Rapture by Lauren Kate book review - conclusion to the Fallen Novels

Most every reader of YA fantasy novels knows the connection between Lucinda Price and Daniel Grigori. Fans of the Fallen series have been waiting almost three years to discover the link between these lovers and their curse: what exactly it is, what its limitation are, what transpired to bring it about, and how to break it. They have all been waiting -very patiently, or as patiently as readers can get- to see Luce and Daniel's Happily Ever After.

I'm sure they were all as shocked as I was to discover that Daniel was not Luce's original first love - that she was meant to be with another.

And I'm sure many books hit the wall when readers discovered this fact.

If you've read Rapture, then I am sure that you have read the three preceding novels and I do not have to explain their ideas. So I'm going to get right into it.

Lauren Kate's Fallen Novels were never my favorite books. I was initially drawn to Fallen because of its cover, as I'm sure most of its readers were. I was a little disappointed with its contents, especially the battle scene, but I was curious to see what was in store for Luce and Daniel. So I read Torment. And then Passion. With each book, my appreciation for the series declined more and more. With the conclusion of Rapture, I am now free to admit to placing this series into my "Hate it" list. And I really do hate to put things into my "Hate it" list just as I hate to say anything bad about a book, especially a best seller. But I never did fit in with the rest of the crowd.

The beginning of Rapture was fine, as was the case with all the rest of the series. I even found myself drawn into the story a little bit, wondering what the next item that they needed to find was, where it was, what they were supposed to do with all these items, etc. But then things began to get a little more complicated and technical. Miss Kate did not spare anything in describing details - which I have to appreciate in an author. But it was all just so complicated that I couldn't keep up. But whatever, you know? I just kept reading.

Then things started to get a little sacrilegious.

I am a Christian. Obviously I knew this book was not accurate in any way shape or form, but I put up with it just because it was a book and I was reading it for entertainment, not knowledge. But then there was the whole thing with portraying God as a woman? I'm sorry, but if you're going to write about this kind of stuff, at least get the Creator of the universe's gender right! He is the Father, not Mother. C'mon!

I like the covers of these books. That's about all.

On a happy note, the last two chapters of Rapture were nice. And no, that is not because I was happy that it was over. I'm not that childish.

Advice Column #1: Trust

Trust is a funny thing. It's not faith, although the two are closely related. Faith is trusting that you will wake up to see another day. Trust, however, is not having faith that you will see morning. You may trust God that he will wake you up. Faith is in things. Trust is in people. Get the difference yet?

I made the clarity between the two because while I am a woman of faith, I find it very difficult to trust people. We all have walls, some more than others, and I am one of the people who have more walls than average. So I find it hard to open up to people just to open up to them, to trust that what I tell them they won't use against me. I'm thinking that this will eventually help me in the long run with my pursuit of a career associated with psychology, but for now, while I am a senior in high school, it is hinders more than helps me.

We all have our issues. These issues are what form us into the people we are today. It's not that some of us have less than others, it's just that some of us are better equipped to handle such circumstances than others. Some are stronger than others and can push on past their breaking point; some aren't as persistent and end up having an emotional breakdown once or twice a year. Or month. But this doesn't mean that those of us who break down are weak; it just means that others have a stronger forefront.

No one can go through life alone. We are much better able to cope with the stresses of life if we have someone to rely on. However, this requires trust. Our generation is accused of being a rather dramatic one, but can we all just stop for a second and wonder where this drama is coming from? Parents, you are the first people your children will learn to trust. So listen to them even while they're young, and don't critique them harshly. Mothers, don't go gossiping to your girlfriends about what your child did/said. Fathers, don't just roll your eyes and tell your kids to go tell their mothers. (Of course not all trust issues stem from a bad relationship with ones parents, but for the sake of my argument, I'm only covering this point.)

So we know [one of] the initial cause[s] of trust issues. How do we cure it? Obviously we can't go back in time and hope that our parents treat us better. If we were to do that, our parents would have to go back in time and hope that their parents will treat them better. We can't go back in time to fix whatever it was that happened to ruin our trust in others. That option was out even before it was mentioned. So what can we do? We can sit here and hope for a person to come into our lives that is worthy of our trust and then when they do come, we can make them our best friend. But if the entire world did that where would that get us? No where. So what do we do?

We be the person we want to be friends with.

Am I suggesting that we start talking to ourselves? No. I am suggesting that you go out into the world and be the type of person you want your best friend to be. Be the person that people confide in. There's no guarantee that the favor will be returned, but you're definitely going to have a better chance at finding the right type of person this way. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." There is no better advice that I can give you than this. (Now if only I could take credit for that quote!)

As a side note: it's not when you have so many "friends" that you know that you are living your life right, or even when people "wish that they were you." You know you're living an exemplary life when people say that they wish they were "more like you."

Divergent by Veronica Roth book review

Can you imagine a world where your place is already predetermined? Where you must fit your personality into one of five factions? Not to mention if you choose the wrong faction, you have a chance at failing initiation and becoming factionless. There is no worse fate than becoming factionless. So what happens if you are born into a faction that does not match your personality? You have the option of either living a lie or transferring factions. The latter means that you will have no more contact with your family - "Faction before blood."

So what do you do?

Beatrice Prior faces this question, along with many others, in Divergent. She is born Abnegation - the selfless. Her problem is not that she is not selfless, it is that she is not selfless enough. Her heart longs for another faction: Dauntless, the brave. Even before her aptitude test -the test that tells which faction you are most compatible with- she catches herself watching the Dauntless from afar, wishing for their freedom. Their freedom to run and laugh and play - things that are frowned upon in her society, seeing as how they are all self-oriented actions. Even this small action proves that she is not cut out for Abnegation. But how can she stand to leave her family?

Then her time comes to take the test.

Her test results are inconclusive.

She has equal aptitude for both Dauntless and Abnegation, and another faction, Erudite, the intelligent. Her result is Divergent, and, according to her test administrator, Divergent is a very dangerous thing to be.

Beatrice knows that she cannot live a forced lifestyle in Abnegation, and she will not choose Erudite, who are spreading awful reports about her blood faction. So she chooses Dauntless. But nothing could have prepared her for the initiation process: learning to fight, to survive, fighting for a position in her faction against all the other initiates - Dauntless is only accepting ten new members, and there are twenty initiates, eleven of which are from Dauntless. Beatrice, now known as Tris, is the smallest and most vulnerable of all the initiates. Will she end up factionless after all?

Set in a dystopian future in Chicago, Divergent poses one of the most asked questions in history: "Where do I fit in?" and even asks us the harder question "What happens when I don't fit in anywhere?" I give Veronica Roth's debut novel a five out of five stars. I only had three favorite book series until I read Divergent, and then I expanded my list to four. It definitely fits in with the other dystopian novels of our time, Matched (Ally Condie) and The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins). Its sequel, Insurgent, does not disappoint and I cannot wait for the third installment and conclusion of this truly amazing series.