My Review on Allegiant

At 10pm last night I finished reading Allegiant by Veronica Roth. My thoughts?

What just happened...?

What I Liked

I really enjoyed the dual POV. Reading from Tobias's perspective was really interesting, alL though sometimes I found it confusing to distinguish who's who. 

 What I Didn't Like

I didn't like the plot of this book that much. I was excited to learn of the genes aspect on being Divergent, but slowly it became boring for me. I feel like it was just a concept for Tobias and Tris to fight over.

I didn't enjoy the new characters that were introduced. I just don't feel like I got any sense of who they are, and they felt really flat to me.

Throughout this book I felt it was Four's story, not Tris's. Tris doesn't change much in the novel, and we see Four making a lot of mistakes. We see Four coming to terms with his Mother, and finding he's not Divergent. The only thing that really happens to Tis is that she becomes closer to her family by reading her Mother's journal, and forgiving Caleb. The book felt more catered to Four fans, rather than Tris fans. As much as I love Four, the protagonist is Tris.

Tris Dies?!

I was so shocked by this. I was just for Tris to resurrect so I could get a happy ending. But then the book ended...I know this is war, and people die. I know that it's the authors book, and she can do whatever she likes. It just felt forced to me. I predicted Tris would take Caleb's place when Caleb volunteers, but I expected Tris to survive. The death left me confused and sad at the same time

Four

We see a lot of Four in this novel, and I liked it for the msot part. We realise Four's insecurities and fears, but none of it was particualary new. Going inside his fear landscape was really neat and sad at the same time.

Four dealing with Tris's death, amd moving past it was heartbreaking. I honestly cannot imagine Four with anybody else but Tris.

Overall Thoughts

I though this book was okay. The plot didn't capture my attention, and there were a lot of events that I didn't like. The whole atmosphere of the book was weird to me. The first two were really good in my opinion, but this book felt forced. I had similar feelings to Mockingjay, so maybe I have a pattern with not liking the last book in a trilogy? This books didn't leave me satisfied as a reader, but I still love the first two for what they are. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book to someone, but I did enjoy finally finding out what happens.

Rating: C

Excellence

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

Excellence has been on my mind.

All my life, I've always strived for excellence. Academic, sports, etc. I'd always set my goals high for myself, and then proceed to torture myself into achieving them. Countless hours spent poring over textbooks, listening to my pencil scratch onto paper, all to reach academic success. And it normally worked. By the end of the year, I'd reach my medal of recognition and off I'd be off.

I don't know if I'm motivated by success, or the fear of failure. Coming home with a B, terrifies me. It's ridiculous but true. 

But I never really felt anything while getting recognition for my achievement. I was proud, but not as proud as you'd think i would be. When receiving my report card, I'd normally be thinking about what's next, not what's present.

So for now I'm trying to focus on the present more. Being successful will always be a priority, but I want to be more...Laid-back, I suppose. I don't want to miss out on opportunities, or become a stick in the mud. I want to have fun.

P.S I'm starting Allegiant by Veronica Roth today! So excited. I think my next blog post will be a review of that.

-Jasmine

Resting on my Laurels?

 So not too long ago I received the advice to not rest on my laurels. After finding out what that expression actually means, I've realised that I do a lot of that. After completing my homework, I usually think that's good enough, instead of actually being proud of what I did. I don't want to let my previous accomplishments stop me from pushing myself.

That's the thing. I don't want to be mediocre, I want to find one thing I'm great at. Something in which I excel in, that I love. I've been trying new things, and I find that I'm decent at them. But I don't want to be decent. I want to work hard and get better. This becomes hard, as I've been so busy lately. However, most of time I'm not busy, I'm just lazy. I would much rather watch another episode of Buffy than practice my field hockey skills. But I want to push myself more often.

All the time, I see people younger than I, or less fortunate. They're out doing things, feeling things, winning things, accomplishing things that I can't even imagine. They accomplish their goals so easily, while other bask in their glory. Including me. And when I watch them, while subconsciously comparing myself to them, I feel so inadequate. And that feeling sucks. 

Fall, School, and Teenagery Things

I love Fall. It's my second favourite season behind Winter. And while it's crisp morning air, and dazzling colours appeal to me, I would appreciate a lot more if it weren't for school.

School. Ah, yes. Responsible for 99.7% of my daily stress, school and I have an odd relationship. On hand I love learning. And learning in a structured environment is something I enjoy. What I don't enjoy are:

• Tests
• Teachers who don't care
• My classmates (some of them are nice)
• The pointless rules
• All the busy work 

I know my not liking school is a typical syndrome of teenage angst, teachers work very hard, my classmates probably feel the same way about me, most of rules are of value, and that I'm privileged to even be able to go to school. I am very aware that I'm fortunate to be able to school, and I'm grateful for it. But ever since middle school, my excitement of coming to school everyday gradually morphed into dread.  Tests, exams, and quizzes give me so much stress, it's pathetic. I do the homework, pay attention, ask questions, but I always find myself making little mistakes. And getting back a bad grade really upsets me. This partially due to the fact that I usually get excellent grades, so when I get marks that aren't up to par, I feel like a failure. I guess measuring my worth in my grades isn't healthy, but it's something I always do.Sigh.

This feels more like a diary post/rant than blog post, but I'm beyond caring. 

Bye non-existent readers of this blog!

-Jasmine