I was initially just intrigued by these three books. The first movie came out in March, but I definitely wanted to read the books first.

I was excited because the author, Veronica Roth, is literally MY AGE and a big inspiration to me, as a writer. If she can write a trilogy of books, and then some, AND sell the trilogy to a movie studio, then so can I!

But I finally started reading in July, when I went to North Carolina for a mission trip with my church.

I powered through Divergent on the drive down (Seven hours as a van co-pilot will do that), and bought Insurgent at a Walmart when we arrived. By the time I got back home a week later, I wanted to get through Allegiant as quickly as possible.

As of last night, at the end of December, I was only six chapters in.

But, today, I have finished!!

For me, I found myself comparing the Divergent trilogy to The Hunger Games trilogy. The three books are structured very similarly:

• Divergent is building the characters and the story.
• Insurgent is where the action kicks into high gear.
• Allegiant is very political and picking up the pieces from the war/massive conflict in Insurgent.

Divergent

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org

I liked Roth’s writing style. I enjoyed learning about the characters. Tris reminds me of me, in a way. Really easy read – I powered through this one in just a few hours.

4 out of 5 stars.

Insurgent

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org

This is where the action was. I liked the plot lines and the development of the characters. I also liked how the story picked up from the last page of Divergent.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Allegiant

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org

This one … It was tough. It took me almost five whole months to get through it, mainly due to this thing called life. I was almost immediately turned off by the alternating points of view, back and forth and back and forth. As a writer, I completely understand Roth’s intentions, but as a reader, it just didn’t flow as well as I’d thought. It certainly wasn’t a bad ending, it was just tough to wade through.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Just for kicks, here are some delightful Divergent memes!

Image Credit: http://www.readbreatherelax.com

Image Credit: http://www.readbreatherelax.com

Image Credit: http://www.pinterest.com

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂