Mini Reviews: Divergent and The Gathering Tie-in Short Stories

Note: These reviews contain spoilers of the novels that the short stories tie into, Divergent and The Gathering.

I like to review every book I read, even the tiny ones, and so last time I read a couple short stories that tied into novels I'd loved I did some mini reviews on them (see here). Now I have stories from two other awesome authors, Veronica Roth with a tie-in for Divergent and Kelley Armstrong with two tie-ins for The Gathering. Although both novels have sequels I've read recently, and loved, it's been about a year since I picked up the originals and these stories were a great opportunity to revisit some crucial scenes from those novels.

Roth's Free Four and Armstrong's The Invitation retell scenes from the original novels from the perspective of the male love interest, which seems to be common in these free tie-in short stories, as that's what happened in both Miranda's Eleven Minutes and O'Brien's Tortured. But if that's a new thing for authors to do, I'm not complaining, as I loved the insight into what those moments would have been like for the guys, and it was great to get a chance to find out exactly what the character's voice was like.

In Free Four by Roth, she retells the Divergent scene that involves Four throwing knives at Tris, his future girlfriend. As a reader we get to see how Four feels about her, before any of the romance has had a chance to happen. Tris is such a strong narrator in the Divergent Trilogy that it was really cool to see what she is like from an outside perspective. Unsurprisingly, this is a really intense read– even though you know that Tris isn't going to get a knife into her face, I found myself anxious as things unfolded, because that's how Four feels. Overall, it was really cool to see the other side of the story, and I hope that Roth decides to do this again with an Insurgent scene in the future.

The New Guy and The Invitation are two bonus short stories available in a special e-book of  Kelley Armstrong's The Gathering, but she's also posted them on her website which is awesome. Like Free Four they really compliment the original novel and provide plenty of spoilers if you haven't already read it. If you have picked up The Gathering then these are both a great way to get a little more insight into the characters and the events that unfolded.

In The New Guy, Maya has to deal with her first day back at school, a day that used to be her best friend Serena's favourite day, and it includes some flashbacks into what life was like two years ago when Serena was still alive and gives the reader an even better idea of her personality. It also contains the first meeting between Rafe and Maya, which I thought was really interesting to read especially since I knew how things ended up between them.

The second bonus short story from The Gathering is The Invitation, which is written from Rafe's perspective and shares the scene when he goes to Maya's birthday party. It also showed some interaction between Annie and Rafe, which I found especially neat to read about because I got to see how Rafe felt about his sister, and how much he wanted the "real" Annie back. As a result, it was even more clear why Rafe was willing to use Maya to make that happen. Armstrong also did a great job of showing the complex dilemma going through Rafe's mind, even as he was happy that Maya might be the one he was looking for, he was already dreading having to tell her the truth about what he was doing there, already realizing that it would probably be impossible for her to trust him once she found out the truth.

Overall, I really enjoyed all three of these short stories. Free Four, The New Guy and The Invitation all give added insight and development to two amazing novels. It is especially neat to read scenes you already know from the perspective of another character, and I feel like Roth and Armstrong both did an awesome job with the new point-of-view and male voice. I don't think any of these short stories work on their own, but if you've read and loved Divergent and The Gathering like I have, you'll definitely want pick up these stories as well.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Note: This review contains no spoilers of Insurgent, but may contain spoilers of the first book in the series, Divergent, a review of which can be found here. 

Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth

Release Date: May
Pages: 525
Format: Hardcover
Source: Won
Publisher: Harper Collins
Also by this Author: Divergent (Divergent #1)
Buy It: Book Depository

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Unlike Divergent that hooked me from page 1, Insurgent has a slower start, probably because Tris is dealing with huge amounts of grief and guilt from what happened with her parents and her friend Will. I felt like Roth tackled these complex feelings in a way that felt authentic, Tris couldn't just brush them off and pretend like nothing happened– they were eating her from the inside.

The plot in Insurgent is a bit more slow-moving and straightforward than Divergent but that doesn't make it any less exciting. I loved the look into the other faction's lives, in particular Amity and Candor neither of which Tris had an aptitude for but this just shows how people aren't straightforward or just one thing, because even in these factions she finds some connections to the people who belong there. Neither is the relationship between Four and Tris straightforward, it isn't just mushy romance, and in that way it felt more real and genuine, the beautiful moments they had together were even more special. And of course, no love triangle– Roth revealed this before the book was released, but I still found it such a refreshing relief.

And of course, the ending, wow. When I finished Insurgent I couldn't help feeling like the entire book, the first 500 pages, had been preparation for those final 25 pages. Twists and turns and reveals, and even when I saw one coming (minor spoiler: like what happened with the Dauntless and the Factionless at Erudite headquarters) it still felt so perfect it gave me chills. Especially I loved the unexpected bad and good guys, how characters I thought I knew did things I didn't expect, but in the end I still believed it because of how fleshed out and real they were. Plus, as intense and insane as the ending of the book is, there is still a full story and not a cliffhanger midway through; instead, like Divergent it is the kind of ending that changes everything.

Picking up Insurgent reminded me just why Divergent was one of my very favourite reads of 2011, a list its sequel has now made of the following year. These books are just so much fun and excitement to read. Really, if you loved Divergent like I did, I really don't think you'll be disappointed in its sequel Insurgent, because even if the story takes awhile to get moving the ending is completely worth it. Now begins the anxious wait for book 3 in fall 2013.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

If I hadn't listened to the hype, I never would have picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last year, so you'd think I'd have learned my lesson but that is definitely not the case and I was quite skeptical of Divergent, the debut novel by Veronica Roth and also a much-raved about first in a dystopia trilogy. Divergent takes place in a future Chicago where at the age of sixteen, teenagers are forced to choose which of the five factions they want to join for life. Each faction represents a different virtue and the options are: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity and Erudite. Beatrice, or "Tris", grew up in a selfless Abnegation family, but when she makes the courageous choice for Dauntless her life changes forever in ways she couldn't even imagine. Now, Tris not only has to try to make it through the Dauntless initiation, but she has to do so while carrying a secret that could put her life at risk.

There are lots of comparisons between Divergent and The Hunger Games: both are intense, page-turning, thrilling, adventures, both have very strong female main characters and of course both are dystopia trilogies. Although I will always be grateful for The Hunger Games getting me into reading YA dystopia, I have to admit Divergent blew me away and is the novel I am most likely to reread multiple times in the future. Not only is Tris a strong, vibrant main character, but she has real human flaws and she's both intelligent and a bit insecure at times. There's a believable and intense romantic spark, but no love triangle (thank goodness!) just one really intense boy named Four. Really, Divergent has everything you could want in a dystopia. There's a thrilling plot with twists and turns you won't see coming. There's a complex and authentic world- I've never been to Chicago but Roth makes me feel like I have, albeit a twisted and warped one, and unlike many other dystopia novels which I may have also enjoyed, like Wither, I really understand how the world became the way it is, and what's more, I believe it.

Although Divergent is a young adult novel, there are many graphic distractions of violence, similar at times to Fight Club. Some of the male characters also make some disturbing, though realistic, decisions. Although the storytelling style is straightforward, Roth fills the novel with rich and exciting language. In my skepticism, I decided to test out the first 100 pages of the novel online at Harper Teen, and by the time I was halfway through them I had ordered my copy of the book and was impatiently waiting for it to arrive. When the brutal wait was over I dived into the book instantly and lost myself in the world Roth had created, devouring the book and even after nearly 500 pages I was left lusting for more. Fortunately, the sequel Insurgent will be released next year.

Another fantastic thing about Divergent- seriously, I can't think of anything bad!- is that the book works great as a standalone as well as a part of the series, I definitely want to hear more about Tris and her friends, but I also felt satisfied, albeit pretty sad, when I finished the book.  This is definitely an emotional novel, but dystopia rarely results in a happy ending and the way events unfolded and how the characters responded felt believable. Overall, I found Divergent engaging, well written, and full of awesome characters, and I am very curious to see where Roth takes the story next, wherever it is, I'll be there (and you should be too).

Release Date: May 3rd, 2011
Pages: 496
Source: Personal Copy
Buy the Book