Colby R. Rice's Blog, page 17
January 23, 2017
Book Review: “Mangdragola” by Niccolò Machiavelli
Mandragola by Niccolò MachiavelliMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
An interesting farce comedy that essentially reinforces what Machiavelli’s been saying all along: “The ends justify the means”. Being that I read this in class, I wrote a required Play Reader’s Journal for this piece, and so I’m just going to use that as my review.
** SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON!!! **
Play Reader’s Journal for Niccolò Machiavelli’s Mandragola
I. Vital Statistics
1. Title: Mandragola (The Mandrake)
2. Playwright: Niccolò Machiavelli
3. Date of Composition: 1504; also 1524-1526
4. Period: The Italian Renaissance
5. Company/House of Initial Performance: Performed during the Carnivale in Florence
6. Setting of Play: Florence
7. Genre of Play: Comedy
II. Characters and Action
Characters
1. Callimaco Guadagno: a dastardly fiend who is “in love” / in lust with Lucrezia, and who desires to sleep with her.
2. Siro: Callimaco’s servant
3. Messer Nicia Calfucci: an old, “simple-minded”, and rich judge, who is also Lucrezia’s husband. He wants a son and heir.
4. Ligurio: a marriage broker and hack, who now hustles food out of people for a living, He helps Callimaco to get into bed with Lucrezia
5. Sostrata: Lucrezia’s mother, who doesn’t see anything wrong with her daughter having a lover, and a baby, along with a rich husband. (Is she the early incarnation of feminism?)
6. Friar Timoteo: a corrupt friar and man of the cloth who Callimaco convinces (read: pays) to play an integral role in the deception of Lucrezia and Nicia
7. A Woman: a person who introduces Machiavelli’s idea of women and introduces the themes they represent (I think)
8. Lucrezia: a beautiful and very virtuous woman, whose reputation for both precedes her. She is controlling of her husband Nicia
Action
While living in Paris, Callimaco hears of the famed beauty and virtue of Lucrezia, the wife of a rich judge, Messer Nicia. He is so enamored with her that he returns to Florence to find, court, and sleep with Lucrezia. He cannot do so, however, because Lucrezia is married. Still, there is a loop hole for Callimaco: Lucrezia and Nicia have yet to have a child and heir, and Nicia wants a son more than anything.
So Callimaco, his servant (Sirio), a marriage broker (Ligurio), and a corrupt friar (Friar Timoteo) devise a plan to help Callimaco get into bed with Lucrezia. Callimaco will disguise himself as a doctor and prescribe Lucrezia the mandrake, a potion that will increase Lucrezia’s chances at having a child. The downside, though, is after Lucrezia takes the potion, the first man to sleep with her afterward will die. This isn’t true, of course; this is all a ruse that Callmaco throws onto Nicia so that Callimaco will be allowed to sleep with Lucrezia.
After a lot of scheming and plotting, Callimaco use Friar Timoteo to convince Lucrezia that having an affair on her husband is actually not morally corrupt, but is Lucrezia’s divine duty. Lucrezia, being the morally virtuous woman that she is, is very against this entire plan. In the end, however, her mother (Sostrata) and the Friar convince Lucrezia that this is her duty and she need not feel corrupt or ashamed. Reluctantly, Lucrezia agrees to the plan.
When Callimaco (disguised as the supposed sacrificial lamb who will sleep with Lucrezia and die from the mandrake) finally goes to Lucrezia and reveals his true identity, they sleep together. Lucrezia now knows that this entire mandrake deal is a farce and that she was set up and used by all the corrupt people in her life. She decides that she will then take her own piece of the pie, and so takes Callimaco as her lover. The plays ends with everyone essentially getting what they want while disregarding their piety altogether.
III. Themes and Resonance
Machiavelli certainly does not hold back in his critique of the church and of the Bible, both of which are deliberately misinterpreted in order to further the ends of evil. This particular quote from The Friar really stood out to me “As for whether the act is a sin, that’s easy: because it is the will that sins, not the body; and it’s a sin if it displeases the husband, whereas you are obliging him; or if you take pleasure in it, whereas you find no pleasure” (21). The Friar also tells Lucrezia that “her purpose is to fill a seat in paradise and make her husband happy” (21).
Here, Machiavelli shows us how easy it is for men to be swayed to the side of evil when what they desire is close at hand. Nicia wants a son, but is pushed into this crazy situation that he knows is wrong (morally and biblically), all because he wants an heir. The Friar is getting paid off with crazy coins to engage in this deception (the very act of which is a major insult to the Church and their system of exchanging morality for money). And of course, Callimaco, the scoundrel, is totally revamping the idea of “monogamous marriage” and introduces polyamory into a once pious household. This is an episode straight out of Days of Our Lives… the Italian Renaissance version.
The theme that stood out most to me is the one that was realized through Lucrezia: that, even though we may have an instinct of right and wrong, sometimes external power dynamics can exert such force on us that we are led astray from our own morals. I found it pretty amazing (and daunting) that though Lucrezia knew that laying down with another man was wrong, she gave into the religious preachings and proddings of the Friar to do “God’s work” and fall pregnant with another man. Machiavelli makes an interesting point about man abandoning his own inner compass for the sake of religion and allowing true evil to befall himself and his household as a result.
Another interesting take on this play is that one can say that Machiavelli has succeeded in demonstrating the viability of his own philosophy, “the ends justify the means”, above and beyond that of the Church. Can man truly be saved? Is the Church potent enough to really led men into the hands of God? Or is Machiavelli truly the only one who understands man’s true nature, and does man’s nature always win in the end, even against the omnipotence of God? All questions I considered when reading this piece.
In conclusion, though the points raised by the piece are interesting, Machiavelli’s overstated theme felt a little forced and unconvincing. This was mainly due to the style in which he told the story, mainly by using the Prologue and a lot of exposition. I think that if Machiavelli’s bitterness weren’t coming across so clearly, he could be more convincing on the page as to the Church’s corruption. While the Prologue was really entertaining and brazen, it pretty much killed any hope of subtlety and subtext. Therefore, the playwright’s intentions were made painfully clear. From a stylistic standpoint, I personally tend to be more convinced of a play’s message when I’m not being beaten over the head with it, where I can fall into the “showing” aspect of the piece more so than the “telling” aspect of the piece. On my part, I’m dying to know how the audiences reacted to this play in that time.
Rock on, READ on,
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January 21, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (1/22/17): Rebel Ragdoll Productions OPEN for Business!
So I couldn’t fit this in the LAST video because it was just waaay too long, but FINALLY here is your virtual tour of Rebel Ragdoll Productions! You’ll get to see our logo, our Facebook Page and Sandman film graphic, our animated intros, AND our equipment!
A comprehensive equipment list is included below in the notes. Got this all for under $1300, y’all… just sayin’.
VIDEO TOPICS:
01:25 The Rebel Ragdoll Productions Logo Reveal!
02:50 The Rebel Ragdoll Productions FB Page and Sandman Film Graphic!
04:50 The Rebel Ragdoll Productions Animated Intros!
11:04 The Rebel Ragdoll Productions Film Equipment!
16:41 Thanks to Alex Ferrari and The Indie Film Hustle Podcast
CHECK OUT The Indie Film Hustle Podcast here: https://indiefilmhustle.com/podcasts/
FILM EQUIPMENT LIST:
1. CAMERA EQUIPMENT: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013WZGVFM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Camera Equipment Includes:
– Canon EOS Rebel T6i Digital SLR
– EF-S 18-55mm IS STM Lens
– Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM Lens
– Polaroid Studio Series 58mm .43x HD Wide Angle Lens
– Polaroid Studio Series 2.2X HD Telephoto Lens Travel Kit
– Lexar Professional 633x 32GB SDHC UHS-I/U1 Polaroid Optics 58mm 4 Piece Filter Set (UV, CPL, FLD, WARMING)
– Polaroid 57 Inch Professional Tripod
– Polaroid 8″ Heavy Duty Mini Tripod
– Polaroid Studio Series Pro Slave Flash
– Polaroid Wireless Shutter Release Remote Control
– Ritz Gear™ Deluxe Premium DSLR Camera Bag
– Ritz Gear SD Card Reader / Writer
– Polaroid Camera Cleaning Kit
– Polaroid Memory Card Wallet
– Polaroid Universal LCD Screen Protector
– Lens Cap Strap
– Bubble Level
2. LIGHTING EQUIPMENT: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0189TA68O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lighting Equipment Includes:
– Compact Portable Barn Doors 216 LED PHOTO/ VIDEO LIGHT SET (x 3)
– 86″ Photo/Video Light Stand (x 3)
– Battery for Video Light (NP-F550 to NP-F950) (x 3) | Travel charger (x 1)
– Carry Bag with Two Front Accessory Pockets (x 1)
– Heavy Duty Muslin Clamps 4 1/2 inch 6 Pack
– China Ball Lighting Kit (Get at http://filmtools.com)
** Stay tuned for updates as I build a DIY Lighting Set in addition to the one I bought! 
January 20, 2017
Book Review: “The Successful Author Mindset” by Joanna Penn
The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer’s Journey
by Joanna PennMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
As usual, Joanna Penn knocks the ball out of the part with her insight into the author mindset. We are pretty hard on ourselves as creatives, and Penn dives right in to give us some good ole fashioned inspiration, truth, and literary courage! It’s not all boo-hoos and balms, though.
Penn also dishes out some tough love and real talk on how to make a career as an indie author, urging us to keep our goals clear, to define success for ourselves, and to literally get your ass in a chair and get those words on a page.
What I love most about the book is that it’s super organized and to the point. Whenever I’m feeling overwrought, doubtful, or just plain lost on my own creative journey, I can easily find a passage in it that will give me inspiration. Kind of like the Book of Psalms… but for psycho, self-deprecating writers and angsty creatives! Yes, it is like a Bible, y’all… I took it there.
Loved this book and look forward to reading the rest of Penn’s non-fiction (and fiction) series!
Rock on, READ on,
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January 19, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (1/19/17): Building a Real Reader Tribe, Author Collaborations, and Wins!
The Indie Film Hustle Podcast by Alex Ferrari: https://indiefilmhustle.com/podcasts/
VIDEO NOTES:
Sooo… this is a long update, BUT in short, the giveaway has officially ended and the winners have been announced!
Also, I go into super detail about cool stuff that’s been happening, and talk to you guys about my experience with the giveaway, how I grew my subscriber base to literally nearly 300% its size, and how it’s been collaborating with other authors in my genre.
I also give you another round on the birth of Rebel Ragdoll Productions (which is so epic that it merited its own video)!
VIDEO TOPICS:
00:34 Creativity and Motherhood
02:20 Directorial Debut (sort of) of Slam Poetry Piece
05:25 Cover Design for the Hitmen of Happily Ever After Series
06:50 Author Collaboration and Building an Author Community (+ Tabling Conventions)
08:00 Good Conventions to Attend & Table as an Author
10:30 Giveaways and Promotion Opportunities to Consider as an Author
11:09 Prizes Ideas for Giveaways!
12:10 Working with Illustrators and Art Directing a Concept Art / Licensing Book for The Books of Ezekiel
15:03 Growing a Subscriber List as an Indie Author
19:45 Using Zapier to Automate Your Author Business
24:00 How to Join My VIP Giveaway List!
25:00 The “Story Engines” Class
27:53 Rebel Ragdoll Productions is Armed and Ready!!
30:17 Building a Business Plan and Marketing Plan for My Film
35:11 Planning Pre-Production for My Film & Developing a Directing Style
37:30 Fan-girling Over My Film Equipment!
39:30 Fan-girling Over My Production House Logo!
40:16 Empowering Yourself as a Self-Sufficient Filmmaker, Author, and Creative!
42:00 Notes on Grad School, Thoughts on Writing, and Writing Plays (Playwriting)
44:21 Self Care, Putting Yourself First, and the Snaps Jar
Check out the NEXT video for the Rebel Ragdoll Productions Debut!
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January 14, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (1/14/17): The Official Opening of Rebel Ragdoll Productions
THE KINDLE FIRE GIVEAWAY ENDS THIS WEDNESDAY! Click the link and enter your email to get a chance at winning: http://bit.ly/2j81xX0
Also, the B-BADASS PODCAST is also now available on iTunes, Google Play / Android, Stitcher, and on RSS. Subscribe and vibe, boos!
B-Badass Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t…
B-Badass Podcast on Google Play / Android: https://goo.gl/app/playmusic?ibi=com….
B-Badass Podcast on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=127757&…
B-Badass Podcast on RSS: http://www.thebohemianbadass.com/feed…
—
I’ve been away for about a week y’all, but there are LOTS of exciting things that have been happening while I’ve been gone! (Which is why I’ve been gone, lol).
Updates on novel writing, filmmaking, and grad school as I get back in the swing o’ things, so stay tuned!
The post Colby’s Creative Journal (1/14/17): The Official Opening of Rebel Ragdoll Productions appeared first on .
January 9, 2017
FREE GIVEAWAY! 3 Kindle Fires + $25 Amazon Gift Card + Free E-book Library
FREE GIVEAWAY!
3 Kindle Fires + $25 Amazon Gift Card + Free E-book Library
CLICK HERE TO ENTER TODAY!
Follow the link and enter your email for a chance to win one of three Kindle Fires, a $25 gift card, and/or a starter library of e-books!
All entrants get a FREE e-book!
**Share on social media to get EXTRA entries and increase your chances of winning!**
GRAND PRIZE: Kindle Fire + Amazon Gift Card + E-book Library
FIRST PLACE PRIZE: Kindle Fire + E-book Library
SECOND PLACE PRIZE: Kindle Fire
THIRD PLACE PRIZE: E-book Library
ALL ENTRIES: Free e-book!
Happy New Year, you lucky rascals, you!
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January 7, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (1/7/17): Giveaways, Gifts, and Hitting the Ground Stumbling in 2017 (lol!)
I’ve got a surprise for you guys! FREE Giveaway where you can win one of 3 Kindle Fires, a $25 Amazon gift card, and/or a library of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror novels!
There will be four main winners, but ALL entrants get a prize!
CLICK THE LINK TO JOIN THE GIVEAWAY BEFORE IT’S OVER: http://bit.ly/2j81xX0
Also, updates on launching 2017 with a bang… or a puff. Both are great, so long as you’re making progress!
The post Colby’s Creative Journal (1/7/17): Giveaways, Gifts, and Hitting the Ground Stumbling in 2017 (lol!) appeared first on .
January 2, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (1/2/17): Happy New Year! My Creative Goals for 2017
Happy New Year, guys!
I hope you’re ready to grab your creativity by the horns and RIDE that bih! Here are my massive goals for 2017, which are then interrupted by my screaming toddler, so make sure you also watch part II as well for the rest of the journal.
By the way, check out the links to the film cameras & the movie I’m talking about:
Canon Rebel T6i (combo pack)
DJI Osmo (combo pack)
Hardcore Henry (1st Person POV movie)
Part I of II
Part II of II
The post Colby’s Creative Journal (1/2/17): Happy New Year! My Creative Goals for 2017 appeared first on .
Creative Goals for 2017!
BRUH! It’s 2017, SON!! OMGGGG!
YAAAAAYYY!!!
But wait, before we get into the new year, if you haven’t checked out my round up and assessments for 2016, now’s the time to do it:
Weekly Hustle for Weeks #45-52 (10/31/2016 – 12/26/2016)
Creative Achievements for 2016
So now that you’ve gotten one last look at 2016, let’s move forward, shall we?
2017:
The Year of the Novel.
Year of the Film.
Year of the Badass.
Year of the Dollhouse.
So I’ve been an author entrepreneur for 3 years now, and though I’ve achieved a lot, I feel myself stagnating in the indie author game. Arguably, I had to take some time off to get my life in order: growing and then having a baby in 2014, raising that baby and jumping back into my creative dojo in 2015, and then raising a toddler as a single mom, re-establishing my independence, and upping my creative hustle game in 2016.
The past three years have been some years of massive growth pains, fraught with despairs, tears, triumphs, and celebrations, and LOTS of conflicting emotions. Today, as of Jan 2 2017, my life has become a lot more stable, more vibrant, more positive, and way more hopeful. So now, it’s really time to drill down and focus on my personal goals AND my creative goals, not just as a novelist, but as a screenwriter and filmmaker as well.
So, I’m going to aim for 8 MAJOR goals this year. Yes, eight. I’m back to my big goals, but now that I’ve shaken off many of life’s monkeys (for now), I’m ready to unleash my creative energy for 2017! So check them out below:
My 8 Major Creative Goals for 2017
1. Develop a daily writing habit of 500 words a day.
I’ve already been practicing this for December, and I’ve been netting about 850 words per day! More important than quantity, though, is consistency so that writing fiction every day is a habit, like brushing my teeth and showering.
2. Update daily writing habit to 2,000 words a day by October 1 2017, the latest.
Once my 500-words-per-day habit is anchored down for at least three months straight, I want to start increasing my daily output by 500-word increments each quarter. By the time October 2017 rolls around, I want to habitually be putting out 2,000 words per day, literally for the rest of my life, lol!
So this is what I hope my writing upgrade schedule will look like for 2017:
Q1: January 1 – 500 words per day
Q2: April 1 – 1,000 words per day
Q3: July 1 – 1,500 words per day
Q4: October 1 – 2,000 words per day
We’ll see how this all works out. I’m committed to creating the habit and improving on it as much as I can!
3. Publish more books! (At least 5 books.)
OK. So I said this LAST year, but:
Finishing out the next arc of the BOE series and churning out at least ONE trilogy (+ a free-quel) in a separate series are THE major pushes for 2016.
Except this time, I’m ADDING books to that load, because I’d like to start my new series, Hitmen of Happily Ever After, as well.
Aside from The Books of Ezekiel and HOHEA, I honestly can’t promise what I’ll be publishing this year, but here’s a list of the possible contenders. Even then, though, I can’t promise which books from which series are coming when. (Don’cha just love surprises?) In any case, here’s the list of possibles:
The Books of Ezekiel Series (urban fantasy / dystopian sci-fi) – DEFINITELY
The Iron Maiden (BOE #3)
Blood & Ink (BOE #4)
The House of Death (BOE #5)
Chase the Devil (BOE #6)
The Last Descent (BOE #7)
The Final Page (BOE Omnibus #3 – #7)
The Hitmen of Happily Ever After (urban fantasy / crime / noir ) – DEFINITELY
Rose n’ John Does (Book 1)
Loosey, Goosey (Book 0)
Red n’ Dead (Book 2)
Snow n’ Blow (Book 3)
Glass n’ Ass (Book 4)
Mer n’ Cur (Book 5)
The ASYLUM Trilogy (survival horror / sci-fi thriller) – HIGHLY POSSIBLE
Asylum (Book 1)
Bedlam (Book 2)
Hoodlum (Book 3)
Peplum (Book 0)
The AFTER ASYLUM Series (survival horror / sci-fi thriller) – HIGHLY POSSIBLE
This is the series of events that happens between ASYLUM and BEDLAM in the ASYLUM Trilogy.
Relic (Book 0)
Mama’s Little Baby (Book 1)
Snake Eyes (Book 2)
Trojan (Book 3)
Gemini (Book 4)
The Winter Wood (Book 5)
The Ventriloquist (Book 6)
Sacrilege (Book 7)
So yes, these are all the potential projects that I’ll be dipping into this year. We’ll see how they all shake out!
4. Continue to upgrade and rebrand my author website!
I KILLED on this goal in 2016, and I accomplished a really sexy re-brand of my author business.
For 2017, it’s time to improve upon that re-brand and to finish what I started
These are the elements I’m still considering ADDING in terms of the total rebrand:
MORE sci-fi, fantasy, folklore, and legends research, with an awesome “research notes blog” for each series,
redesigning my Welcome Page (the one you go to after visiting my kick ass homepage),
a complete “author’s corner” with my entire media kit at the ready,
a FREE starter library of all the first novels in my series (after they’ve been written, of course!),
a VIP room for readers of my works (on Facebook & on the website),
This is something I’m giving myself until December 2017 to finish. I’ve realized that, for me, branding is a steady, a year-long task that unfolds in bits and bursts over the months. So I’ll do another evaluation of the brand towards the end of the year!
5. Connect more with my community and grow it, too… readers and authors alike!
I’m in an eternal battle against creative isolation. In 2014, I’d decided to pull back from community in order to focus on building my brand, focusing on my work and my novels, and also, to put myself more fully into motherhood.
In the process, however, I really lost my way with regard to connecting more fully with both my peers and my readers. But I want to really turn that around for 2017. I want to not only RE-connect with my readers on my list, but I also want to grow my community of author peers and readers!
So here is a list of sub-goals that I need to complete in order to achieve this overall goal.
FOR CONNECTING WITH AUTHORS:
Connecting with 3 authors per month via author communities and email
Reviewing author peers’ books (though I’ve already been doing that too!)
Hyping other authors’ works via my email list
Participating in author cross-promotion opportunities
FOR CONNECTING MORE WITH MY CURRENT READERS:
More gifts, prizes, and giveaways for my reader community!
Building VIP reader list
Daily Creative Journal + Weekly Hustle Updates
Movie/TV/Video Game Reviews
Weekly Email
FOR GROWING READER COMMUNITY:
Viral giveaways, more free books, free prizes
Paid promos (ads, blog tours)
BookTube (reviewing books on YouTube)
Daily Creative Journal + Weekly Hustle Updates
Movie/TV/Video Game Reviews
This is definitely a long game endeavor, but I really look forward to where this journey will take me. I can’t wait to meet more people, cultivate a community, and literally smash the CRAP out of my creative isolation.
6. Shoot and release my first full feature horror film, “Sandman”!
It’s really just time to stop being scared. Honestly. I can do all I can to learn, prep, and galvanize my filmmaking skills, but the only way to truly BECOME the action, sci-fi, and horror director that I want to be is just to get out there and start making films.
So, this spring, I’ll be aiming to do a one-location horror film shoot called “Sandman”, which is based on a fictional monster I’ve often been terrified of myself, lol. That’s all I have to say about Sandman for the moment, but I have pretty much everything I need, with the exception of a couple of props, camera and lighting equipment, and a crew.
All of which are VERY MUCH forthcoming! I’m planning and writing the script now, and I simply CANNOT wait to get started.
7. Shoot and release a second full feature horror film, “Ojos”!
After I’m done shooting Sandman, it’s time to dive into the next feature horror, “Ojos”! This is going to be pretty exciting, because it’s mostly a first POV movie about a guy who inherits the eyes of the Devil. It’s such a crazy concept, but the storyboard’s already etching its way through my medulla oblongata. Can’t wait to shoot it!
8. Focus on worldbuilding for my fiction franchises
I really want to dive way deeper into creating world history, cultures, civilizations, languages, magic systems, and more. I work on these things as much as I can, but I really want to go waay deeper this year by:
Finishing up my “Worldbuilding Lab” Scrivener template, which is essentially a set of 20+ modules designed to help SFF authors build their own authentic, comprehensive story worlds!
Have another in-depth go at worldbuilding for The Books of Ezekiel. I already built a lot of the world for BOE, but so much more of it remains, and I need to get back in the game!
Building a complete world for the Hitmen of Happily Ever After
Building a complete world for the ASYLUM trilogy
Building a complete world for the FORGOTTEN trilogy
Not only do I need worlds in which to set my stories, but worldbuilding is also just plain ole FUN! It’s one of the few times we get to frolic as writers. I can be totally carefree, liberated from word counts and deadlines, and just BREATHE. Very much looking forward to it!
So that’s me and my insane goals for 2017! And you? What are YOUR major goals for 2017? Leave comments below, good luck with all your creative endeavors, and, obvs…
Keep it indie,
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December 31, 2016
Book Review: “Divergent” by Veronica Roth
Divergent by Veronica RothMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sooo… while Divergent didn’t completely knock the stuffing out of me, as far as YA novels go, this was a solid and engaging run! Divergent takes an interesting idea and spins it into a hook that keeps you wanting to turn the page. I just wonder how all of this looks when taken to its logical conclusion. I watched the first two movies but haven’t seen the last two, deliberately, as I wanted to experience the literature first. (As a side note, I really love how the movies brought the novels to life and fills in a lot of the visual gaps.)
THE STORY: For me, Divergent’s plot turned out to be a bit flat and unsurprising, but the character relationships were REALLY fascinating. Character depth, conflict, the exploration of humanity and morality, and especially the romantic / sexual tension, are where Roth shines! Roth does a great job of exploring the tense, nervous, and yet somehow heady relationship between Four and Tris, drawing us into their tension and holding us there.
AS A SIDE NOTE: Readers often compare Divergent to The Hunger Games, which personally, I find unreasonable and ridiculous. And kinda cray too, lol. Come on, really? They’re two completely different stories, set in two completely different locations, courting two different worlds, and featuring two COMPLETELY different heroines who have different stakes and arcs. The only similarity between them is the fact that they are dystopian works with strong female leads… and if that makes them the same, then I advise readers to broaden their ideas of genre and girlhood.
In all, this is a light and enjoyable read, and I’d totally take it to the beach or on vacay with me. Many thanks to Roth for putting her wonderful voice and ideas into the world. I love dystopian stories with complicated heroines, and I will DEFINITELY be continuing this series (and hopefully completing it) in 2017!
Rock on, READ on,
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