Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
To play along just do the following:
Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
Feel free to skip the following paragraph as it is a bit rant-y and if you haven’t witnessed the storm following the publication of Allegiant also confusing.
I made myself stay away from twitter the last few days following the sheer barrage of not only spoilers but also pure ugliness concerning this book. I stayed away a while longer and have stopped reading quite a number of feeds because of the reactions ... I hadn’t imagined that supposed fans could respond in such a way just because they didn’t get what they expected. Not what they wanted, but demanded, and felt entitled to. One of the reviews I read calls the author brave for ending the series this way. I think that no author should feel that they need to be brave to write their story, because that means that there are reasons to be afraid ... it makes me feel sad that there should an aspect of fandom that inspires fear. Just because this is YA doesn’t mean that certain things are a guaranteed outcome. And if readers feel disillusioned or sad then that’s okay. What is not okay in any way is if this turns into anger against the author. Yes, many authors today are in some capacity available on the Internet and make the time to talk to their readers. This sort of one-sided anonymity gives certain types the courage to direct their anger at the author. Would they walk up to them in public and tell them that they hate the book? The author? Threaten their life? This is a whole can of worms that I don’t really want to open. At the end it is a book and if you don’t like the end then you’ll have to deal with it. The author is not your personal writing slave and what is a right and good end for you is not what everyone else would want for a story. Life is not a wish-granting factory and neither is fiction.
Did I enjoy the book/like the end? I’m still undecided. I understand why it ended how it did and it feels true to the characters and the story. On the other hand I haven’t quite figured out when or where the trilogy as a whole may have taken a turn that took it in a direction I wasn’t quite imagining at the end of Divergent. Maybe already in Insurgent. I still think that the scenario is interesting and that the characters are great, but as a whole I might have expected and prepared myself for something different. And this might also be why some readers reacted the way they did to this final book, because they encountered a scenario they weren’t expecting at all. This is just speculation since I stopped reading any of the tirades. I think a re-read of the complete series with the knowledge of the frame will yield quite a few surprises. But not in the near future as I don’t think I could take it. Because what this book does amazingly well is make you feel and experience things. And ultimately this is what good fiction is about in my opinion: not making you happy or feel good, but making you feel something and enjoy the time you spent reading it (because you chose to read rather than doing anything else after all). And those things are certainly true for me.
Chime in about reader expectations, author availability or your thoughts about this book (without spoiling the end). Share your teasers in the comments!
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
 |
| Allegiant – Katherine Tegen Books |
If someone offers you an opportunity to get closer to your enemy, you always take it. I know that without having learned it from anyone.
— Chapter 32
It’s not often you encounter the real person behind a good-natured mask, the darkest parts of someone. It’s not comfortable when you do.
— Chapter 42
Feel free to skip the following paragraph as it is a bit rant-y and if you haven’t witnessed the storm following the publication of Allegiant also confusing.
I made myself stay away from twitter the last few days following the sheer barrage of not only spoilers but also pure ugliness concerning this book. I stayed away a while longer and have stopped reading quite a number of feeds because of the reactions ... I hadn’t imagined that supposed fans could respond in such a way just because they didn’t get what they expected. Not what they wanted, but demanded, and felt entitled to. One of the reviews I read calls the author brave for ending the series this way. I think that no author should feel that they need to be brave to write their story, because that means that there are reasons to be afraid ... it makes me feel sad that there should an aspect of fandom that inspires fear. Just because this is YA doesn’t mean that certain things are a guaranteed outcome. And if readers feel disillusioned or sad then that’s okay. What is not okay in any way is if this turns into anger against the author. Yes, many authors today are in some capacity available on the Internet and make the time to talk to their readers. This sort of one-sided anonymity gives certain types the courage to direct their anger at the author. Would they walk up to them in public and tell them that they hate the book? The author? Threaten their life? This is a whole can of worms that I don’t really want to open. At the end it is a book and if you don’t like the end then you’ll have to deal with it. The author is not your personal writing slave and what is a right and good end for you is not what everyone else would want for a story. Life is not a wish-granting factory and neither is fiction.
Did I enjoy the book/like the end? I’m still undecided. I understand why it ended how it did and it feels true to the characters and the story. On the other hand I haven’t quite figured out when or where the trilogy as a whole may have taken a turn that took it in a direction I wasn’t quite imagining at the end of Divergent. Maybe already in Insurgent. I still think that the scenario is interesting and that the characters are great, but as a whole I might have expected and prepared myself for something different. And this might also be why some readers reacted the way they did to this final book, because they encountered a scenario they weren’t expecting at all. This is just speculation since I stopped reading any of the tirades. I think a re-read of the complete series with the knowledge of the frame will yield quite a few surprises. But not in the near future as I don’t think I could take it. Because what this book does amazingly well is make you feel and experience things. And ultimately this is what good fiction is about in my opinion: not making you happy or feel good, but making you feel something and enjoy the time you spent reading it (because you chose to read rather than doing anything else after all). And those things are certainly true for me.
Chime in about reader expectations, author availability or your thoughts about this book (without spoiling the end). Share your teasers in the comments!
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7 comments:
I haven't read this series yet. I should since I've heard so many great things about it.
My teaser
The teaser from chapter 32 is a good one!
Take a look at mine right here: Dan Brown Portal
I too have had to stay away, though I accidentally got a spoiler on youtube, just by glancing by a comment. There was one particular word that began with a D that I couldnt miss, and I'm trying my best to forget it. I want to feel the end for myself, and decide if I like it on my own. You going to see the movie next year when it comes out?
My teaser for this week is from Shooting Scars by Karina Halle
I love to re-read series just before a new book or just because. Knowing the outcome doesn't spoil a well written book.
Here is mine and Mine .
I recently added this series to my TBR list. Here is my Teaser Tuesday
I was surprised by the backlash too. I thought the ending was foreshadowed back in book two, so it wasn't really a surprise. I wasn't that big of a fan of the series, so maybe that's why I wasn't really angry about what happened. I thought the circumstances didn't make sense, but the end result did.
On the plus side, I think it speaks volumes that an author was able to get her fans this riled up. It shows how much they cared for her characters.
Here's mine
~pdbkwm
I haven't read this series yet, but I will eventually! I'm always surprised when readers feel so invested in a book. That's a real compliment to the author, even if they didn't like the way the book ended.
My Teaser today is from THE FUNERAL DRESS.
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