The first time round I read Divergent in 2013, I devoured it. I loved it to bits. For most of my teen years I read contemporary fiction and to finally delve more into science fiction, specifically dystopian fiction, was exhilarating. Since then I’ve read more dystopian books, some of which impressed me more and some less. Also, this time round I tabbed the pages with post-it notes, annotated and cross-referenced. This close reading forced me to be more critical (in the analytical sense) as I read.
VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab
Going into books blind, particularly books like Vicious, can be infinitely thrilling. You enter unexplored land and everything is new. You don’t follow the tracks paved by expectations built upon the reading experiences of others. The cover states that it’s “a twisted tale of ambition, desire and superpowers”. It’s very correct in that description. That’s your starting point if you’re up for a thrill. If that’s you, then go on, pick up the book, read it and return to my review later to share your excitement. Now, if you’d rather know what you’re getting yourself into, read on.
THOSE GIRLS by Lauren Saft
There are so many reasons to hate Those Girls. Yet when I step away from the content and simply think about the structure of Those Girls as a novel, it actually holds up pretty well. This is why I think Lauren Saft has what it takes to become a successful author but I don’t have it in me to like this book much.
MATERIAL GIRLS by Elaine Dimopoulous
Reading Material Girls felt like an immersion into an alternate reality. I hesitate to call it futuristic, as many dystopian novels tend to be, because there was no sense of history in relation to our world today.
FREE TO FALL by Lauren Miller
As I sit down here to review Free to Fall, my mind is till completely lost in Angelfall by Susan Ee, which I finished listening to only a while ago. No matter, I took down notes as I read Free to Fall, and sometimes impressions after a few weeks give a much better idea of the impact of a book.
