I guess the YA Dystopian fiction genre has exploded over the past few years. So that's cool. The only problem is, when I look for more books to read within the genre, I end up seeing "rave reviews" for books that turn out to be very much not to my taste. You don't really get a list of tropes used by the individual books until you've already started reading them.
I think reviews should be more honest. People often talk about either how much they love a certain book or about how much they hate it, but they less often say, "I liked A, B, C about this book, but I hated D, E, F about it." So in this post I'm going to explore dystopian fiction tropes that I like and dislike, and how the books that I've read in this genre use these tropes.
I think my least favorite dystopia trope has already been covered--it's when the main character is basically a mindless, unquestioning part of the clearly illogical dystopian society and some sort of outside force (or supporting character) forces the main character to change his/her views. I'm not interested in a character who doesn't have any of their own thoughts. Wake me up when the book is written from the point of view of the secondary character who forces the main character to question their lives (even if the second character ends up dying, or turning evil).
Here is what I do like when it comes to post-apocalyptic or dystopian fiction:
A main character who makes good choices. Don't betray your friends and then expect me to forgive you easily. Also, if the main character is stuck between two awful choices, make them think of a third option (I'm talking to you, One More Day Spider-Man1). Think, or force your way out of a bind through sheer determination. This is fiction; use your imagination!
A good cast of supporting characters. If the main character is the only good guy out there, what exactly am I rooting for?
A happy ending, or at least a not-completely-depressing ending. (Except for classical tragedies, where the main character is brought down by a fatal flaw.) That's my own personal thing, and I know different people have different tastes, I just don't get why anyone would want to read a book that, afterwards, makes them not want to get out of bed in the morning.
So here are all the dystopian novels I've read and what I thought about them:
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Divergent: Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games
(So I have to admit that I didn't google the term "Harry Potter meets the Hunger Games" and I won't, until I post this, because if I'd found out that a thousand other people had thought of it first I would have been too discouraged to finish the post.)
There's only a certain number of times that one can re-read The Hunger Games trilogy over a six-month period1, and the movie isn't coming out until forever from now2, so in the meantime, I've been looking for a book to read that I'll love exactly as much as I loved the trilogy.
The first step was to look for "best ya sci-fi books" on Google and see what looked interesting: this resulted in my acquiring a free Kindle sample of Feed by M.T. Anderson, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, White Cat by Holly Black, The Summoning (and the rest of the Darkest Powers trilogy) by Kelley Armstrong. Matched by Ally Condie and Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan were recommended by a friend.
Some of them I didn't read past the free sample, some of them I finished, some of them I even liked, but I didn't love any of them, and they certainly couldn't satiate my Hunger Games craving.
Um. I promise that pun was unintentional.
In the process, I realized that I am a big fan of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre but am not a fan of many books that fill that genre. I don't like the trope where the main character is a brainwashed, unquestioning part of society and then a secondary character opens their eyes and gets them to question everything they ever thought was true. Why on Earth doesn't the story follow that character? Shay in Uglies is a much stronger character than Tally (although I did like Tally in the second book). I didn't read past the sample in Delirium, but Hana seems way more interesting than Lena. And, even though I started it years ago, I was never able to get past the first few pages of Fahrenheit 451.
Also, I realized that I hate "Best _____ books" lists, because people will just list as many popular books as they can think of in that genre. Really? You just happen to love every single best-selling YA post-apocalyptic series? What are the odds? (The next post, no promises, will go into why I like and dislike different dystopian/post-apocalyptic tropes and will have a breakdown of which books I love, which books I didn't love, and which books I couldn't finish.)
Anyway, eventually I ran across Divergent by Veronica Roth, and it was exactly what I was looking for. I loved it the way I loved The Hunger Games and before it, Harry Potter, and before that--well, before Harry Potter I was probably obsessed with Christopher Pike books or Fear Street or whatever, so let's just pretend that Harry Potter was my first literary obsession.
So, Divergent. It's not really a dystopia, exactly. It's just a post-apocalyptic society that is different than present-day societies, and it has advantages and disadvantages (as do present-day societies). One of the disadvantages is that it's terribly unrealistic, but that's where the Harry Potter part comes in. Society is split up into five factions based on personality type and values, and when people turn sixteen, they choose which faction to join (until then, they live with their families). There are Abnegation and Dauntless (which together I would classify as Gryffindor), Amity (Hufflepuff), Erudite (which would correspond with Ravenclaw according to its definition but plays more of a Slytherin role in the story), and Candor (which plays the role of Ravenclaw).
It doesn't make much sense for a society to be split into factions according to personality type, but it worked in Harry Potter and I think it works here as well.
Our heroine, Beatrice/Tris, comes from Abnegation, where selflessness is valued above all, and doesn't feel she really fits in there, but is also uncomfortable about the idea of leaving her family and what it says about her that she's not selfless enough for Abnegation. Without spoiling her choice, she makes a choice and then the story continues from there. The book has loads of action (check), likeable secondary characters (check), hateable antagonists (check), and a gripping plot. Plus there's a whole lot left over for the second book to explore.
On the downside, one thing jumped out at me that the editor absolutely should have caught. Towards the end of the book, Tris makes a startling, shocking discovery about one of her family members that turns her world upside down. Crazy, no? Well, except for the fact that she had already discovered this fact much earlier in the book. I mean, it's not just hinted at--she flat-out tells the reader what she's discovered halfway through the book, and then at the end, she's shocked to find out this thing that she already knows. Unless I'm misinterpreting the second time she discovers it. Or, possibly, this is changed in a different version of the book.
Another thing that I wasn't crazy about was how long it took her to figure out the truth about Four, both his motives and his history. Maybe I've just been reading too many books with twists lately, but it seemed obvious to me and I wasn't impressed with the fact that it took Tris so long to put two and two together.
But aside from those two things, I'm very happy with this book and looking forward to the next part.
Also, I'm looking forward to the next post, where I examine what tropes I like and dislike in dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction and how it applies to all of the books I've read (and put down) within that genre, including the Big Two3.
PS: I realize I didn't actually list any similarities between Divergent and The Hunger Games, so let's just do that quick:
1) Strong female teenage protagonist who loves her family
2) Post-apocalyptic society
3) Lots of action and violence
4) The end
1. Two, it turns out.
2. Kri: March
3. Yeah, you know, the big two. You know.
There's only a certain number of times that one can re-read The Hunger Games trilogy over a six-month period1, and the movie isn't coming out until forever from now2, so in the meantime, I've been looking for a book to read that I'll love exactly as much as I loved the trilogy.
The first step was to look for "best ya sci-fi books" on Google and see what looked interesting: this resulted in my acquiring a free Kindle sample of Feed by M.T. Anderson, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, White Cat by Holly Black, The Summoning (and the rest of the Darkest Powers trilogy) by Kelley Armstrong. Matched by Ally Condie and Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan were recommended by a friend.
Some of them I didn't read past the free sample, some of them I finished, some of them I even liked, but I didn't love any of them, and they certainly couldn't satiate my Hunger Games craving.
Um. I promise that pun was unintentional.
In the process, I realized that I am a big fan of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre but am not a fan of many books that fill that genre. I don't like the trope where the main character is a brainwashed, unquestioning part of society and then a secondary character opens their eyes and gets them to question everything they ever thought was true. Why on Earth doesn't the story follow that character? Shay in Uglies is a much stronger character than Tally (although I did like Tally in the second book). I didn't read past the sample in Delirium, but Hana seems way more interesting than Lena. And, even though I started it years ago, I was never able to get past the first few pages of Fahrenheit 451.
Also, I realized that I hate "Best _____ books" lists, because people will just list as many popular books as they can think of in that genre. Really? You just happen to love every single best-selling YA post-apocalyptic series? What are the odds? (The next post, no promises, will go into why I like and dislike different dystopian/post-apocalyptic tropes and will have a breakdown of which books I love, which books I didn't love, and which books I couldn't finish.)
Anyway, eventually I ran across Divergent by Veronica Roth, and it was exactly what I was looking for. I loved it the way I loved The Hunger Games and before it, Harry Potter, and before that--well, before Harry Potter I was probably obsessed with Christopher Pike books or Fear Street or whatever, so let's just pretend that Harry Potter was my first literary obsession.
So, Divergent. It's not really a dystopia, exactly. It's just a post-apocalyptic society that is different than present-day societies, and it has advantages and disadvantages (as do present-day societies). One of the disadvantages is that it's terribly unrealistic, but that's where the Harry Potter part comes in. Society is split up into five factions based on personality type and values, and when people turn sixteen, they choose which faction to join (until then, they live with their families). There are Abnegation and Dauntless (which together I would classify as Gryffindor), Amity (Hufflepuff), Erudite (which would correspond with Ravenclaw according to its definition but plays more of a Slytherin role in the story), and Candor (which plays the role of Ravenclaw).
It doesn't make much sense for a society to be split into factions according to personality type, but it worked in Harry Potter and I think it works here as well.
Our heroine, Beatrice/Tris, comes from Abnegation, where selflessness is valued above all, and doesn't feel she really fits in there, but is also uncomfortable about the idea of leaving her family and what it says about her that she's not selfless enough for Abnegation. Without spoiling her choice, she makes a choice and then the story continues from there. The book has loads of action (check), likeable secondary characters (check), hateable antagonists (check), and a gripping plot. Plus there's a whole lot left over for the second book to explore.
On the downside, one thing jumped out at me that the editor absolutely should have caught. Towards the end of the book, Tris makes a startling, shocking discovery about one of her family members that turns her world upside down. Crazy, no? Well, except for the fact that she had already discovered this fact much earlier in the book. I mean, it's not just hinted at--she flat-out tells the reader what she's discovered halfway through the book, and then at the end, she's shocked to find out this thing that she already knows. Unless I'm misinterpreting the second time she discovers it. Or, possibly, this is changed in a different version of the book.
Another thing that I wasn't crazy about was how long it took her to figure out the truth about Four, both his motives and his history. Maybe I've just been reading too many books with twists lately, but it seemed obvious to me and I wasn't impressed with the fact that it took Tris so long to put two and two together.
But aside from those two things, I'm very happy with this book and looking forward to the next part.
Also, I'm looking forward to the next post, where I examine what tropes I like and dislike in dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction and how it applies to all of the books I've read (and put down) within that genre, including the Big Two3.
PS: I realize I didn't actually list any similarities between Divergent and The Hunger Games, so let's just do that quick:
1) Strong female teenage protagonist who loves her family
2) Post-apocalyptic society
3) Lots of action and violence
4) The end
1. Two, it turns out.
2. Kri: March
3. Yeah, you know, the big two. You know.
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