Insurgent Movie!!

In case you have been living under a rock, Insurgent was released today! The Divergent Series is one of my favorite book series and I have been waiting a year for this movie to come out. I liked Divergent, I think they did an okay job of creating the world and laying out the rules for viewers who had not read the book. But now that that is out of the way, they were able to take Insurgent and bring it to the level Divergent should have been at. Much like how Catching Fire was way better than Hunger Games. Divergent felt to me as if it was missing that cinematic quality. It did not feel real enough to me, like I was watching the world and not living in it. When a production studio makes books into movies they need to accomplish that feat, make it real! Fans of the books have lived in the world already, they now want to see it and breath it and feel like everything they imagined in their minds is real. Where Divergent fell short, Insurgent made up for it. This movie was action packed! It was a thrilling, fast paced, reality defying movie! I highly recommend seeing it if you were a fan of the books or even just liked the first movie. We see so much more depth in the characters and the relationships and emotions are more fine tuned. In Divergent, Tris and Four were great but I didn’t necessarily feel the connection between them. In Insurgent, their love is almost tangible. Their words, actions, and expressions make this movie more real. Tris fights with so many inner demons throughout the novel and the movie did a good job of portraying those sequences. I was so happy to see more Peter in this movie. Miles Teller did a great job of bringing him to life and the added humor makes him a character you love to hate. Besides the acting being much better in this movie, the screenplay was definitely a reason this movie succeeded. It was infinitely better than Divergent. And even though some scenes were deleted and other scenes took a few different parts from the book and blended them together, it worked seamlessly. But now I must add spoilers. So don’t read anymore until you’ve gone and seen the dang movie! Like go right now and see it, I am sure its playing on about half the screens in your local theater. So go, NOW!

Or I guess you can watch the trailer first…

SERIOUSLY STOP READING UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE!

Okay, okay, okay…Let me say I really do think the scene blending worked perfectly. I know a lot of people will disagree and say but no it should have been done this way or that way and why did they omit this part or what about that scene and OMG blah blah blah. It’s a movie people. Unless you want to sit and watch a 6 hour long movie, parts are going to get cut from the damn book! When I first saw the trailer and saw that whole box thing, I was like WTF?! Are they really ruining the story that much? But it worked! Rather than having a hard drive that Jeanine was hiding, they used a box. A box that had to be unlocked through simulations. And in the book, in order to get to the hard drive, Tris and everyone going after it had to fight through simulations to reach it. Jeanine was also doing those tortuous tests on divergents. Something that would have added a lot more time to the movie. So in order to cut out an hour or so of running time they combined the two ideas. Genius! It works so well on many levels. To anyone who didn’t read the book, it makes more sense! I know a lot of people are going to hate the damn box but I don’t and I am standing strong on that statement!

I was kinda disappointed that the scene in Amity when Tris is given the peace serum was cut. I know it was a small, insignificant scene but it was so funny and I know it is a fan favorite scene too. Also, the whole bridge scene when they are trying to figure out what the hell Jeanine is doing, that was also cut. Not a big deal but still. As a reminder, I did not have time to reread the book before seeing the movie, granted I’ve read it like 3 times, but it has been awhile so I am sorry if my facts are wrong. Blame my memory, I am getting old. But anyway, doesn’t Tris shoot Eric in the foot when Erudite storms into Candor and tags everyone with the simulation things? I am pretty sure I am not mistaken on that part but anyway in the movie Four kills him. Now not to be all girl power feminist on you but I think it would have been better had Tris killed him. I think it would have strengthened her character in the movie with the whole aspect of her being deadly. Also, why did Evelyn kill Jeanine?!?!?!?! It was supposed to be Tori! Tori’s revenge for her brother! And they ruined it by making it be Evelyn. WHY?????? Okay I understand why, Evelyn being the enemy in Allegiant is obviously the reason and much easier to explain than Tori’s revenge for her brother since she is such a minor character in the movie. (Though I do love her and I think Maggie Q does a great job playing her.)

Alright, well my hand is starting to hurt from typing (again, old age) but if I think of more I will add to this. Or after seeing it again! Let me know what you all think of it too!

Did you hear the news?!?

HarperCollins just announced a new, two book deal with Veronica Roth!! It will be a duology in the vein of Star Wars about revenge and redemption. You can read about it here.

I cannot wait to hear more about it! Anyone else as excited as I am?

November, November

It’s finally here, the crazy busy month of November.  So many things are happening.  I have books to read, Yallfest, books to read, NaNoWriMo, books to read, moving into a new place, books to read, and oh wait, yes, more books to read. I goaled myself at 100 books this year but the last few months I have been slacking. I am currently at 66 books and 2 novellas, so I’m just going to count that as 68! 32 books in 55 days sounds challenging but as Barney Stinson would say,  challenge accepted!

As far as NaNoWriMo goes, I am determined to make some headway in my novel I am writing. I don’t think I will be able to hit 50,000 words by the end of the month but I hope for at least 30,000. I will keep you all up to date on my progress.  If you are also joining in on NaNoWriMo, my username is Aurora Spenser.

As you may have read I went to a Q&A with Veronica Roth and Garth Nix two weeks ago. It was a lot of fun! Both of them were very interesting to listen to and funny in an awkward way. I was super excited to meet both of them and they were both such down to earth people. The best part…V. Roth loved my Dauntless tattoo!
Here are a few pictures. Sorry the lighting kinda sucks and unfortunately the pic of me and V. Roth was blurry. (But maybe at Yallfest I’ll get another shot at it!)

And last but not least I LEAVE FOR YALLFEST TOMORROW!!! Just a tad bit excited if you couldn’t tell. So definitely check back for updates over the weekend while I am there!

Oh one last thing for fun. Halloween is my favorite holiday so why not leave you with some fun Halloween pictures of me!

Talk to y’all soon!!!

Second star to the right and straight on til morning…

Sorry I have been MIA lately. Vacation and work have been taking up my time. But this morning I woke up and it was 42 degrees outside! That means it is just about time for late nights curled up on the couch with a book and a hot cup of tea and plenty of time for book reviews. Also have a few exciting things coming up including Yallfest in November. Tomorrow night is a Veronica Roth and Garth Nix reading and signing! If none of you have read the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix YOUR LIFE IS NOT COMPLETE! It is an amazing high fantasy series. The prequel, Clariel, just came out last week.

I do have quite a few books piled up waiting for review including City of Heavenly Fire, Dreams of Gods and Monsters (which if anyone knows me, knows I’m obsessed with this series and Laini Taylor), Code Name Verity, Graceling, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Raven Boys, and The Dream Thieves (my current read).

Chat with y’all soon!

Four: A Divergent Collection

Rating: 3.5/5

Finally! We waited seven months for this and it finally came out! Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth gives us Initiates another trip into the head of Four (swoon).

Sorry, felt like that was needed! In this collection there are four novellas and three scenes from Divergent in Four’s point of view. Three of the novellas take place before Divergent and the last one takes place throughout the timeline of Divergent. It was interesting to read about Four before the timeline of Divergent and see him in a different light, seeing him as a transfer and initiate, rather than the Dauntless hero we know him to be.

The first two stories, The Transfer and The Initiate, seemed very repetitive to Divergent. Even though we can see inside Four’s head to understand his story, it almost felt like reading the first couple hundred pages of Divergent again. However, The Son and The Traitor, made up for the first two stories. It was a much needed point of view to understand why Four started to disbelieve the faction system and how he discovered to fight against it in a sly manner. Read below for more in depth reviews of each story. BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

The Transfer: This story revolves around Four’s aptitude test and his choice of what faction to choose. As we know, he chooses Dauntless to escape his father’s abuse. It is interesting to see his thought process on deciding which faction to escape to and his first day in Dauntless and how Amar gives him the name of Four. I also really enjoyed the first interactions with Amar and seeing the very beginning of Four and Amar’s relationship begin. However, I felt like I was rereading Divergent. Four knew he was under simulation, he doesn’t take the bus home and takes the alley, he runs into a factionless; all very similar to Tris’ journey after her test in Divergent. Then after the Choosing Ceremony the run to the trains occurs and the jumping. I understand it is a different point of view but it bored me/annoyed me.

The Initiate: This story talks a lot about Four’s difficulty in hand to hand combat and dealing with simulations. The first simulation he does only last 5 minutes and then Amar escorts him out the back door to the dormitories. Can we say déjà vu? The part I did enjoy in this was the relationship growth between Four, Zeke, and Shauna.

The Son: Finally we get into the depth of this book. Four starts out trying to be a leader but begins to question their loyalty. This is also when Four finds out his mother is alive. I think the scene was written well and really blended well with the plot line in Insurgent. We also discover more about Jeanine Matthews and her involvement with Dauntless. This story really helped develop Four into the character we know him to be in the Divergent trilogy.

The Traitor: This story happens during the timeline of Divergent. We see a lot of Four’s point of view through the scenes that we know and love. The part I loved is seeing how he breaks a lot of rules and goes behind backs to discover how deep the Dauntless/Erudite plan goes. Four has really become a rebel, which is something that isn’t apparent in Divergent. It’s also fun to see the relationship build between Tris and Four from his point of view. I really fell in love with Four even more during this story because he comes off as such a strong character with strong opinions with a secret love he has for someone with many similar experiences and qualities.

Overall, I did enjoy the book. The third and fourth novella definitely made up for the first two. I loved seeing Four fall for Tris the way she fell for him. So adorable!! The scenes at the end were fun to read from Four’s point of view. I definitely recommend this for anyone who is a fan of the Divergent series!

Favorite quote:

*Just so y’all know I literally slammed my fist into the book and said “Damn you Veronica Roth!” because she just brought one of my favorite lines from Allegiant full circle.

“I don’t know what she came here for, but if I had to guess, it would be that she chose Dauntless for its freedom. Abnegation would have stifled the spark in her until it died out. Dauntless, for all its faults, has kindled the spark into a flame.”

And why not one last one (or two)…