**A Critique of The Divergent Series: A Personal Perspective**

As I reflect on my experience with the Divergent series, I must admit that it was a thoroughly unenjoyable read. From the moment I started reading the first book, I knew that something was off. While I can appreciate the effort that Veronica Roth put into creating a unique world and characters, I couldn't help but feel like I was stuck in a jumbled mess of clichés.

The more I delved into the series, the more I felt like I was reading the same old story over and over again. The concept of factions and the government's motives were predictable and uninspired. I couldn't help but think that the author was relying too heavily on familiar tropes rather than taking risks to create something truly original. Even the characters, which are usually a highlight in any series, fell flat for me.

One of my main complaints about the Divergent series is its lack of world-building. Despite the series' promise of an immersive and detailed world, I found that there was surprisingly little to say on this front. The author's attempt at explaining the government's motivations and the history behind their actions felt shallow and unconvincing. It's clear that Roth established the foundation for the series, but she failed to expand upon it in meaningful ways.

I also couldn't help but notice that the series seemed to follow a predictable formula. From the moment I started reading Divergent, I knew that the story would follow a familiar arc. The rebellion against the government would be sparked by a charismatic leader, and the protagonist would find themselves at the center of it all. While this formula can work in certain contexts, it felt like Roth was relying too heavily on it here.

Another aspect of the series that disappointed me was its handling of characters. I have to admit that I found some of the characters to be particularly unlikable or one-dimensional. The way that certain characters were portrayed as evil or villainous without any real motivation or backstory felt shallow and unsatisfying. Even the protagonist, Tris, seemed like a blank slate at times, with her character development feeling rushed and unconvincing.

In contrast, I did enjoy the fast-paced action sequences and the excitement of discovering new plot twists. The series' pacing was quick and efficient, making it easy to devour the books in short periods of time. However, this speed also made it difficult for me to become invested in the story or its characters.

As someone who has read a wide range of books across various genres, I have to say that I didn't find anything particularly new or interesting about Divergent. While I can appreciate the effort that Roth put into creating a unique world and characters, I couldn't help but feel like I had seen it all before. If you're looking for a series with complex world-building, memorable characters, and a thought-provoking storyline, you might want to look elsewhere.

**Rating: One Star**

I have to admit that my experience with Divergent was so overwhelmingly negative that I'm inclined to give it one star. While I can appreciate the effort that Roth put into creating a unique world and characters, the series ultimately fell flat for me due to its predictability, lack of world-building, and poorly developed characters. If you're looking for a book that will leave you feeling uninspired and unfulfilled, then Divergent might be the perfect choice for you.

**A Personal Note**

I have to say that I've been thinking about why I didn't enjoy Divergent as much as some of my friends did. Looking back, I realize that it's not necessarily because of the book itself, but rather because I was reading it at a different time in my life. When I first read Divergent, I was younger and more impressionable, which might have made me more susceptible to its charms. However, as I've grown older and become more discerning about the books I read, I've come to appreciate more complex and nuanced storytelling.

Despite this, I still believe that Divergent is not my cup of tea. While it's clear that Veronica Roth put a lot of effort into creating a unique world and characters, the series ultimately fell short for me due to its predictability and lack of depth. If you're looking for a book that will challenge your expectations and leave you feeling invested in the story and its characters, then you might want to look elsewhere.

**What's Next?**

We'd love to hear from you! What did you think of Divergent? Did you enjoy it as much as some of our friends did? Let us know in the comments below! We're always looking for new book recommendations and would love to hear your thoughts on what we should read next. Don't be afraid to share your opinions, even if you didn't enjoy a particular book – we're here to discuss and share our love of reading with each other.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome back to my channel and welcome back to the dumb book club I'm Chandler and I'm Hayden and today we're going to be talking about everybody's favorite ya dystopian romance Shatter Me by tahara Mafi I can't remember if one of y'all recommended or suggested this one or if I just conjured it from The Ether but that is what we read I think we're going to have plenty to talk about which I feel like has not been the case the past few times that we've done these if one of you recommended this I'm coming for you so watch out this book was maybe my least favorite that I've ever read for the dbbc I have to say combines everything that I love I think fourth wi was worse for me simply because of the length of it but I think I think these books actually shared a lot of commonalities in terms of the way romance has developed and also the lack of World building but we'll get into that later you know I don't want to get too far into it right now but I will argue that I think that I liked the World building more in this book than fourth wi I don't know if that's if that's a shocker if that's a surprise hot TI I think I might agree I think there was more of it which is kind of pitiful if you really consider uh you know everything but well and I also I kind of appreciated I don't mean truly appreciated I just mean comparatively to Fourth wi I appreciated the way that it was sprinkled in and not like it didn't feel like giant bouts of exposition that's true I mean we didn't even really get that in fourth wi I don't think Exposition yeah no but if and when we did it was like it was heavy-handed it was not yeah it was heavy-handed yeah I I feel like the one or two times that I can really think about it it was like a lesson in class being like taught by a teacher kind of thing you know yeah like weakest form this one was like sprinkled in I guess we could say let's kick it off let's get into it and we can share our final readings at the end I think we like usually share our like initial thoughts and I guess we kind of did but I feel like we normally get it more in depth we're not doing that today we're going to go plot Point By plot point and really just break everything down for you and I think it's a great place to start the beginning where we get a Robert Frost quote Yeah so I as I do a lot of times for the dbbc stuff I listen to the audio book for this which was a mistake I told him that so I just I want everybody know I told him no and I knew that it would be I didn't even know what the book was about at all I just knew that it would be a mistake but I would have rather suffered a little bit more but been able to like do gardening and dishes stuff which is what I did while listening to this versus having to devote all of my time and like energy to just sitting still and like physically reading this I think I wouldn't have been able to make it through had I had to do that had I have to give it my soul attention it wouldn't have been good but I did the audiobook for this and I remember downloading the audiobook before I made dinner before I started cooking and I started it and Chandler was in the room and I said oh no not the Robert Frost I already hate this I like that it it's like not even an obscure quote nor did it pertain to anything that was discussed in the book like it talks about someone who makes choices and Hayden pointed out earlier before we sat down to record that there were no choices made like Juliet has little to know autonomy in this book I would say no I would say no autonomy I am struggling to think of a choice that she made herself that she wasn't like forced to make basically you know okay so the beginning of the book opens we've got our heroine if we want to call her that I think that's a a bold choice we're no I think we do have to call her that given what happens later she is the heroine I was just going to call her protagonist regardless we open up and we see that this gal's in some sort of imprisonment and she's questioning her sanity she is in this dark hole she's been here for nearly a year she rarely gets fed or bathed and we kind of learn all of this pretty early on in the book because someone is going to be living in her cell with her and this guy is named Adam he is sexy and handsome and big and he initially steals her bed he like pushes two beds together steals her pillow and he's like but she sleep in the corner he doesn't even say anything I don't know if he's like waiting for her to say something but she doesn't say and just allows it to happen so not only do we get a little bit of exposition on like kind of the place that she's at and how she's being treated but also her character which is um in a word Bland yeah to me and you know this came through really heavily with the audio book as you can imagine the word that I would use would be wine and not even whiny you know because she's she's not really saying like poor me like very often but it just feels like a wine like every like word and thought comes out in like a in like a sob she's she's got a notebook and a pen which whoever gave her that whoever allowed her to have that you specifically she's both writing and very much in her head this entire time because she doesn't have friends and no one likes her one of the things that I quoted was raindrops are my only reminder that clouds have a heartbeat that I have one too you get a lot of that in this book like a lot of that if you were not into like melodramatic teen writing I don't think this is going to be the book for you and I actually really want to know how old this author was when she penned this originally did this come from Wattpad what are the origins Miss Mafi because I am perplexed at your word choices here this book to me and especially the the first I guess like half or less than half but this book to me was really giving like middle school girl who like wants to be Emo but wants to be deep wants like doesn't really have like a reason to even though this character I guess technically like has a reason to I guess what I'm trying to say is this is the kind of thing that I would imagine that said middle school girl would want to be her reality so that she would have a reason to be like angsty and misunderstood and like no one has touched me I haven't had like physical touch or spoken a word to anyone else in in nearly a year so that's something I think we need to just lay out right now right a big plot of this book a big thing is that Juliet our main character is not really allowed to touch people because if she touches someone they will die or they will suffer horribly at the beginning of the book even though she doesn't know how to feel about Adam this Intruder into her life this boy living in this cell with her she very much tells him do not touch me like tries to say wait from him and obviously we learn like that's part of the reason why she wants to sit in the corner instead of like trying to steal her bed back she doesn't want any sort of altercation to where she would touch him and and cause him harm cuz she's just really pure of heart yeah yeah here's my thing I I very much concur with you something I was thinking as I was reading this book was I don't care I like very specifically don't care about the fact that you can't touch anybody I'm not saying that it would be great to not be able to experience human touch right sure that's probably like a pretty lonely way to live but she can like definitely touch people through fabric or through skin like if she's really craving a hug just like put some gloves on I don't know like I'm I'm not really I think this is supposed to draw out like empathy in us and also just like understand her like quiet strength she was loudly annoying to me like I I did not sympathize with her kind of whatsoever I don't know if you feel the same way I didn't sympathize with her but only because it was like so like far-fetched and extreme that it took me out too far for there to be any kind of feeling of something real like sympathy I also feel like for me whenever I'm reading a character and they're experiencing things that I personally haven't experienced if you're trying to get me to empathize sympathize put myself in that person's shoes I think they need to be characterized in a way that makes sense to me and in a way that I can relate to in some ways jul that's not a relatable character the way that she speaks the way that she puts pen to paper and just like tells all of her thought it was not it was not relatable in any sense like I think had she kind of kept things in more and like tried to live her life normally and you know secretly on occasion like just professing the fact that like God this kind of sucks like you know there's something about this that's just like really I don't know to be fair she wasn't really allowed to live life normally like she was cast into a a a prison cell in solitary basically for a year for before that she didn't have that expence no before that everyone knew that there was something wrong with her and they all treated her like a a social Pariah and like her teacher was like you're a cre you're like a devil creature like I said heavy handed if you're trying to get me to care you're not getting me to care you're getting me to laugh okay and I don't think that's the intended effect so I think it was a little too extreme on that end and also the I think the thing that really made me not be able to sympathize was it another parallel to Fourth wi I was saying that that book was nothing but crazy high levels of emotion like emotion was at here the whole time this book was the same except for the only emotion was cry yeah this book was just cry they're trying to work on the Earth's atmosphere and solve weather problems and I think it could all be solved by Juliet's tears frankly true but very quickly Juliet and Adam are taken from this cell she is confused as to what's happening they're only there for like a week or two but I think during that time I don't know if he necessarily professes his love but they form a a connection a bond really tentative but strong she wakes up to what can only be described as the kind of man that would storm the capital and also realizing that the guy that she loves the guy that's like in the cell with her Adam works for this creep I will say there's one thing that I like kind of want to bring up that happens during this time when they're in the cell before we move on and I think it's kind of a recurring feeling of mine throughout this and another parallel to Fourth wi again in my opinion in my humble opinion as someone who has never experienced something so traumatic as being locked in a solitary cell for nearly a year and like not having any human contact right she's also barely being fed psychological torture of not knowing when she's going to be fed having to like shower in the dark barely all I'm saying is her needs are not being met at all of these very Baseline levels of like security but why is she trying to and then she sees a guy and she's like and then I noticed his muscles I wished that he would touch me and then you know scratches it out no he can never touch me to me it's just I don't think that there is any person ever that would be experiencing these things and would be like considering a romance I mean let's let's put it this way right I have most of my needs met right but if I wake up in the morning and I'm hungry there's no way anything sexual is getting getting see that's what I'm saying not even necessarily anything sexual I'm just saying like she's like thinking about her attraction to this person and that she like wants to be with him even in like a it's insane here is my conjecture about why this book is so popular and I wanted to get to this at the end but I need to throw it in here because it's relevant yeah this book is horny as hell okay like one of the most horny YA books in my humble opinion it's not that this book has like a bunch of onpage banging but the Lusty feelings that are elicited in our girl Juliet from like the 40% mark on and throughout the entire series is it's a lot and I remember thinking after finishing the series literally the only reason these books are popular is because they're so horny I'm sorry but I think there's much better books that have good messages about like standing strong and like getting through hard times and things like that I don't think that's why people like this book I think it's really because like there's two love interests are there two love interests is that like a thing for like a future like future in the series or something because it sure is I definitely got zero Vibes of that speaking of secondary love interests we get introduction into our second love interest like I said the one that sort of looks like um an insurrectionist Warner is a guy who is in charge of what do they call it the the reestablishment Warner is an interesting character right he is the son of one of the main guys in charge of this like new order this new established government that doesn't do much for the people and really just cares about like a select few hords of wealth that kind of he's blonde he has green eyes he knows Juliet's clothing size he has been stocking her and her medical records for a while now basically the perfect gentleman that's all you're describing to me I mean sure he is the kind that's like I'll put I'll put out a dress for this date baby girl like don't worry about it I got this like to a very like extreme level poies looking so fire yes absolutely the vibe Juliet understandably is like freaked the out by this man she's like okay where the are we what's going on this guy that I've been in a cell with he's not what I thought he works for this government that I don't believe in and don't really like not only that but there's this weirdo trying to get me to use my powers for him who's like basically like I'm in love with you and I've been in love with you cuz I knew you were a killing tool Juliet okay he's weird I you know again the the whole time that she's like in Camp with him or whatever it just continued the the thought or the feeling in my head of like okay this girl goes from being in prison and not knowing when she's going to see her talk to someone or get her next meal to now she doesn't know if she's going to be tortured have to torture someone or be killed or have to smooch a guy she wouldn't want to smooch and then she's thinking about romance still yeah yeah she sure is not with Warner of course cuz he would be you know too much for her if we think about it logically oh we're going to do that both of these men come on way too strong way too quickly but Warner has resources she's got a comfy bed she's got a full tummy and all she got to do is kill a couple people I'm not saying that she made the wrong choice I am saying that it's not the choice I I would admit well I think we all know that it is weird to me though that both of her potential love interest and we're going to count Warner as one sure both of them have been stalking her for years yeah that's what I'm saying like there there are very many parallels that I think people like to overlook if they've only read this book but there are definite parallels between the two guys like neither of them are a good choice yeah you know we find out later Adam's like I've been looking for you ever since you disappeared you know whenever word in third grade or whatever it is that she disappeared you know which is weird cuz he's only like a couple of years older I think she was like 13 or something yeah but he's again he's like only a couple years older like so is he is he older than her Adam or Adam two years I think I thought that they were in the same grade because and she was 17 or is that maybe I just remember like her talking about seeing him as a kid when they were like in school and he's like getting abused by his dad or something you know yeah that's true so I just thought I assumed that they were like the same age and like went to school together and like were I guess like in the same but they could have just gone to the same school and not been the same age anyways but again they are in love they want to run away together which is something that quickly happens here's here's another thing that like kind of irritates me about this book and I didn't really know until I reread it is the repetition and or confusion kind of of plotline you've got them going from place to place often Juliet never gets a moment to breathe and to really like process what's happening to her she needs to like be in love at all times and is also just like never safe right so On The Run yeah she goes from the psych wward basically that she's in this prison to being at this like compound where Warner is where she has like all these Creature Comforts and then her and Adam make this agreement that they are going to run away together they get this opportunity not really when they expect to so they're kind of on the run before they have all the things together they want to have together Warner puts up a big stink about this and he's like but Pooky like I've loved you this entire time I don't think he says that I think that he says I can like give you anything that you need yeah this punk ass can't and you know what he's kind of right he's kind of not wrong he does come on a little aggressive but he's not wrong if by aggressive you mean he talks about how he it's like a kill or be killed world you know yeah like sometimes you got to shoot someone in the head first before they shoot you in the back oh wait did I forget about the coband time oh no okay never mind I forget how crazy this book gets and like how many ups and downs we've got right so they want to run away together but they don't run away together yet they're just like talking about it also one thing I I think is interesting is that she's got cameras and microphones potentially in her room right so she like she barans to get these cameras taken out of her bedroom but only if she touches mortar she doesn't do it he still lets her take the cameras out which I think it's it's is a nice guy move okay I appreciate that why the are all conversations between Adam and Juliet had in the shower why because that's where the microphones and the cameras aren't but can you imagine a soaking wet man coming out of this bedroom like multiple times and and not thinking that's suspicious no no no they don't okay I think you misunderstood they're not in the shower yeah they are he gets he gets wet he has to like take his shirt off oh maybe okay I thought that they just went into the bathroom because there's no cameras in the bathroom turn the shower on so no microphone I thought so too but but no no they're getting damp oh okay well you just wanted to get damped then I guess but like multiple he's walking out soaking wet I also s suspicious I know that it would be like a it this is kind of like a plot hole in the book right yeah but the first time when Warner's like yeah I'll remove the cameras but I want you to touch me why doesn't she just touch him and kill him you know I know it's a plot hole because she can't like we'll get to it later but she loves and she doesn't doesn't want to do that but yeah it's like shut up like if I had that skill here's the thing I'm not also it's implied that she doesn't really have control like that she essentially before this she's forced to touch another like Soldier right we kind of find out that whenever someone touches her she basically is like draining the life force from them and pulling it into herself and she kind of I guess subconsciously likes it because he's like oh well you know if you really hated the fact that you had to do that to that Soldier you definitely didn't let go fast enough and you're the one who has to let go in order for it to stop like the other person can't separate themselves so she's subconsciously likes draining people so I don't really know about the whole she's good and she loves you know yeah I think like mentally she does I think she's conflicted he does eventually test her though and the test that he puts her through is that she has to get a little baby like a toddler to safety and obviously to do that she has to touch the baby this shows that it is clobber in time she goes full Hulk she saves the baby and then she gets so angry that they put her in this situation that she like breaks through glass and like shatters concrete so not only does she have the power to hurt people she can hurt things which is super cool I love that yeah endless power is very neat and we love when it's boundless we'll get we'll get more into it later why I hate this so much so she ends up eventually escaping with Adam and as we say as we said earlier it's not necessarily like as they planned it it happens much earlier and so they don't have time to gather supplies and the things that they need to gather um and doing so Warner tries to like grab for her ankle as she's about to jump from like a third five I don't know what story window he touches her and she realizes that he does not feel anything from her touch yeah it's a brief touch and so she hopes that he doesn't notice it but she notices and so now there are two people who we know can touch her Adam can touch her obviously that's why they've been making out heavy heavy pettin heavy just liquor kissing just like getting nasty with it I don't like that there is anyone who can touch her I don't like it I I think it's so dumb I think it's the dumbest part of this book one of the dumbest parts I mean there's a lot of dumb parts of this book but like and if there was someone who could touch her sure it should only be one person no I actually think it's cooler that it's more than one person cuz if it's just one person I think you can like attribute things to that like oh it's cuz it's her soulmate or whatever exactly say could for person like it it makes it interesting it's like what is causing other people to like not I guess but if that's the case then like why is she special aside from being able to like punch concrete and I guess like suck the life from some people like if your power is inconsistent like that then how will you ever know like oh this is a person that I can do this to you know I mean I'm sure we find out in other books I can't remember what the reason is but we do find it out so whatever uh they escape and they end up stopping at Adam's house to visit secret house Adam's little brother James and that's like fine I think that part of the book is okay oh but they're boyfriend and girlfriend now yes they are we got to make that official cuz like you you know it's it's only the end of the world and you know putting they're the relationship they're surely not like running for their lives you know so before they leave they get visited by this guy named Kenji who is a part of the reestablishment he's like one of the soldiers he ends up like kind of becoming a part of their pack like they end up kind of running away together with him he's kind of a smooth talker he's sort of into Juliet but one thing that's really memorable to me is the scene where everybody's like in this car together and they are trying to get the out of Dodge and they are just heavy petting in the godamn car I'm like there's a child around like what are we doing oh what do you mean when I don't remember this what happened just one of their moments where they get too caught up in each other and they're just like I just love you so much nak oh yeah oh yeah that's right because he's like but oh yeah I mean I guess I never really gave you the choice on whether or or not you want to be my girlfriend and kenchi is like yeah I'm just going to pretend like I'm not hearing any of this also I tranked to the kid so he is actually not like hearing any of this yeah that's when they like give the kid the sleeping pill oh is it yeah okay and then gets kind of hairy I'm trying to remember the order of events here oh okay so they're running away but Warner ends up catching them and he ends up grabbing Juliet I think Adam is shot so he can't like really protect Juliet and Warner nabs her again and does his whole smooth talking bit again he's like you thought I didn't know you could touch me I do know yeah I felt that and by that I mean nothing I and I think this is actually when he says i' love you Adam saying he loves her is crazy but this is just Next Level yeah and he also says some like you made the I can't believe you made the wrong choice like that you know he goes on and on it's so unsettling and then she's like oh yeah I'm Into You you're right I did make the wrong choice here's the thing here's the thing I don't think that the author is trying to endear us to this character or say that like his behavior is correct but knowing how the series ends knowing who she ends up with it's weird to me that she took this tactic with this book cuz like you can't erase the history right and and I I'm fine with having an evil character who becomes less evil but to have him come on this strong in this book is weirdo Behavior it's not something that I think can just be like apologized away it's weird it's very like inell Behavior it's like very much like yeah like you're it's very much like I've done so much for you what do you mean no it's not good it's super not good to try to get away she makes out with the man and steals his gun and shoots him and shoots him yeah um one thing I did note and this is a quote from myself actually he at some point is talking to her about like I've got all these resources he's like admit it you like killing tools Loca like you want to be just like me like we are made for each other right cuz I think you liked clobber in the concrete right so weird oh wait okay I got I was too early on the escaping in the car that that that's that's what's happening next this is what he says to her who Adam oh okay yes okay so they they do eventually escap Escape right Adam's like on his deathbed is he on his death bed at this point no well he's like yeah he was like hanging and they were like torturing him and she shatters through some more concrete again does a second like Hulk clobbering time thing after she shoots him she goes and like tracks down his scent or something I think she can like hear his heartbeat through like six inches of concrete or something makes sense checks out and she like punches through like a wall into a slaughterhouse where he is apparently on a conveyor belt I guess like being fed into like the old slaughterhouse stuff and he's like been tortured and beaten and stuff like that she gets him down and then gets him out of there and then they get back to the car and then they find Kenji and James yes correct kenji's like I got a safe house now they're like driving away so I'm wondering how the this comes in but Adam says I'm going to memorize every inch of your body with my lips while there's a child in the car and this is where we find out that he's actually dead asleep thank God and he's just been tortured yeah you know in context it's worse actually I think like if it had happened before it would still be weird but like now that he's got a gunshot wound even weirder gunshot wound tortured was hanging almost dead like how how is your libido on your mind I mean I guess they're teenagers no can't reiterate this enough I don't think that anyone feels this when their life is seriously being threatened when they are like on the run from people in entire government ENT wants to them yeah and I I guess you could say that like if you think you're going to die no but it's not like that no no no I I can see that argument in the perspective of if you think you're going to die but like you have like a long time right you know like even like a week right where you think someone's coming for you and you're like trying to I'm thinking back to like Farah and Reese in the third book which you didn't read they end up like at a war camp like before they go to battle like I kind of get it like one last like Nookie for oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no this is like they're in a car a gunshot wound yeah but the fun thing is they get to this like compound Kenji takes them there he's like I know where to go and we find out that there is a rebel alliance essentially that's trying to take down the reestablishment it's called Omega point I I believe I have it written down somewhere I think yeah not related to The Omega verse thankfully y all have any good Omega verse recks leave them in the comments maybe we'll do one next she ends up meeting this guy named Castle who is this like mysterious Overlord she wakes up and she's under this sheet completely naked and she's clean and she's like what the going on I'm like I'm not injured anymore I'm doing so good and I look hot as hell she like talks about how my hair is so silky she talks to this guy he's like I'm going to bring you to my Overlord Underlord I don't know if they're underground if they're M people they are underground she meets this guy who's like hot and sexy and is for some reason wearing a suit and he's like yeah actually a bunch of freaks live underground with us and you're one of them congrats he gives her a purple super suit we learn basically nothing about where she's at except for that there are other people like her who have gifts like her which is reassuring to her also learned that the the reestablishment has been lying to everyone and that Earth is actually like not I mean like Earth is like in a bad way but not nearly as bad as they say animals are still there but like being hidden food is being withheld all in an attempt to get people to follow this reestablishment government like unquestioningly and they're also like burning all the books also I hate that they why do they always do it why do they always make them bookish why do they try to do it for the girls yeah every every girl is bookish and they don't have to be and she's like she's particularly super upset about the fact that they're going to get rid of all of her books I agree but I think in this context it's okay because if you cannot have contact with humans if people have mostly rejected you no no no no I agree I agree I'm not saying that this one is the problem also like how long ago did this book come out 2011 yeah this is like maybe she was one of the first she she was like not no no she I wouldn't say one of the first but I mean like you know I'm just saying they're still doing it today yeah you know they're still doing it today sure are this and fourth wi yeah she's bookish but also can punch through two feet of concrete sure can I said this at the end whenever I finished it and I came in I was so I was so mad that they basically like at the end of this it was like kind of a superhero book thing and I know that you said that it's not like continuing in the series right but well the fact that like in the end of this she shows up to a compound where they're like oh yeah there's a bunch of other people with a bunch of different powers like welcome to the X-Men you know and like here's your super suit well that's so she doesn't kill people but yeah but still they literally it's like skin tight latex purple I don't know it's latex I know but Jesus Christ it's not a suit I mean basically she says it's skin tight and like you know no material even weirder to me was that the the healers there's like two twin healers at the compound they're wearing silver bodysuits so I'm picturing kind of basically like a silver wet suit with gold ballet flats yeah sounds sick I didn't even know what footwear they had on I hope all of my healers look like that we find out also that Kenji has invisibility powers and that's all I have for you folks in terms of my notes it definitely your favorite book ever it definitely an amount of times that I could not count on both hands that Kenji has snuck into showers for sure and looked at people for sure all that he's also characterized as being creepy too which doesn't help well that's what I'm saying yeah yeah he's invisibility man and is also kind of a SLE ball yeah definitely his seen Juliet P I can feel it well yeah and and also I mean he does mention the fact that like because he's part of the reestablishment like Army thing that they were in he's like hitting on Juliet and Adam's like yo lay off and he's like dude come on man I haven't seen a girl in so long like you can't you can't fault me for this one I'm saying he's also looking at the guys in the showers you know yeah he's just laying down yeah you know and not that they don't shower together already but it was an adventure it was a ride I I'm glad that it's over I kind of want to know what happens next I don't I really do not I can tell you that this was one of my least favorites and not even from like the story perspective but from the character perspective from the perspective that it was told in not from the actual story and like what happens I don't think I can put myself through the next one and I think that that's the first time that I've like genuinely said that I could have even read the next book in fourth wi I could not read the next B so funny because we read this instead of the second book in fourth wi IV was like it's too long I don't want to put Hayden through that I also didn't know that we'd have much to say I feel like we had more to say about this one than we yeah for sure yeah we definitely had some stuff to say about this one but I just like I can't subject myself to the whine to the cry yeah I mean fair enough and you know I don't even know necessarily that the next book would be like that but I mean if it is it's too late you know I think it's more Adventure packed but it's also just like for me a little too I mean it's a it's a jumbled mess of different like storyline aspects right but it was just like cliche after cliche like whenever they started talking about the world the the Earth like not doing good right and I'm going to see a bird again and like reestablishment government and blah blah blah I knew like from like the 25% Mark that the like reestablishment government was like lying to people cuz that's just like that's the cliche right I mean I did not see the the X-Men Camp coming but just another like yeah I don't know it's an amalgamation nothing feels original about this book or the series and I will say is someone who has read the first three books which is like essentially the trilogy she does write books in the series like 10 years later basically not like set 10 years later I mean like she just decides to write more later I read the like original trilogy and I think I was like most taken by the fact that there's not that much more World building done in the series like stuff happens and we're fighting against the powers of that be but it doesn't I mean to be fair I feel like they established everything that we need to know but it's so which isn't much so weak it's so Bas level like I just finished reading Divergent and that is like a knockoff of The Hunger Games even that book has a lot more to say right like this idea of factions and like why the government's this way and even like a theory on why the government's this way this is like so basic like they're trying to help the people and so they take over and they're bad like okay that's like that's nothing that's so uninteresting and uninspired and again I think for me it's really the characters that really make this unfun it's not my favorite it's never been my favorite I think maybe had I read this at a younger age I would have enjoyed it more but I was also pretty good at saying back then too and I have noticed that as I read books later on I guess that like I didn't read when I was younger when they were popular like I still don't I just don't think I would have liked it even even back then I mean even if it was horny it I I think think I would have noticed the nonsense no I don't think that there's any version of me at any point in my life that would have ever enjoyed this and I I can very strongly say that you know it has nothing to do with me now well what would you rate this Aiden it's like I want to give it a one you can I want to give it a one because of how much I did not enjoy it but I feel like you have said to me previously that you give a one to something that's like unreadable it's more like offensive is what I do for one star and what do you mean by offensive like genuinely offensive like like there's like like problematic yeah problematic or like uh yeah yeah usually it's what I do but what I'm say me that doesn't have to be you it could just be like you hated it so much it's one star that's fine for me this is like probably a two or three star I readed it like three stars I think on good reads the first time I read it this time it would be two but I'm not going to change my reading on good reads you don't need to ponder that much it's really not that deep all right this is going to be my first one star all right it's official it's official this is first one star I mean we we get fourth wi two stars so I mean it it only follows I've given almost every book two stars on dbbc you're generous with your three stars am I yeah I think so what did I give three can't remember but I know what's happened that's it from us we I had a fun time with this like I I I like when we have things to say you know it's not fun when a book's bad and there's nothing to say it's fun when there's good things to say I am happy that I was able to get it all read like in a couple hours yeah it's a short book which is nice let us know in the comments down below what you thought of this book and also what you want us to read next we would love to know ya romance doesn't matter any dumb character is welcome here cuz we're the dumb that read it unfortunately in this case thank you so much for watching love you all so much and I'll see you next timehello welcome back to my channel and welcome back to the dumb book club I'm Chandler and I'm Hayden and today we're going to be talking about everybody's favorite ya dystopian romance Shatter Me by tahara Mafi I can't remember if one of y'all recommended or suggested this one or if I just conjured it from The Ether but that is what we read I think we're going to have plenty to talk about which I feel like has not been the case the past few times that we've done these if one of you recommended this I'm coming for you so watch out this book was maybe my least favorite that I've ever read for the dbbc I have to say combines everything that I love I think fourth wi was worse for me simply because of the length of it but I think I think these books actually shared a lot of commonalities in terms of the way romance has developed and also the lack of World building but we'll get into that later you know I don't want to get too far into it right now but I will argue that I think that I liked the World building more in this book than fourth wi I don't know if that's if that's a shocker if that's a surprise hot TI I think I might agree I think there was more of it which is kind of pitiful if you really consider uh you know everything but well and I also I kind of appreciated I don't mean truly appreciated I just mean comparatively to Fourth wi I appreciated the way that it was sprinkled in and not like it didn't feel like giant bouts of exposition that's true I mean we didn't even really get that in fourth wi I don't think Exposition yeah no but if and when we did it was like it was heavy-handed it was not yeah it was heavy-handed yeah I I feel like the one or two times that I can really think about it it was like a lesson in class being like taught by a teacher kind of thing you know yeah like weakest form this one was like sprinkled in I guess we could say let's kick it off let's get into it and we can share our final readings at the end I think we like usually share our like initial thoughts and I guess we kind of did but I feel like we normally get it more in depth we're not doing that today we're going to go plot Point By plot point and really just break everything down for you and I think it's a great place to start the beginning where we get a Robert Frost quote Yeah so I as I do a lot of times for the dbbc stuff I listen to the audio book for this which was a mistake I told him that so I just I want everybody know I told him no and I knew that it would be I didn't even know what the book was about at all I just knew that it would be a mistake but I would have rather suffered a little bit more but been able to like do gardening and dishes stuff which is what I did while listening to this versus having to devote all of my time and like energy to just sitting still and like physically reading this I think I wouldn't have been able to make it through had I had to do that had I have to give it my soul attention it wouldn't have been good but I did the audiobook for this and I remember downloading the audiobook before I made dinner before I started cooking and I started it and Chandler was in the room and I said oh no not the Robert Frost I already hate this I like that it it's like not even an obscure quote nor did it pertain to anything that was discussed in the book like it talks about someone who makes choices and Hayden pointed out earlier before we sat down to record that there were no choices made like Juliet has little to know autonomy in this book I would say no I would say no autonomy I am struggling to think of a choice that she made herself that she wasn't like forced to make basically you know okay so the beginning of the book opens we've got our heroine if we want to call her that I think that's a a bold choice we're no I think we do have to call her that given what happens later she is the heroine I was just going to call her protagonist regardless we open up and we see that this gal's in some sort of imprisonment and she's questioning her sanity she is in this dark hole she's been here for nearly a year she rarely gets fed or bathed and we kind of learn all of this pretty early on in the book because someone is going to be living in her cell with her and this guy is named Adam he is sexy and handsome and big and he initially steals her bed he like pushes two beds together steals her pillow and he's like but she sleep in the corner he doesn't even say anything I don't know if he's like waiting for her to say something but she doesn't say and just allows it to happen so not only do we get a little bit of exposition on like kind of the place that she's at and how she's being treated but also her character which is um in a word Bland yeah to me and you know this came through really heavily with the audio book as you can imagine the word that I would use would be wine and not even whiny you know because she's she's not really saying like poor me like very often but it just feels like a wine like every like word and thought comes out in like a in like a sob she's she's got a notebook and a pen which whoever gave her that whoever allowed her to have that you specifically she's both writing and very much in her head this entire time because she doesn't have friends and no one likes her one of the things that I quoted was raindrops are my only reminder that clouds have a heartbeat that I have one too you get a lot of that in this book like a lot of that if you were not into like melodramatic teen writing I don't think this is going to be the book for you and I actually really want to know how old this author was when she penned this originally did this come from Wattpad what are the origins Miss Mafi because I am perplexed at your word choices here this book to me and especially the the first I guess like half or less than half but this book to me was really giving like middle school girl who like wants to be Emo but wants to be deep wants like doesn't really have like a reason to even though this character I guess technically like has a reason to I guess what I'm trying to say is this is the kind of thing that I would imagine that said middle school girl would want to be her reality so that she would have a reason to be like angsty and misunderstood and like no one has touched me I haven't had like physical touch or spoken a word to anyone else in in nearly a year so that's something I think we need to just lay out right now right a big plot of this book a big thing is that Juliet our main character is not really allowed to touch people because if she touches someone they will die or they will suffer horribly at the beginning of the book even though she doesn't know how to feel about Adam this Intruder into her life this boy living in this cell with her she very much tells him do not touch me like tries to say wait from him and obviously we learn like that's part of the reason why she wants to sit in the corner instead of like trying to steal her bed back she doesn't want any sort of altercation to where she would touch him and and cause him harm cuz she's just really pure of heart yeah yeah here's my thing I I very much concur with you something I was thinking as I was reading this book was I don't care I like very specifically don't care about the fact that you can't touch anybody I'm not saying that it would be great to not be able to experience human touch right sure that's probably like a pretty lonely way to live but she can like definitely touch people through fabric or through skin like if she's really craving a hug just like put some gloves on I don't know like I'm I'm not really I think this is supposed to draw out like empathy in us and also just like understand her like quiet strength she was loudly annoying to me like I I did not sympathize with her kind of whatsoever I don't know if you feel the same way I didn't sympathize with her but only because it was like so like far-fetched and extreme that it took me out too far for there to be any kind of feeling of something real like sympathy I also feel like for me whenever I'm reading a character and they're experiencing things that I personally haven't experienced if you're trying to get me to empathize sympathize put myself in that person's shoes I think they need to be characterized in a way that makes sense to me and in a way that I can relate to in some ways jul that's not a relatable character the way that she speaks the way that she puts pen to paper and just like tells all of her thought it was not it was not relatable in any sense like I think had she kind of kept things in more and like tried to live her life normally and you know secretly on occasion like just professing the fact that like God this kind of sucks like you know there's something about this that's just like really I don't know to be fair she wasn't really allowed to live life normally like she was cast into a a a prison cell in solitary basically for a year for before that she didn't have that expence no before that everyone knew that there was something wrong with her and they all treated her like a a social Pariah and like her teacher was like you're a cre you're like a devil creature like I said heavy handed if you're trying to get me to care you're not getting me to care you're getting me to laugh okay and I don't think that's the intended effect so I think it was a little too extreme on that end and also the I think the thing that really made me not be able to sympathize was it another parallel to Fourth wi I was saying that that book was nothing but crazy high levels of emotion like emotion was at here the whole time this book was the same except for the only emotion was cry yeah this book was just cry they're trying to work on the Earth's atmosphere and solve weather problems and I think it could all be solved by Juliet's tears frankly true but very quickly Juliet and Adam are taken from this cell she is confused as to what's happening they're only there for like a week or two but I think during that time I don't know if he necessarily professes his love but they form a a connection a bond really tentative but strong she wakes up to what can only be described as the kind of man that would storm the capital and also realizing that the guy that she loves the guy that's like in the cell with her Adam works for this creep I will say there's one thing that I like kind of want to bring up that happens during this time when they're in the cell before we move on and I think it's kind of a recurring feeling of mine throughout this and another parallel to Fourth wi again in my opinion in my humble opinion as someone who has never experienced something so traumatic as being locked in a solitary cell for nearly a year and like not having any human contact right she's also barely being fed psychological torture of not knowing when she's going to be fed having to like shower in the dark barely all I'm saying is her needs are not being met at all of these very Baseline levels of like security but why is she trying to and then she sees a guy and she's like and then I noticed his muscles I wished that he would touch me and then you know scratches it out no he can never touch me to me it's just I don't think that there is any person ever that would be experiencing these things and would be like considering a romance I mean let's let's put it this way right I have most of my needs met right but if I wake up in the morning and I'm hungry there's no way anything sexual is getting getting see that's what I'm saying not even necessarily anything sexual I'm just saying like she's like thinking about her attraction to this person and that she like wants to be with him even in like a it's insane here is my conjecture about why this book is so popular and I wanted to get to this at the end but I need to throw it in here because it's relevant yeah this book is horny as hell okay like one of the most horny YA books in my humble opinion it's not that this book has like a bunch of onpage banging but the Lusty feelings that are elicited in our girl Juliet from like the 40% mark on and throughout the entire series is it's a lot and I remember thinking after finishing the series literally the only reason these books are popular is because they're so horny I'm sorry but I think there's much better books that have good messages about like standing strong and like getting through hard times and things like that I don't think that's why people like this book I think it's really because like there's two love interests are there two love interests is that like a thing for like a future like future in the series or something because it sure is I definitely got zero Vibes of that speaking of secondary love interests we get introduction into our second love interest like I said the one that sort of looks like um an insurrectionist Warner is a guy who is in charge of what do they call it the the reestablishment Warner is an interesting character right he is the son of one of the main guys in charge of this like new order this new established government that doesn't do much for the people and really just cares about like a select few hords of wealth that kind of he's blonde he has green eyes he knows Juliet's clothing size he has been stocking her and her medical records for a while now basically the perfect gentleman that's all you're describing to me I mean sure he is the kind that's like I'll put I'll put out a dress for this date baby girl like don't worry about it I got this like to a very like extreme level poies looking so fire yes absolutely the vibe Juliet understandably is like freaked the out by this man she's like okay where the are we what's going on this guy that I've been in a cell with he's not what I thought he works for this government that I don't believe in and don't really like not only that but there's this weirdo trying to get me to use my powers for him who's like basically like I'm in love with you and I've been in love with you cuz I knew you were a killing tool Juliet okay he's weird I you know again the the whole time that she's like in Camp with him or whatever it just continued the the thought or the feeling in my head of like okay this girl goes from being in prison and not knowing when she's going to see her talk to someone or get her next meal to now she doesn't know if she's going to be tortured have to torture someone or be killed or have to smooch a guy she wouldn't want to smooch and then she's thinking about romance still yeah yeah she sure is not with Warner of course cuz he would be you know too much for her if we think about it logically oh we're going to do that both of these men come on way too strong way too quickly but Warner has resources she's got a comfy bed she's got a full tummy and all she got to do is kill a couple people I'm not saying that she made the wrong choice I am saying that it's not the choice I I would admit well I think we all know that it is weird to me though that both of her potential love interest and we're going to count Warner as one sure both of them have been stalking her for years yeah that's what I'm saying like there there are very many parallels that I think people like to overlook if they've only read this book but there are definite parallels between the two guys like neither of them are a good choice yeah you know we find out later Adam's like I've been looking for you ever since you disappeared you know whenever word in third grade or whatever it is that she disappeared you know which is weird cuz he's only like a couple of years older I think she was like 13 or something yeah but he's again he's like only a couple years older like so is he is he older than her Adam or Adam two years I think I thought that they were in the same grade because and she was 17 or is that maybe I just remember like her talking about seeing him as a kid when they were like in school and he's like getting abused by his dad or something you know yeah that's true so I just thought I assumed that they were like the same age and like went to school together and like were I guess like in the same but they could have just gone to the same school and not been the same age anyways but again they are in love they want to run away together which is something that quickly happens here's here's another thing that like kind of irritates me about this book and I didn't really know until I reread it is the repetition and or confusion kind of of plotline you've got them going from place to place often Juliet never gets a moment to breathe and to really like process what's happening to her she needs to like be in love at all times and is also just like never safe right so On The Run yeah she goes from the psych wward basically that she's in this prison to being at this like compound where Warner is where she has like all these Creature Comforts and then her and Adam make this agreement that they are going to run away together they get this opportunity not really when they expect to so they're kind of on the run before they have all the things together they want to have together Warner puts up a big stink about this and he's like but Pooky like I've loved you this entire time I don't think he says that I think that he says I can like give you anything that you need yeah this punk ass can't and you know what he's kind of right he's kind of not wrong he does come on a little aggressive but he's not wrong if by aggressive you mean he talks about how he it's like a kill or be killed world you know yeah like sometimes you got to shoot someone in the head first before they shoot you in the back oh wait did I forget about the coband time oh no okay never mind I forget how crazy this book gets and like how many ups and downs we've got right so they want to run away together but they don't run away together yet they're just like talking about it also one thing I I think is interesting is that she's got cameras and microphones potentially in her room right so she like she barans to get these cameras taken out of her bedroom but only if she touches mortar she doesn't do it he still lets her take the cameras out which I think it's it's is a nice guy move okay I appreciate that why the are all conversations between Adam and Juliet had in the shower why because that's where the microphones and the cameras aren't but can you imagine a soaking wet man coming out of this bedroom like multiple times and and not thinking that's suspicious no no no they don't okay I think you misunderstood they're not in the shower yeah they are he gets he gets wet he has to like take his shirt off oh maybe okay I thought that they just went into the bathroom because there's no cameras in the bathroom turn the shower on so no microphone I thought so too but but no no they're getting damp oh okay well you just wanted to get damped then I guess but like multiple he's walking out soaking wet I also s suspicious I know that it would be like a it this is kind of like a plot hole in the book right yeah but the first time when Warner's like yeah I'll remove the cameras but I want you to touch me why doesn't she just touch him and kill him you know I know it's a plot hole because she can't like we'll get to it later but she loves and she doesn't doesn't want to do that but yeah it's like shut up like if I had that skill here's the thing I'm not also it's implied that she doesn't really have control like that she essentially before this she's forced to touch another like Soldier right we kind of find out that whenever someone touches her she basically is like draining the life force from them and pulling it into herself and she kind of I guess subconsciously likes it because he's like oh well you know if you really hated the fact that you had to do that to that Soldier you definitely didn't let go fast enough and you're the one who has to let go in order for it to stop like the other person can't separate themselves so she's subconsciously likes draining people so I don't really know about the whole she's good and she loves you know yeah I think like mentally she does I think she's conflicted he does eventually test her though and the test that he puts her through is that she has to get a little baby like a toddler to safety and obviously to do that she has to touch the baby this shows that it is clobber in time she goes full Hulk she saves the baby and then she gets so angry that they put her in this situation that she like breaks through glass and like shatters concrete so not only does she have the power to hurt people she can hurt things which is super cool I love that yeah endless power is very neat and we love when it's boundless we'll get we'll get more into it later why I hate this so much so she ends up eventually escaping with Adam and as we say as we said earlier it's not necessarily like as they planned it it happens much earlier and so they don't have time to gather supplies and the things that they need to gather um and doing so Warner tries to like grab for her ankle as she's about to jump from like a third five I don't know what story window he touches her and she realizes that he does not feel anything from her touch yeah it's a brief touch and so she hopes that he doesn't notice it but she notices and so now there are two people who we know can touch her Adam can touch her obviously that's why they've been making out heavy heavy pettin heavy just liquor kissing just like getting nasty with it I don't like that there is anyone who can touch her I don't like it I I think it's so dumb I think it's the dumbest part of this book one of the dumbest parts I mean there's a lot of dumb parts of this book but like and if there was someone who could touch her sure it should only be one person no I actually think it's cooler that it's more than one person cuz if it's just one person I think you can like attribute things to that like oh it's cuz it's her soulmate or whatever exactly say could for person like it it makes it interesting it's like what is causing other people to like not I guess but if that's the case then like why is she special aside from being able to like punch concrete and I guess like suck the life from some people like if your power is inconsistent like that then how will you ever know like oh this is a person that I can do this to you know I mean I'm sure we find out in other books I can't remember what the reason is but we do find it out so whatever uh they escape and they end up stopping at Adam's house to visit secret house Adam's little brother James and that's like fine I think that part of the book is okay oh but they're boyfriend and girlfriend now yes they are we got to make that official cuz like you you know it's it's only the end of the world and you know putting they're the relationship they're surely not like running for their lives you know so before they leave they get visited by this guy named Kenji who is a part of the reestablishment he's like one of the soldiers he ends up like kind of becoming a part of their pack like they end up kind of running away together with him he's kind of a smooth talker he's sort of into Juliet but one thing that's really memorable to me is the scene where everybody's like in this car together and they are trying to get the out of Dodge and they are just heavy petting in the godamn car I'm like there's a child around like what are we doing oh what do you mean when I don't remember this what happened just one of their moments where they get too caught up in each other and they're just like I just love you so much nak oh yeah oh yeah that's right because he's like but oh yeah I mean I guess I never really gave you the choice on whether or or not you want to be my girlfriend and kenchi is like yeah I'm just going to pretend like I'm not hearing any of this also I tranked to the kid so he is actually not like hearing any of this yeah that's when they like give the kid the sleeping pill oh is it yeah okay and then gets kind of hairy I'm trying to remember the order of events here oh okay so they're running away but Warner ends up catching them and he ends up grabbing Juliet I think Adam is shot so he can't like really protect Juliet and Warner nabs her again and does his whole smooth talking bit again he's like you thought I didn't know you could touch me I do know yeah I felt that and by that I mean nothing I and I think this is actually when he says i' love you Adam saying he loves her is crazy but this is just Next Level yeah and he also says some like you made the I can't believe you made the wrong choice like that you know he goes on and on it's so unsettling and then she's like oh yeah I'm Into You you're right I did make the wrong choice here's the thing here's the thing I don't think that the author is trying to endear us to this character or say that like his behavior is correct but knowing how the series ends knowing who she ends up with it's weird to me that she took this tactic with this book cuz like you can't erase the history right and and I I'm fine with having an evil character who becomes less evil but to have him come on this strong in this book is weirdo Behavior it's not something that I think can just be like apologized away it's weird it's very like inell Behavior it's like very much like yeah like you're it's very much like I've done so much for you what do you mean no it's not good it's super not good to try to get away she makes out with the man and steals his gun and shoots him and shoots him yeah um one thing I did note and this is a quote from myself actually he at some point is talking to her about like I've got all these resources he's like admit it you like killing tools Loca like you want to be just like me like we are made for each other right cuz I think you liked clobber in the concrete right so weird oh wait okay I got I was too early on the escaping in the car that that that's that's what's happening next this is what he says to her who Adam oh okay yes okay so they they do eventually escap Escape right Adam's like on his deathbed is he on his death bed at this point no well he's like yeah he was like hanging and they were like torturing him and she shatters through some more concrete again does a second like Hulk clobbering time thing after she shoots him she goes and like tracks down his scent or something I think she can like hear his heartbeat through like six inches of concrete or something makes sense checks out and she like punches through like a wall into a slaughterhouse where he is apparently on a conveyor belt I guess like being fed into like the old slaughterhouse stuff and he's like been tortured and beaten and stuff like that she gets him down and then gets him out of there and then they get back to the car and then they find Kenji and James yes correct kenji's like I got a safe house now they're like driving away so I'm wondering how the this comes in but Adam says I'm going to memorize every inch of your body with my lips while there's a child in the car and this is where we find out that he's actually dead asleep thank God and he's just been tortured yeah you know in context it's worse actually I think like if it had happened before it would still be weird but like now that he's got a gunshot wound even weirder gunshot wound tortured was hanging almost dead like how how is your libido on your mind I mean I guess they're teenagers no can't reiterate this enough I don't think that anyone feels this when their life is seriously being threatened when they are like on the run from people in entire government ENT wants to them yeah and I I guess you could say that like if you think you're going to die no but it's not like that no no no I I can see that argument in the perspective of if you think you're going to die but like you have like a long time right you know like even like a week right where you think someone's coming for you and you're like trying to I'm thinking back to like Farah and Reese in the third book which you didn't read they end up like at a war camp like before they go to battle like I kind of get it like one last like Nookie for oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no this is like they're in a car a gunshot wound yeah but the fun thing is they get to this like compound Kenji takes them there he's like I know where to go and we find out that there is a rebel alliance essentially that's trying to take down the reestablishment it's called Omega point I I believe I have it written down somewhere I think yeah not related to The Omega verse thankfully y all have any good Omega verse recks leave them in the comments maybe we'll do one next she ends up meeting this guy named Castle who is this like mysterious Overlord she wakes up and she's under this sheet completely naked and she's clean and she's like what the going on I'm like I'm not injured anymore I'm doing so good and I look hot as hell she like talks about how my hair is so silky she talks to this guy he's like I'm going to bring you to my Overlord Underlord I don't know if they're underground if they're M people they are underground she meets this guy who's like hot and sexy and is for some reason wearing a suit and he's like yeah actually a bunch of freaks live underground with us and you're one of them congrats he gives her a purple super suit we learn basically nothing about where she's at except for that there are other people like her who have gifts like her which is reassuring to her also learned that the the reestablishment has been lying to everyone and that Earth is actually like not I mean like Earth is like in a bad way but not nearly as bad as they say animals are still there but like being hidden food is being withheld all in an attempt to get people to follow this reestablishment government like unquestioningly and they're also like burning all the books also I hate that they why do they always do it why do they always make them bookish why do they try to do it for the girls yeah every every girl is bookish and they don't have to be and she's like she's particularly super upset about the fact that they're going to get rid of all of her books I agree but I think in this context it's okay because if you cannot have contact with humans if people have mostly rejected you no no no no I agree I agree I'm not saying that this one is the problem also like how long ago did this book come out 2011 yeah this is like maybe she was one of the first she she was like not no no she I wouldn't say one of the first but I mean like you know I'm just saying they're still doing it today yeah you know they're still doing it today sure are this and fourth wi yeah she's bookish but also can punch through two feet of concrete sure can I said this at the end whenever I finished it and I came in I was so I was so mad that they basically like at the end of this it was like kind of a superhero book thing and I know that you said that it's not like continuing in the series right but well the fact that like in the end of this she shows up to a compound where they're like oh yeah there's a bunch of other people with a bunch of different powers like welcome to the X-Men you know and like here's your super suit well that's so she doesn't kill people but yeah but still they literally it's like skin tight latex purple I don't know it's latex I know but Jesus Christ it's not a suit I mean basically she says it's skin tight and like you know no material even weirder to me was that the the healers there's like two twin healers at the compound they're wearing silver bodysuits so I'm picturing kind of basically like a silver wet suit with gold ballet flats yeah sounds sick I didn't even know what footwear they had on I hope all of my healers look like that we find out also that Kenji has invisibility powers and that's all I have for you folks in terms of my notes it definitely your favorite book ever it definitely an amount of times that I could not count on both hands that Kenji has snuck into showers for sure and looked at people for sure all that he's also characterized as being creepy too which doesn't help well that's what I'm saying yeah yeah he's invisibility man and is also kind of a SLE ball yeah definitely his seen Juliet P I can feel it well yeah and and also I mean he does mention the fact that like because he's part of the reestablishment like Army thing that they were in he's like hitting on Juliet and Adam's like yo lay off and he's like dude come on man I haven't seen a girl in so long like you can't you can't fault me for this one I'm saying he's also looking at the guys in the showers you know yeah he's just laying down yeah you know and not that they don't shower together already but it was an adventure it was a ride I I'm glad that it's over I kind of want to know what happens next I don't I really do not I can tell you that this was one of my least favorites and not even from like the story perspective but from the character perspective from the perspective that it was told in not from the actual story and like what happens I don't think I can put myself through the next one and I think that that's the first time that I've like genuinely said that I could have even read the next book in fourth wi I could not read the next B so funny because we read this instead of the second book in fourth wi IV was like it's too long I don't want to put Hayden through that I also didn't know that we'd have much to say I feel like we had more to say about this one than we yeah for sure yeah we definitely had some stuff to say about this one but I just like I can't subject myself to the whine to the cry yeah I mean fair enough and you know I don't even know necessarily that the next book would be like that but I mean if it is it's too late you know I think it's more Adventure packed but it's also just like for me a little too I mean it's a it's a jumbled mess of different like storyline aspects right but it was just like cliche after cliche like whenever they started talking about the world the the Earth like not doing good right and I'm going to see a bird again and like reestablishment government and blah blah blah I knew like from like the 25% Mark that the like reestablishment government was like lying to people cuz that's just like that's the cliche right I mean I did not see the the X-Men Camp coming but just another like yeah I don't know it's an amalgamation nothing feels original about this book or the series and I will say is someone who has read the first three books which is like essentially the trilogy she does write books in the series like 10 years later basically not like set 10 years later I mean like she just decides to write more later I read the like original trilogy and I think I was like most taken by the fact that there's not that much more World building done in the series like stuff happens and we're fighting against the powers of that be but it doesn't I mean to be fair I feel like they established everything that we need to know but it's so which isn't much so weak it's so Bas level like I just finished reading Divergent and that is like a knockoff of The Hunger Games even that book has a lot more to say right like this idea of factions and like why the government's this way and even like a theory on why the government's this way this is like so basic like they're trying to help the people and so they take over and they're bad like okay that's like that's nothing that's so uninteresting and uninspired and again I think for me it's really the characters that really make this unfun it's not my favorite it's never been my favorite I think maybe had I read this at a younger age I would have enjoyed it more but I was also pretty good at saying back then too and I have noticed that as I read books later on I guess that like I didn't read when I was younger when they were popular like I still don't I just don't think I would have liked it even even back then I mean even if it was horny it I I think think I would have noticed the nonsense no I don't think that there's any version of me at any point in my life that would have ever enjoyed this and I I can very strongly say that you know it has nothing to do with me now well what would you rate this Aiden it's like I want to give it a one you can I want to give it a one because of how much I did not enjoy it but I feel like you have said to me previously that you give a one to something that's like unreadable it's more like offensive is what I do for one star and what do you mean by offensive like genuinely offensive like like there's like like problematic yeah problematic or like uh yeah yeah usually it's what I do but what I'm say me that doesn't have to be you it could just be like you hated it so much it's one star that's fine for me this is like probably a two or three star I readed it like three stars I think on good reads the first time I read it this time it would be two but I'm not going to change my reading on good reads you don't need to ponder that much it's really not that deep all right this is going to be my first one star all right it's official it's official this is first one star I mean we we get fourth wi two stars so I mean it it only follows I've given almost every book two stars on dbbc you're generous with your three stars am I yeah I think so what did I give three can't remember but I know what's happened that's it from us we I had a fun time with this like I I I like when we have things to say you know it's not fun when a book's bad and there's nothing to say it's fun when there's good things to say I am happy that I was able to get it all read like in a couple hours yeah it's a short book which is nice let us know in the comments down below what you thought of this book and also what you want us to read next we would love to know ya romance doesn't matter any dumb character is welcome here cuz we're the dumb that read it unfortunately in this case thank you so much for watching love you all so much and I'll see you next time\n"