mind, author lady!

     The next one that was new is the Candor guy from the aptitude tests, somehow leading an army of ghouls to steal Tris. This one was pretty freaky, but Tris conquered it fairly easily. Lastly is the one where she has to shoot her family, but this time Jeanine is making her shoot her family. This time Tris isn't going to shoot her family (Once again Veronica! Make up Tris' mind!). "Shoot me instead" Tris thinks, just as Jeanine shoots her.

Chapter 29

     Nothing much happens in this chapter, as it's all leading up to initiation and the fear landscape. Before going in, Tris wonders on if Dauntless was the right choice, and if she should've chose Abnegation instead. I think that there really is no right faction for Tris, and that she fits being Divergent pretty well. Tris is also very nervous about the fear landscape. I would imagine she has the feeling I get whenever I'm about to go on a roller coaster.

I look more like the people in front than the people in back

When Tris' name is called she takes the injection, imagining that the serum is, "liquid adrenaline rushing through my veins, making me strong." then she heads in...

Chapter 28

     In this chapter Tris sneaks away to see Caleb. After they talk for a while, Tris accuses him of betraying the Abnegation. It's moments like this that I hate Tris, because she's a raging hypocrite. Guess what, hon? You transferred too. You're not allowed to talk. She's intercepted by Jeanine's agents as she's leaving and is sent to Jeanine. Tris proves to be an even bigger hypocrite by telling Jeanine that she agrees with her articles, "Wholeheartedly." I know this was just for her protection but she just unwittingly gave Jeanine more ammunition to use in her articles. Tris flops more times in this chapter than the QWOP guy.

However it's a lot more fun to watch this guy flop.

     Tris is taken back to the compound, where Eric waits to meet her. Eric is acting very calm and controlled, in a way that only the Erudite act. Tris determines that Eric was Erudite as Four walks in and talks Tris out of trouble. It's moments like this that I thank Four for saving this book from QWOPing left and right. Later on, Four takes Tris to the Erudite compound, where all the lights are on. This is a violation of city rules and curfew. Four also tells Tris he found battle plans in the Erudite files. What are they planning?

Chapter 27

     So Tris is pretty lovey-dovey this chapter, that is, until they run through a simulation in the fear landscape as practice. The initiates all go through one of the instructor's fears. Peter gets public humiliation, so that's pretty funny. Tris got kidnapping, which didn't seem so bad, until she had to relive the events in which good ol' Pete tried to throw her into the chasm. She screamed rather than fought back, which reminds me of when I have nightmares and I try to wake myself up rather than doing anything in opposition to my attacker. Four wakes her up and tells her she was pathetic, to which she responds with a slap and, "Shut up." Poor, poor Tris.

What did the five fingers say, Four?

Chapter 26

     So this chapter is pretty slow. With Tris and Tobias hooking up. Since that's all that happens, I'm a take this post to point out how this part makes me annoyed with the book. If we were being realistic, Tobias would be all like, "No, I'm your teacher BLAH BLAH BLAH" and rejected her. I get it, it's supposed to be romantic and it's a teen book, I get it. However, just because it's a teen book doesn't mean that the author  can just kind of make this whole Tris + Four= <3 thing happen and pretend the plot holes are non-existent! It would be fine if Tris felt feels for Four, but it flies far out of any sort of realism the plot had when he feels the same thing. In fact, Tris is kind of afraid of Four for most of the chapters! GOD DANGITHKSEFHKSDNFKSDJFSKJ!!!!!!!! Okay, I'm done. Tobias does state his reason for "liking" Tris, "You're not giving me that look. Like I'm a kicked puppy or something." which is little consolation for the fact that everybody basically looks at Four with ether fear or respect. Sorry about the rant guys, but I had to get that one out of my system.

Take this picture of Kittenchu as my apology

Chapter 25

     In this chapter, Four takes Tris with him into HIS fear landscape. He tells Tris, "See if you can figure out why they call me Four." When Tris asks him what his real name is, he says, "See if you can figure that out too." (Two quotes in one post, I'm feeling pretty good today). They go into the fear landscape. First fear, heights. I can relate to this one, because I always get this feeling like I'm going to throw up when I am up high. They conquer this fear by jumping off a skyscraper. Second is confinement. They conquer this by pulling the confinement in closer. Four says the fear comes from being locked in a closet as punishment (You guys ever heard of foreshadowing?). Next Four has to shoot some woman. Is it his mother? An older Sister? A love interest? No one knows, he just shoots her. Last is a man that Tris identifies as Marcus Eaton. I guess Jeanine isn't just making up all of her articles to be a power hungry war monger. So Marcus takes off his belt and like five more of him appear, kind of like the bad guy at the end of the original Assassin's Creed. They beat the crap out of Four for a while, until Tris steps in and makes them disappear. So there you have it, Four is his nickname for his four fears, and his name is Tobias Eaton, Marcus' son. That's about it, except for Tobias taking Tris' hand and telling her to follow him.

Chapter 24

     In this chapter Al has committed suicide. He jumped into the chasm after the events of the previous night. At his funeral, Eric says he is a hero for venturing into the beyond. He says it's brave, because no one knows what is after life, so it took courage to journey there. Tris obviously thinks something is up. I did too. She says, "He throws himself off a ledge and Eric is calling it brave? Eric, who tried to have you throw knives at Al's head?" I also recall hearing that the preferred method of killing off Divergent people is to throw them into the chasm and say it was suicide. In my opinion, there's no way Al committed suicide, it had to be a murder. After the funeral, Four and Tris share one of their moments.... again (gettin' real tired of this, book.). 

Chapter 23

     Tris doesn't sleep in the regular dorms that night. "Sleeping in the same room as the people who just attacked me just to look brave would be stupid." Smart move, Tris. She does plan on making an appearance the following day, however. Instead of staying in the dorms, she sleeps in Four's room (Oh Baby).
     After she meets up with her friends the next day, Four takes the class to the Fear landscape. If you want to know what the fear landscape is like, imagine the X-Men's danger room, but instead of being filled with robots and obstacles, it's filled with your worst fears. Making it through the fear landscape is stage three of initiation, and determines whether or not you become fully fledged Dauntless.
     When Tris and friends return to the dorms, they find Al there crying like a baby. He tries to apologize to Tris, but she tells him that if he ever talks to her again, she'll kill him. Sorry Al, but girls just don't like it when you try to Grope and then Murder them.

Chapter 22

     In this chapter Tris wakes up in a hospital, the first thing she saw were the words, "Fear God Alone." Written on the wall above her. She sees Four watching her. They talk for a while, and when Tris mentions that they "Touched her" Four starts to become enraged. This is another example where we see Four and Tris' impending romance. I think I'll just label it  "Love at first sight" and leave it alone at that. At the end of the chapter Tris is helped up by Four, causing agonizing pain. I guess this means that they beat her up worse than I thought. It is quite brave, however, that she doesn't give up, and that is what matters the most.

Chapter 21

         Tris has been carrying on since since talking to Tori about being Divergent. Her tests have gotten harder, especially since she can't manipulate them anymore. In a severe test, she had to kill her whole family. That would be the hardest thing for me, and I think most people can agree for obvious reasons.
          Tris ends up being first in the rankings. Thinking back on Edward, we can assume she's in danger. Peter even says, "I will not be outdone by a stiff." When Tris is awoken in the middle of the night and blindfolded, we know it can't be good. When  she's taken to the chasm, we know for sure that she's in serious danger.
          At first I thought she was going to be executed by Dauntless leaders for being Divergent. She then hears Peter's voice, no surprise there. Then she hears Al's voice. What the what? I was in denial for a while, but I knew Al has turned to the dark side when it's Four who saves Tris. Why you do this, Al?

Chapter 20

     After completing a simulation much to fast, Tris is accused of being Divergent by Four. While he isn't opposed to people who are Divergent, he does warn Tris of the dangers of being Divergent, and how she needs to stop completing the simulations so fast. I'm pretty glad that there's more to this Divergent thing, because I'm getting bored of the five factions. They're all kind of just cut and paste archetypes, from my point of view.
     Tris goes to Tori for more info about being Divergent. Tori basically tells her to not be Divergent if she doesn't want to be killed. That people who do well in phase two often get thrown into the chasm, and the official story is that it's a suicide. Kind of reminds me of in the movies when a CIA agent knows too much, and the agency offs them. Although I don't know if that happens in real life, Tris' danger is very real. Tori says it best, "These people taught you how to use a gun. They taught you how to fight. You think they're above hurting you? Above killing you?" Probably not.

Chapter 19

     In this chapter we learn that there are many articles being written about Abnegation, primarily about Tris' father, "The recent transfer of Beatrice and Caleb Prior, the children of Andrew Prior, calls into question the soundness of Abnegation's values and teachings." Reads Molly, this being her revenge at Tris. It's never good when someone tries to get to you by attacking your family, and in my eyes, it's one of the most cowardly things a person can do. Thankfully Tris' friends give her a lot of support during these times. As Tris walks with her friends, she notices Four, drunk. It's pretty weird seeing your teacher outside of class, and even weirder when they're inebriated. They share an exchange, and in his drunken state Four let's a few compliments slip towards Tris. I don't know if I've mentioned this on this blog before, BUT THEY'VE BEEN HINTING AT INTEREST IN EACH OTHER SINCE TRIS JUMPED. I'm sorry for the outburst, but in a scenario such as this a teacher and student probably wouldn't harbor romantic feelings for each other, given the kind of interaction they've had. Well, their you have it, my first rant. Until next time, readers.

chapter 18

     This chapter marks stage two of training. Apparently, as Uriah states, "No one can prepare for stage two. At least, that's at I'm told." It sort of reminds me of this video I watched about SEAL training. Navy SEAL training is the most daunting that the US military has to offer, so I assume that stage two of Dauntless training is similar.
     Tris gets called into the training room, and sees a sight similar to the one on the day of the aptitude tests. She's hooked up to a machine that has her run a simulation of getting eaten by crows. Stage two, we're then told, is fear training. Thus the simulations are symbolic, and can only get worse.

Chapter 17

     In this chapter Uriah takes Tris with him, with his only explanation being, "It's an old initiation tradition." They, along with a bunch of Dauntless, hop on to the trains to an old abandoned building. They climb to the top and bungee jump from it. Tris gets a feeling of camaraderie from this. "He didn't-couldn't- understand the kind of camaraderie that forms only after you've all risked your lives together." She reflects about how her father doesn't understand the dauntless. You do feel close to people when you've faced adversity with them, on teams, in school, etc. It forms a sort of fellowship that can't be broken. This, Tris thinks, is why she joined Dauntless.

Fan Trailer

A fan-made trailer for Divergent. I'm thinking that the actual trailer will look like a more polished version than this.

Chapter 16

     There's not much going on in this chapter until partway through, so I'll skip to that. As Tris goes in to the room, postings are being put up. The most important aspects are that Tris moved up, molly went down, and Edward beat Peter for number 1. Tris notices spite in both, but not rage. This freaks her out, and to be honest, we've all had those moments when we see a lack of rage and know something worse is coming. It's scary.

     Tris is woken in the middle of the night to Edwards screams BECAUSE SOMEONE STUCK A BUTTER KNIFE IN HIS EYE GOD DANGIT. And everybody will be darned if it wasn't Peter. That's right folks, we have a second antagonist. Looks like him and Eric will get along awesome. Unfortunately that also means Peter isn't going to get punished, and everybody is in threat of his murderousness. "You really think the Dauntless will do anything? After they hung you over the chasm? After they made us beat each other unconscious?" Tris states. Oh boy.