Uninvited (book 1) by Sophie Jordan

Science has isolated the kill gene. Slowly but surly the United State is rolling out mandatory testing for HTS, Homicidal Tendency Syndrome. People found to have the gene for HTS are being separated in society and marked. Cities are being locked down and quarantined, images on TV show murder and destruction always at the hands of those that have tested positive for HTS.

Davy never really thought about it though, other than how scary those people on TV were, and knowing to avoid the big cities. Her life is perfect; she has perfect grades and the boyfriend and social calendar to rival a rock star. Not to mention, she is a musical prodigy who received acceptance to Julliard. Everything is going the way it should for a spoiled girl; that is until she arrives home one night to strangers and her parents waiting for her.

Weeks earlier, her private school has tested all the children, and Davy’s test had come up positive. It doesn’t matter that she is sweet and mild mannered, one day she will be a killer. After all, it is written into her DNA, there is no escaping nature. Suddenly Davy finds herself isolated and alone, her boyfriend and friends dump her, her new school is practically a cage where the man in charge takes sexual advantage of the girls, even her parents seem to be scared on her.

The country is becoming worse, riots and fear are fueling hatred and causing the government to push through new legislation against the carries of HTS. After tensions amass to extraordinary heights, causing Davy to stay home for days on end without reprieve, news breaks that every carrier is being rounded up and taken to detention camps. Davy and her family have no choice but to wait, wait for the government to come and collect her.

But that isn’t what happens. There is another program for carriers, a program that only fifty people qualified for. It is a training camp for carriers, carriers who show abilities to be molded into government spies and assassins. Somehow Davy has qualified, and if she survives training and does everything they tell her to she might one day have a life again. A life without an imprint and a life full of purpose, she can be important again. That is only if she can survive and pass the training, and once at the camp, Davy isn’t sure it is something she wants. Turning into a killer isn’t what she wants for her life, its what she is trying to prove she isn’t, but others at the camp really are killers and they don’t want Davy around.

This book is brilliant; it’s a subject that people talk about all the time when bad things happen. If we had the ability to isolate certain genes would it actually be helpful, what is the relationship between nature and nurture. How long can society tell you something about yourself before you start to believe and become it. This novel address’ these issues, and has a main character evolve with the story. I hated what spoiled brat Davy acted like in the beginning, but as her perfect life gets stripped away, she becomes a real person who I can relate to.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

            When great series go bad, that is the only way to describe Allegiants by Veronica Roth. I knew

that I wasn’t going to like a lot of it, the end was spoiled for me thanks to some inconsiderate people on Tumblr the day after it was released, but I had hoped that the rest of the novel would make up for it. It didn’t, not even a little bit.

            The novel picks up a few days after Insurgent left off, Tris is in prison for siding with the factions against Evelyn and the rest of the Rebels. Luckily for her, Four has his mother’s ear and is able to get Tris released without an execution. But they don’t want to stay in the city, now that they have heard the message from outside the walls Tris wants to complete the mission the founders of the city started, and she isn’t the only one.

            Two group in the city have risen up against Evelyn, Tris’ group that wants to leave, and the Allegiant, those that wish to return the city to the factions and their previous way of life. Together both groups work together to get Tris, Four and a group of others out of the city. In a last minute effort, Four even rescues Tris’ brother from public execution and takes Caleb out of the city with them.

            The book didn’t start of strong, and once they get out of the city the entire think goes down faster than an inexperienced skier on a double black diamond. Turns out that there are cities all over the world just like there’s, being watched and monitored by government agencies. Even during riots and killings, the government just watched and waited seeing what the people in their walled cities would do.

            Different plans are made, both from the government and rebels within the agency, those still in the city, and those that escaped the city; and not all of them are on the same page. Betrayal and murder runs through the government, as well as those once considered friends who left the city.

            I don’t want to betray the ending of the book, on the off chance someone has yet to read it and have it spoiled by Tumblr or Pintrest, but it was lame. The entire book was boring and ill written. The characters that we have grown to love over the first two books regressed to points even before Divergent began. Everyone is selfish and lying, the entire book I just wanted to yell at the characters for every single decision that they made. Not a single choice Tris, Four, or any of the city members made was in line with who they were in the first books.

            I hated ever word that I read in this novel, and was so glad when it was over. I know that some people thought that the ending was beautiful and heroic, but Tris’ decisions during the book did not logically lead up to it. Roth spent the first two books writing and explaining and intricate world, and then just threw it all away, nothing made sense, and it felt like she was just hurrying explanations along or giving subpar answers to get to the next horribly written chapter. I would recommend people NOT read this book, I wish I had just stopped at the second book, because that slight cliffhanger was a better ending than the actual one.