Choose Your Own Adventure

Okay. Three books in one post. I'll be brief.

I was disappointed in Insurgent. Granted, this is not unusual when the first book blows your mind. I enjoyed the second, and I will read the third, but I was not nearly as impressed with this one. The tension felt much weaker, very drawn out. Way too much waiting for something to happen. And the massive cliffhanger? I didn't really think it was that devastating. I presume we're headed for Zombie-ville or cannibals or Stepford outside the fence, but I am not crushed that the third volume won't be out until next year.

I still love Tris and Tobias. They rock. I would totally have wanted to be one of them when I was fourteen-ish. I still do, if I'm being honest.

I felt like several conflicts should have been addressed in more depth including Peter's bizarre explanation of redemption, what's up with those wacky Amity folks, and Fernando and the ladder? Really? Tris shows no emotion, and there is absolutely no transition. I'm pretty sure he's still hanging out up there.

Next, Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs. This is a book from 2008, but a title I didn't know. I hold Will Hobbs in high regard because he's a really cool guy, and because boys swallow his books whole. (Girls like them, too; they just chew more slowly.) This is a middle-grade read, 100% action. Mountain bikes, road bikes, caves, Martians, near-death experiences...what more could a boy ask for? It's a quick, light read, under 200 pages. Many of my 6th grade boys would LOVE this book.

I didn't, but that is so not the point. I'm always on the lookout for solid boy reads. Fred is a pretty awesome antagonist, too. Oh, and then there's the medieval catapult and the toilets...

And finally, The Fault in Our Stars. A mentor of mine, the amazing Mark Overmeyer, recommended this to me, so I moved it to the top of the pile. I loved this book. As an adult, I loved its treatment of terminal illness and the absolute blind terror of dying that haunts me.

For an adolescent reader there's Hazel's voice, the excellent and highly entertaining vocabularies possessed by both her and Gus, and the heartbreak.

Just read it.

There are so many dreams and realities embedded in this book, I was devastated when it ended. Yet it ended perfectly. I do believe this. I do.

Okay?