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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

Light reading: Allegiant by Veronica Roth


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Finally this series is over. And I say that with a relief. I don't know why I read it if I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it, but it's a series and it's hard abandoning something in the middle. I found both the previous books of this series, Divergent and Insurgent, very immature and insubstantial, but with a good world-building and a somewhat intriguing plot. The world that Tris inhabits has been divided into five factions, each favoring a certain trait in people (fearlessness, honesty, peace-loving, selflessness and knowledge). Of course, too much of one trait does have some other consequences. 

In Divergent, one faction leader turns evil and tries to take control of all the factions. In Insurgent, the factionless (i.e., those without factions) take control from the evil faction leader. And finally, in Allegiant, another faction leader tries to get back all that control from whoever last had it. That's the story in a nutshell - Everybody fighting for control. Against that backdrop, they all find out that there is an outside world and other people like them and for some unknown reason, the people of these five factions and the factionless have been boxed into a community.

Of the three, I liked Allegiant best, but only by a small margin. Allegiant finally made sense of the world that author Veronica Roth created without much initial explanation. I didn't like how the first two books seemed to not give any hint of what is the deal with these people and all of a sudden, there is this whole mystery and scandal behind, revealed in the third book. But at least it all made sense to me, even if it was all too convenient. The writing in this one is just as unwieldy and the dialogues very sappy. It surprised me initially when I found that this book alternated between two characters - Tris and her boyfriend Tobias, even though the previous two books were from Tris' perspective alone. The third book is a little too late in the game to start switching narration styles, so I figured there was something more to that kind of decision. Which, when I found out, I didn't appreciate at all.


Anyways, long griping made short, this is a good series for a quick fun read, so long as you don't read too much between the lines. I feel there are more meaty series' out there that are more entertaining and logical. With better dialogues. If you haven't yet started this series, then you probably are not missing much.

Comments

bermudaonion(Kathy) said…
A lot of people have been loving this book but I have a feeling I'd be like you and find it immature so I'll probably skip it.
Ti Reed said…
I read the first one and thought it was okay. I stopped there and don't regret it. I don't know why these books always have to come out as trilogies.
Lisa Sheppard said…
Makes me wonder what other people are finding so interesting about these. There seem to be a lot of problems with the whole trilogy.
Care said…
yay, now I can just watch the movie. (and that is a big maybe)
Jenny @ Reading the End said…
Eh, I'll see the movie. I enjoyed the first two books, well enough, and I respect Veronica Roth for ending the series in a pretty ballsy manner. But yeah, they're a bit immature and not quite my thing, and I really cannot imagine why all the Erudite people have to be so Evil Evil.
christa @ mental foodie said…
I have read the first book and liked it. I started reading the second but couldn't get into it, because I had forgotten a lot of what happened in the first, so I stopped, thinking I'd read it when the third one comes out so I don't have to wait. I think now I just want to google to read the spoilers instead :)
Athira / Aths said…
The characters seemed pretty flat to me, but part of me thinks that maybe she intended it that way. That when you have been programmed into a certain character, you