I felt like this book was a twist on The Hunger Games. There was plenty of action and a few plot changes that kept things interesting. But the this book had a love story that was a little too much center-stage for my tastes. Some of the fight scenes didn't seem that realistic, either. In retrospect, because of the way the love interests was handled, I suspect that this work was probably aimed not just at YA, but YW, specifically.The antagonists in the story were interesting. The first we meet is Coral. She was a best friend turned mortal enemy. But I had a hard time with really understanding her motivation. She played a critical role and at times she seemed too evil for what one would expect.Shepherd Fines seemed a little too nice. Sure, there's the persona he's trying to expose to the world, but he really seemed a bit shallow and naive. I had expected more of a mastermind, but he did his part to advance the plot. Ultimately, I'm not sure if he's a good guy or a bad one.As the story unfolds, there is frequent reference to the amount of killing that occurs in the book. The characters are certainly affected by the "demonstrations" they're forced to endure, but I would have liked to see more of the impact on them, emotionally and psychologically.Overall, this book was an entertaining read, but I think that it could have been really good with some better character development and a little less teenage crush. In order to pay off the huge amounts of debt Great Britain has accumulated, cities are sectioned off and individuals are chosen to fight to the death in arenas; Money is raised from the tickets sold from said battles. In the selection battle, the chosen are divided into two groups, blue and red, and whichever side is the only one standing wins. Bodies are thrown away and the survivors become Demonstrators, the individuals who pay back their city's debt through a series of 25 fights against criminals of the State. The more Demonstrators a city has, the richer the city is. After the selection, the Demonstrators are all shipped to a training camp, Zulu, where they are trained by old victors. We are first introduced to the protagonist, Sola, who is forced to go the the party of her old-friend-turned-bitch, Coral, who's father is one of the higher-ups in the dystopian society. There she sees a Demonstrator (which is basically the equivalent of a Hunger Games tribute), Dylan, who suddenly kisses her and leaves abruptly. Coral has a crush on the said boy and is angered when she sees the In the beginning we are introduced to the main character, Sola, as she makes her way to the party of an old-friend-now-turned-bitch, Coral, kiss, however, instead of the novel descending into a cat-fight, Coral runs to her father who then "cherry-picks" Sola as the next tribute - I mean demonstrator.Sola meets Dylan in the arena before going to battle, he gives her his sword, hoping she'll use it to protect herself. The sword, however, is more or less useless, but nonetheless, Sola somehow survives while protecting a six year old boy. Sola, along with three others, are moved to the training camp. Here, the plotline begins to fall apart and disappear altogether. Things get weird and awkward when one of the seven Shepards (the leaders), falls in love with Sola... The guy is ~ 40+ years old... The romance that builds between Sola and Shepard Fines is nonexistent, but apparently the guy is head-over-heels for her. Sola plays along with him (somewhat) in hopes of survival, with their bond forming through the novel Frankenstein (yeah, I don't get this either). The real romance is supposed to happen between Sola and Dylan, however, there isn't any character development between them. The two like each other for no real reason other than because the author dictated it to be so.Anyways, Sola wants to survive so she can go back to her dad. To do this, she has to go on the battle tour, kill the people she faces in the arena, and gain followers on Debtbook (it's like a futuristic version of Facebook). The more followers she has on Debtbook, the easier and fairer her last battle will be (cough cough like the Hunger Games cough cough). After several battles and snuggling up to Shepard Fines, Sola learns the startling truth: these battles and murders pay 0% of the debt their country is in. The battles are POINTLESS, serving only to distract and amuse the citizens in hopes of preventing a rebellion. The real money is made by human-trafficking, by selling the older individuals that get chosen to other countries for use as experiments and servants. What does Sola do when she discovers this? Does she incite a rebellion to fight back against the injustice of it all, becoming the strong heroine we expect her to be? Nope, far from it, Sola just complains about the injustice, finishes her last battle, and then goes home to her daddy. The novel ends with her saying goodbye to Dylan and heading out to see her dad. The ending just falls apart, the novel just becomes a pointless read at this point. The reader is tricked into thinking that Sola is destined for greatness, that she'll survive and do something more. But she doesn't. She just goes home, IGNORING ALL THE EVILS OF SOCIETY. She tells NO ONE, with the exception of Dylan, who tells her to turn a blind eye because she can't do anything. We see that she survives, however, there isn't a definite sense of closure. The reader is left questioning WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS NOVEL???? And the answer is: there is none. The novel isn't worth the read except to kill time. I was hoping for more cohesive novel with greater character development, something better than or somewhat like the Hunger Games.
What do You think about After The Fear (2013)?
Facebook vs Hunger Games. Great descriptions. Not for the faint of heart or faint of butt.
—Norma
If you liked reading The Hunger Games o Divergent, you will LOVE this.
—rita
Great story with intriguing characters. :)
—nseuwayfuri
Interesting concept a fair read.
—lucas1997vicentini
