Crusaders Proud, We Will Always Be

Okay let’s ignore the fact that the title is from my high school’s alma mater and continue on with the exciting news.

Morgan and I have been concocting an awesome idea for the month of August as sort of a “last hurrah” of summer. I am randomly calling it “The Booking Awesome Crusades,” so tell me what you think of the title. Here’s how the idea hatched: I recently finished Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief for the second or third time, and I thought maybe I could do a book vs. movie post about it. I won’t taint anyone’s opinion on the movie if you’re never seen it, but if you’re holding it up next to the book there is no contest. There are so many differences it’s ridiculous, so I figured a blog post would be a fun idea. Then I got to thinking: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters comes out August 7th in theaters. If I read Sea of Monsters in time, I can also do a book vs. movie post about it! This sparked the idea  between myself and Morgan: why don’t we do this with a bunch of  book/movie duos? There’s Harry Potter… The Hunger Games… Inkheart… so many options!

The thing is, how many do we do? How often do we do them during August? Do we do 1-2 every week? Or more? It’s up in the air, really. I’m almost certain I have nothing going on (ever) so any amount would be good for me. What do you guys think? Is 1-2 book vs. movie posts a week in August going to cut it for you? Should Morgan and I each do 1-2 posts for the Crusades? Let us know! We’d love to see your opinions.

So, TBAC (The Booking Awesome Crusades)! How it’s all gonna go down (on my part at least):

• I write a book review first. I am a firm believer in reading a book before seeing the film, though it isn’t incorrect to do it the other way.
• I write the film review. In terms of what I’m reviewing in the film, I’ll probably be covering how closely it followed the book/differences from the book/etc.
• OVERALL REVIEW! This will take the book and movie together and pretty much give a pitch to you guys on if you should watch/read or not. This won’t be too long; maybe a paragraph or two. Basically it just butters up (or kills) the movie/book combo and serves them to you on a silver platter.

I think this idea sounds super fun! If you guys have any suggestions on the matter, leave them in the comments! We love to read and reply to your comments; it literally brightens my day to see people actually reading our material! Makes me want to keep going with this blog. :)

Until next time, DFTBA!

-Riley

Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Rating: 9.0/10.0

Warning: There may be Spoilers in the review if you have not read Divergent or Insurgent! Read at your own risk!

Insurgent by Veronica Roth is the second novel in the Divergent trilogy. I loved the first novel, and I guess I didn’t hate this one. To me, the first novel was a great introduction to Tris’ world and her relationships. The progression between Divergent and Insurgent reminds me a lot of the progression between The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. The first novel is the introductory action-filled starter, and the second one is what I like to call “the fighting book.” Basically all anyone does in Insurgent is fight and Tris gets to act like a martyr 24/7. I wouldn’t say the same for Katniss in Catching Fire, but I guess it isn’t fair to compare the two female leads because of the different circumstances they are both in.

The character of Tris in this book is slightly annoying. She starts out like she had in the last book, strong and sure of herself. But as the novel continues, she starts to become more rash in her decisions and less conscious of how much danger she is really putting herself in. She starts lying to everyone just so she can do whatever she wants, and for most of the book she believes dying will help honor her parents. Eventually she gets out of this strange and annoying funk and the book continues on like Divergent. For the first three-quarters of Insurgent I hated Tris and everything she had become. But in the last 150 pages or so, she became one of my favorite characters once again because of her improved actions.

After I first started to become annoyed with Tris, I figured she must be acting so rashly for a reason. Perhaps the stress and trauma of the war really messed up her brain and choices? Or perhaps she was so wrought with grief and sadness for her parents that she had no other choice but to tempt and actually pine for death? Something to think about, I guess.

Overall I wasn’t disappointed with Insurgent. Sure I liked Divergent much more, but I understand the difficulty that comes with writing a sequel that lives up to the hype of the first book in a trilogy. For Allegiant coming out in October I have no extremely high expectations. I have some goals I want met and I’m sure will be, considering how Roth writes these novels. I can’t say I’m not excited for the third and final installment in the trilogy; Insurgent definitely leaves you on a giant cliffhanger. I had expected it, but I didn’t expect to be so hungry for the final book! All in all I give Insurgent a 9.0 out of 10.0 because it wasn’t as good as Divergent, but it served the purposes of the plot set up in the second book.

Until next time, DFTBA!

-Riley