. . . what is the Death Serum?

I just noticed on my blog statistics that there's usually at least one person somewhere in the world that is on this blog. So, you, yes, YOU--I have a question for you. But only if you've read Allegiant.
Is the Death Serum just poison? Because I know that it sounds so cool in the book. DEATH SERUM. But isn't is just poison? Wouldn't they at least have the same effects? The Death Serum kills you and poison kills you . . .
Just a thought.

I was sorted into a faction . . .

I recently did a sorting hat test and posted my results: http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/06/i-took-sorting-hat-quiz.html
I decided to do something similar, but with the Divergent factions. I found this cool quiz at the back of the book and I might post it up if there is demand for it. Also, another cool thing that I found at the back of the Divergent book: http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/06/veronica-roths-divergent-playlist.html

Anyway, my results were:
C
E
E
E
E
A
B

So, A is for Abnegation. B for Amity. C for Candor. D for Dauntless. E for Erudite. (I see what you did there, Roth.) As you can see, I did not get all of the same answers. We are all genetically pure--we are all Divergent. And none of the answers were perfect, either. But, as you can see, the majority was Erudite.

I didn't have any aptitude for Dauntless. That's fine. I would die in initiation anyway. I knew that I had aptitude for Amity, because I'm actually a pretty kind person. And I knew that I had aptitude for Abnegation because I'm extremely introverted. Candor is not something I was expecting. It asked how you wanted your family to see you, and I answered that I wanted them to think I was trustworthy, because trust is extremely important in any relationship. But the wording of the question, that one word--"want"--opens up a lot of possibilities and I don't think it necessarily gives me any aptitude for Candor.

So, I'm Erudite. Cool. Jeanine Mathews . . . yay . . .

Veronica Roth's Divergent playlist

At the back of Divergent, there is a list of some of the songs Veronica Roth listened to while writing, which I thought was really cool. I also liked a lot of the songs that she listened to and knew them before I even knew about Divergent.
I'm not sure if all copies of the books have this, because I have a paperback copy and it says that a movie is coming out on the front cover, and the back of the book may be just to get you hyped up and excited for the movie, so it may only be in paperbacks. I don't know. So, I am going to share Veronica Roth's Divergent playlist with you today.

1. "Starts with One" by Shiny Toy Guns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqEFJEgGva4
I'm just listening to this song for the first time. Veronica Roth said that the song helps her get in touch with the good aspects of Dauntless. It's a pretty cool song, I like it. It's a little different and more electronic than what I normally listen to, but I can really see how this song would help Veronica Roth see the awesomeness in Dauntless.

2. "Chasm" by Flyleaf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CHHLAwGAFU
I love Flyleaf so I've already heard this song. Veronica Roth said that the song helps her get in touch the bad aspects of Dauntless. The song has a kind of sad and hopeless feel to it, and the lyrics are downright depressing.

3. "Come Alive" by Foo Fighters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJPD5GxIuxg
The explanation for this song is "this is the love interest's song for Tris." It definitely has a different feel than the rest of the songs. It starts off with just acoustic guitars and there's a happy and kind of haunting feel to it. Later in the song, the electric guitar comes in, along with the minor chords, and it's kind of like how Tris and Tobias's relationship developed.

4. "Again" by Flyleaf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbdCeWoEH1U
I've listened to this song one million times. I love this song. Veronica Roth said that this is Tris's song for her love interest. It makes their relationship seem kind of . . . weird. It makes Tobias sound like an absolute wimp. It makes it sound like Tris wears the pants in their relationship, and maybe she does.
No, it makes her sound like the psychotic ex-girlfriend out for revenge.
It's a good song, though.

5. "Help I'm Alive" by Metric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoK63Bk7pgw
I'm not the hugest fan of Metric. I don't mind their music, but it's not something I would usually listen to. Veronica Roth said that this song is Tris's initiation song, and listening to the lyrics, I can totally see that.

6. "We Die Young" by The Showdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFGWds439sI
This is basically the theme song for Dauntless. Electric guitars, loud and fast drums, lyrics that pretty much explain the Dauntless, etcetera.

7. "Canvas" by Imogen Heap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXj0dF7LAyE
This is the "riding on trains" song. There's definitely an interesting feel to it. There's a long intro, and it's a very different song. It should be the theme song for an anime. There's this really cool orchestra and this interesting beat. Don't just listen to it because you're a Divergent fan; listen to it for the amazing things it does to your ears. Gosh. This music is friggin' beautiful.

8. "Running up that Hill" by Placebo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP0ngiMBnas
I'll be honest--I wouldn't know Placebo if it weren't for Emma Blackery. Veronica Roth says that this book matches the tone of the book. I've noticed that a lot of these songs have electronics and have a kind of melancholy, almost, vibe.

9. "Sweet Sacrifice" by Evanescence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBYhQnjyrWo
I love Evanescence. I'm actually wearing the band t-shirt right now. Veronica Roth said that this song helped lead her to the basic world of this book as she was writing chapter 6. That's pretty cool, and this song is amazing, and Amy Lee can really sing, and the entire band is amazing.

10. "Arise" by Flyleaf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnsALhwxjzo
Veronica Roth is clearly a Flyleaf fan, and I do not blame her.
This is the last song on the playlist, and she said that it helped her write chapters 38 and 39. This was when Tobias was in the simulation and tried to hurt Tris. The song is about waking up and being strong, which is perfect for those chapters.

That is the entire playlist and it's all pretty great music. Maybe you could listen to them while reading certain parts of the book.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post. Comment. The poor comment section is feeling neglected.

While Reading: Divergent

I love gifs, and sometimes I have too much free time, due to my lack of friends. So here is a gif collage in chronological order that depicts my emotions and facial expressions while I was reading this book.
I hope you enjoy. Interpret it however you want.

A-Z Marathon! Author of the Day: Veronica Roth

We already had an Author of the Day today, but in the future, nobody will notice.
It also doesn't matter. "Author of the Day" just sounds catchier than "A post about a certain author because I haven't finished reading The 5th Wave yet, and I kind of want to maintain an audience by posting daily, but this might not be posted daily, so don't get your hopes up."

You might know Veronica Roth because she wrote the Divergent trilogy. And you may not know that Four, a Divergent collection, will be coming out pretty soon.

For those of you who don't know, Divergent is a relatively new dystopian trilogy about a girl named Tris. Her society is separated into 5 factions, and when you turn 16, you get to choose which faction you want to live in for the rest of your life. So, she has a pretty tough decision because she doesn't fit into one faction. She is divergent.

Now, here's the thing about Veronica Roth's writing:
-I think that she is more of storyteller than a writer. I'll explain. This isn't at all an insult towards Veronica Roth. I just think that there's a difference. A writer is someone who I think creates very thought-provoking work, and every sentence is well articulated. I think that a storyteller is someone who takes you on this wild and fun and exciting adventure through words (or pictures, but not in this case). Veronica Roth can definitely write. She seems to have a pretty good vocabulary, her sentences are pretty, and there are some things in her writing that did make me think and consider the possibilities. But Divergent, more than anything, is a fast paced, kickass story with cool characters in a cool world and a cool concept. What I'm trying to say is that her writing is not a work of genius. It's not a very deep series. There are messages in the books, but it's kind of lost with the whole awesome-heroine-trying-to-stay-alive thing. It's pretty fun to read, though, and they make for cool movies.
-Oh, the plot holes. You can find plot holes in almost any work of writing. Without them, most stories would have no climaxes or satisfying resolutions, and writers would have immense writer's block. But the plot holes in this series are a bit lavish. Now, I didn't really notice them when I first read the series. I whipped through the series in under 3 weeks. During the time I was reading, I wasn't thinking very much. I never stopped to think "Hmm . . . that isn't like Tris's character . . ." or "What? That makes no sense!" But as soon as I was finished and I started speculating the books, I realized some things. I don't want to say much, but Allegiant is just kind of one big plot hole.
-No love triangles! A little refreshing in YA.

Overall, her writing is exciting, but don't speculate it while you're reading it if you want to enjoy the series. If you want to write an intelligent review, speculate all you want.

A-Z Marathon! Insurgent by Veronica Roth

You see, nothing that I read starts with I.
I kid you not, no authors that I have read (that I remember) have names that start with I, nothing of their characters have names that start with I, and no books except for this one book starts with I.
Well, I suppose The Invention of Hugo Cabret counts, now that I'm looking at my bookshelf . . .
Still. Not much of an option.
Everyone just start naming your kids Isa and Ivy and Ivan and any other names that start with I. Please.

I already did a book talk for Insurgent and you can see it here: http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/05/dystopiathon-insurgent-by-veronica-roth.html

Anyway, we're just going to look at pictures. But there are certain pictures that I want to show--the fan made covers/movie posters. I don't know what it is about the Divergent fandom, but they are all awesome artists and they can do some pretty cool stuff with photoshop.
I mean, the covers are so good that some of these, especially the fan made Allegiant covers, are probably good enough to actually be the actual book cover. *Also, I think that one or two of the, are just less popular editions of the book.

These two covers are the actual covers.

Dystopiathon: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

**To view spoilers, drag your mouse over the empty space between"<SPOILER>...<SPOILER>"

Insurgent was . . . was . . .
Okay. If you haven't seen it yet, I did a book review of the first book in this trilogy called Divergent. You can view it here: http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/05/dystopiathon-divergent-by-veronica-roth.html

If you haven't read Divergent or Insurgent, then bye!!!

<SPOILERS>
I liked this book. I feel like it was a decent sequel. There were some problems I had with the plot, and I felt like Tris was acting way too selfless. However, it was pretty fast paced. The author started the book right where we left off, which was fine with me because I started the Divergent trilogy about a month before the movie came out.
I absolutely loved the part where Tris and Four were being interrogated by the Candor. Some part of that just was really interesting to me, and I my heart was racing and I couldn't put the book down.
When they were living in Amity, that was also really interesting because we never really learned much about the Amity.
But when Tris came into Tobias's room in the middle of the night and she "realized she wasn't wearing any pants," I was just like  - _ - Really?
But I thought that the rest of the book was pretty fast paced and interesting, again, I didn't agree with some of the plot or the thinking in the book, but I feel like it was nicely done.
The parts of the plot I didn't like was the plot twist when it turned out that Caleb was plotting against Tris. That wasn't really well explained and it seemed a little bit out of character for Caleb. Also, Tris just seemed completely out of character. I feel like she was thinking "well, I've been in abnegation all of my life and haven't really done anything there, and my parents died, and my brother is a traitor and I don't really have much to live for . . . so I might as well die heroically."
I could tell that it was nicely done because I wasn't paying attention to the page numbers, which I do a lot whenever a book is boring me, so I was really entertained and enjoyed my reading experience.
<SPOILER>

Dystopiathon: Divergent by Veronica Roth

**To view spoilers, drag your mouse over the empty space between"<SPOILER>...<SPOILER>"
Divergent is one of the newer dystopian novels, and it's the first in the Divergent trilogy. Almost everyone has read it now, but for those of you who haven't, it's about a girl named Beatrice who lives in futuristic Chicago. Her society is divided into five factions: Amity (the kind), Erudite (the intelligent), Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the honest), and Abnegation (the selfless.) Beatrice was born into Abnegation. When everyone turns 16, they take this aptitude test to see which faction they are best suited for. Because, once they turn 16, they got to choose which faction they want to live in for the rest of their lives. Beatrice takes the test and her results as inconclusive. She doesn't fit into a certain faction. She's told she's divergent, and that divergence is dangerous. When the day comes to choose her faction, she chooses dauntless and goes through an insane initiation process. It's a really entertaining book. I didn't learn any morals from it or anything, but it was intriguing and I recommend it.
Also, there are no love triangles. Yay!
Overall, it was a really good book and I recommend it. It was definitely not my favorite book, but I don't regret reading it.

<MASSIVE SPOILERS! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!> Well, this was . . . a book. I am honestly not crazy about this book. It was entertaining, as I said, but I hate romance novels, and there was a lot of romance in this book. Also, when I was first reading the book, I thought that Tobias was 30, so instead of squealing with delight at these people falling in love with each other, I was cringing at the pedophilia. But it's alright because Tobias is 18.
I don't feel like many of the characters in this book were likable. Tris was awesome, and Tobias was kind of okay, but I don't feel like they were people I would want to have conversations with.
I love when everything clicks in a book. I love when a mystery begins to form and the author slowly reveals everything, and you solve the mystery just before the author confirms it. That happened to me when I found out that Four was Tobias, and it was an amazing moment.
One area that I think the author failed in this book was that she didn't make Will an important enough character. When Tris shot him and freaked out, I didn't even know which character she had killed. The love between him and Christina wasn't very apparent, it seemed much more like they were just dating. To me, Will wasn't an important enough character, and that was REALLY obvious in the movie. So, when Tris killed him, I felt nothing.
I feel like when Tris's parents died, there wasn't quite enough emotion. When her mom died, I felt it a lot more than when her dad died. When her dad died, it was just like . . . meh.
Overall, it was an interesting book. But it's not my favorite. <SPOILERS>

Books to Burn: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

**To view spoilers, drag your mouse over the empty space between"<SPOILER>...<SPOILER>"

I'm actually not going to burn this book because it looks too pretty on my bookshelf, so . . .
For those of you who don't know what Allegiant is, it is the final book in the Divergent trilogy. The first book, Divergent, was great, even though it's not really a book I would typically read. I think I enjoyed the second book, Insurgent, more. Allegiant was a bit of a let down, though.

The book was poised to be super awesome with lots of action, but it wasn't. I have nothing wrong with an author not writing a traditional "hero saves the day and has a happily ever after" book, but I just didn't enjoy this book.

<SPOILER> I didn't have a problem with Tris dying. It was kind of a meaningless death, but I don't think that's where the author made her flaw. I think the flaw was with the whole genetic damage and genetic purity thing. If genetic damage doesn't actually really affect someone, then why would there be a one hundred year war about it? Honestly. World War I and II didn't last that long. I just found so many elements in the book confusing and weird and unnecessary. Everyone is so sad that Tris died, but that honestly made the book slightly better for me. The author didn't do the traditional thing. I wish I could say it surprised me, but someone spoiled me while I was reading Insurgent. But I imagine that if I found it out on my own, I would have liked it. It made the book more interesting and less predictable. <SPOILER>

One thing that I didn't like about the book is how the author executed having two POVs (points of view). I couldn't tell the two voices apart, which really bothered me. I would be reading and suddenly Tris would be taking about how beautiful she is, and then I would have to reread the chapter from Tobias's point of view, which annoyed me.

So, this book wasn't completely terrible. I had to finish it to get some sort of resolution, though. The epilogue is beautiful, though. I thought that was a terrific way to wrap up the book. However, I wasn't a fan of most of the stuff before that . . .

I did enjoy most of the series, though. It was interesting. I don't say I would regret reading it. I just feel like this book wasn't as amazing as I wanted it to be.