KJ's Book Reviews

  The Secret History Written by Donna Tartt Originally published in 1992 ~560 pages Rate: 4/5 The Secret History took me well over two years to finish and if it wasn't for me following along as I listened to the audiobook, I'm sure it would have taken me even longer. The beginning of this book was a little too slow, but the main idea of the book was intriguing, the syntax was very captivating, and I kept seeing the book show up on Instagram, so even though I took a break from reading the book for quite some time, I came back to it. The Secret History is about a group of college students who end up murdering their friend named Bunny. Within the prologue it is very apparent that it was them; Henry, Francis, Charles, Richard, and Camille, who killed Bunny. So since there's a lack of mystery about who did it, the story appears to be Richard's attempt to justify the murder. However, since Richard Papen conveys all of the murderers, including himself, in a positive light th...

  Four: A Divergent Collection Written by Veronica Roth Originally published in 2014 ~280 pages Rate: 2/5 Summary Four is one of the main characters in the Divergent series, though it isn't until the last book ( Allegiant ) that we get to hear from his point of view. Four consists of four short stories from Four's perspective and the story leading up to him meeting Tris. My thoughts on Four Four is a really good character, but the story itself didn't feel unique or like it added anything to the originals text. It just felt like I was reading information that I already knew just from a different perspective. Links Veronica Roth's website

  Allegiant Written by Veronica Roth Originally published in 2013 ~530 pages Rate: 4/5 My summary of Allegiant Now that they have discovered life beyond their city limits, they also discover yet another corrupt government. Tris, Caleb, Tobias, Christiana, Uriah, Cara, Peter, among the many other Allegiants work together to stop this new found governments control over their city and the world as they know it.  My thoughts on Allegiant Reviewing this book is a lot trickier than I imagined. This book was a lot more logical compared to the other two books. In Divergent , the city doesn't really make a whole lot of sense until after reading Allegiant . In Insurgent , Tris' choices feel very illogical, but in Allegiant they all make sense.  Overall, it feels as though more thought was put into Allegiant compared to the first two books, but in some ways Allegiant feels a bit repetitive. They already took down one government and finding out there's another more powerful governmen...

  Insurgent ( Divergent Book 2) Written by Veronica Roth Originally published in 2012 ~530 pages Rate: 3/5 My summary of Insurgent After the attack on Abnegation, Erudite advance with their plans of turning everyone into a mindless slave. Tris, among other Dauntless soldiers scatter throughout the city; some end up regrouping later on. Tris feels as though it's her job to do as much as she can to help the war end, but in doing so, she ends up giving more information about the Divergent to Jeanine. The Factionless began to form an army of their own and team up with Dauntless to help bring down Erudite and the rest of Jeanine's followers.  My thoughts on Insurgent The beginning of the book started right where Divergent ended so that was good. It made it easy to understand what was going on and there wasn't any unnecessary repetitive information about any events that happened in the previous book. The middle of the story is where things felt off. I don't think some of the ...

  Divergent Written by Veronica Roth Originally published in 2011 ~490 pages Rate: 4.5/5 My summary of Divergent Tris lives in a society where people are organized into communities called factions based off their personalities. Originally, when the people were organized into these factions, it was because of what they blamed the war on. There are five factions, six if you include the seemingly rare other personality that Tris is. This is why Tris' life is in danger, because some people deem what she is as dangerous to society, because she doesn't just have one personality trait she is considered to be divergent. My thoughts on Divergent This was a super easy and engaging read for me, however, it did feel like a whole lot of breadcrumbs when it came to the romance scenes. The romance was kind of fun and sexy, but I personally enjoy more friendly vibes first rather than just instantly serious. The action element was good; the small fights and initiation built up anticipation to t...

  Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined Written by Stephenie Meyer Originally published in 2015 About 390 pages Rate 4/5 I have a hard time justifying rereading a book, though I have done it once before with The Great Gatsby . So that's why I think reading this alternate version of Twilight was worthwhile. I wanted to reread Twilight, I still could, but reading Life and Death sufficed. I really enjoyed the Twilight saga, it remains one of the only book series I have completed aside from The Hunger Game s . The character's personalities mostly remain the same, their genders are just swapped. Reading Twilight with the genders being reversed wasn't astonishing, however, the last couple of chapters differ from the original plot of the story and that was intriguing. This alternate ending with Beau was distressing compared to the way things played out for Bella in the original story.  In reality, I think the only people who might enjoy this book would be people who want to reread ...