Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Divergent by Veronica Roth

79 reviews

gabbyreynolds's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Suicide

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Before getting into my thoughts on the book I want to mention that this was a reread after first picking it up around 2015. I read again out of curiousity after forgetting a lot of the plot and wanting to compare it to the movies.

That being said, I think this is one of the few examples where the movie is better than the book. The plot in the movie is much more cohesive, covering important details without repetition and dragging them out, and characters that are much more consistent in personality. I also wasn’t a big fan of the plot bouncing around. 

By cohesiveness I mean that there were just so many moments that could have been combined, altered, or switched around for a more compact story. I think each moment added something but it could have been done differently, like in the movie. There is so much more focus on the goals because of how everything is put together.

The book also has tons of repetition and drawn out arcs without fully delving into them. That applies to the characters as well as plot. I felt like we constantly were hearing how strong Tris is and how much she doesn’t want people to see her as weak, and there were moments that displayed that better in her actions. It could have been left at that, like in moments where she thought about comforting Al or Caleb, and decided not to. If anything it bothered her to see that “weakness” displayed. I like that Tris is a flawed character who feels she has to prove herself, especially given her age, but it became overkill at times. We see that Tris is strong, and that she’s worried about people not seeing her as strong, so it didn’t need to be states so much. There was also just so much of Tris getting through all the challenges and sims to become dauntless, which in retrospect is a subplot to the major plot. I think the movie was better at showing how she was navigating the world as Divergent and finding out what that meant in the midst of her training.

I also liked the personalities for the characters more in the movie, because we see moments of that in books, but it can be a bit inconsistent or less favorable. I think Four and Tori are better portrayed in the movies. 

Ultimately I think what is happening here is a big plot that is so dependent on who they are and where they fit in and other aspects that movie or shape the plot get overlooked. It also is not as creative as I remembered. Once more, with the movie outshining in terms of world building. 

Some noticeable changes or moments I marked down were: Four being drunk, Uriah bringing Tris to the zipline, more friction with Christina like with capture the flag, Edward being stabbed and deciding to be factionless, side characters like Molly and Drew having more visibility in the books, Tris’ mom visiting her in Dauntless compound, Four not helping Tris through the sim and the whole sim process being different in comparison to the movies, Jeanine being less involved and a bit more callous rather than smart in her presentation, Caleb deciding to be factionless once finding out what Erudite was up to, and how Jeanine wasn’t even in the ending (although this explains why she was left to live which the movie failed to do). The book ending was more lackluster. I also wasn’t a big fan of Tris hitting Four while knowing what his father had done to him. Especially with no apology and her being more upset about him embarrassing her than anything. For the plot being her having Abnegation traits, it didn’t feel on par with this nature she’s supposed to have. The book was also a bit darker, with Tris being sexually harrassed and assaulted on multiple occassions.

However, despite all the criticisms, I can still see why it got adapted because there is a lot of potential and you still end up invested in the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Violence, War, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Alcohol, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Child death

Homelessness, comment about scalping, near-drowning.

myaphrodiite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

‘divergent’ is a fast paced book with action throughout. it is told through the pov of beatrice, more commonly known as tris. the character building and interactions with others is incredibly well written, you can clearly tell what they’re like as individuals and how they’re feeling. i mean come on four isn’t that cold and tough on the inside.

there is strong character development in this book which is very important to the story line. i wasn’t sure what to expect of this book at first as i just picked it off the shelf and decided to buy it as i was in a reading slump and just wanted something to set me off on my book marathon again and this certainly surprised me. 

i purchased the second book ‘insurgent’ before i was even half way into the first book, so i think that speaks for itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, and Death

maryannsophia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Violence, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, and Alcohol

imyou's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Amazing. The plot is intriguing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Grief and Blood

Minor: War

gerzonvillegas's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Rape and Suicide

hayleyvem's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Classism, Deadnaming, Medical content, Genocide, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

ca_r's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Police brutality, Murder, War, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Grief

tmrlover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I somehow loved this book. It was easy to get through and i literally couldn’t stop reading it. Wasn’t always so happy with the writing style but still enjoyed it. I found the plot interesting but sometimes a bit confusing. Still an amazing book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, War, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexism, and Bullying

dxmy_png's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Blood, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit