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I have one of those "free promotional credit" things from Amazon and for once some of the books on offer sound vaguely interesting but aren't things I already have: Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell or Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. Does anyone have any particular recommendations/disrecommendations for any of them?

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I have a soft spot for the Cornwell, though the protagonist can be tiresomely blokey and there's a fair bit of (sexual and other) violence. I know I read Divergent, but it passed straight through my brain without leaving a trace.

I'm not generally a huge fan of historical fiction, unless it's written by Rosemary Sutcliff, Dorothy Dunnett, Hilary Mantel or Antonia Forest, so I'm not sure about the Cornwell. Though Divergent sounds like it might be a bit too formula-YA...

Of course, I don't actually have to use the credit at all. It's not as though I'm short of books on my kindle.

Edited 2016-01-28 20:32 (UTC)

He's definitely not in that league.

My two elder children enjoy Divergent but they are 14 and 11 and the 11 year-old has only seen the first film, not read it. I've only seen the first film not read it as well. As YA futuristic dystopias go (and I like YA futuristic dystopias) I liked it more than The Hunger Games but The Maze Runner is the one I want to read book 2 of to find out what happens next. But I wouldn't have bothered with any of these if I hadn't had children talking about them.

I bought The Hunger Games several years ago and still haven't got round to reading it, though I am not averse to YA futuristic dystopias in general. (I also now realise that The Maze Runner is not the same thing as The Kite Runner, which is probably a useful thing to know.)

Divergent had some great stuff in it about how facing your fears isn't something you do that one time, it's something you keep on doing until you're not just sick of it, you're bored with it and how sometimes people become bullies out of weakness and sometimes out of strength but either way you don't have to forgive them and some fun worldbuilding. On the other hand there is also some weird, annoying fat-shaming which meant I didn't bother picking up the sequels.

Thanks - that sounds worth a punt given that it's free, anyway.

We have had some interesting family conversations about whether you can define yourself by one characteristic and how most people encompass all the things, but mostly I think why wouldn't everyone choose Amity and just grow vegetables. It sounds peaceful.

I have the same thing so this conversation is very useful!

I am a fan of Robin Hobb and I like the Liveship Traders books - partly because of the ships, but also I really like the worldbuilding and the way she has thought about the economics of the set-up. But probably if you are going to read her you should start with Assassin's Apprentice.

It appears that lots of people have had this offer! (T did too, but he went for the Jonathan Franzen which wasn't even on my list of possibles. Anyway, we have set up Amazon Family Sharing so I can read his copy if I want.)

I went for Divergent in the end, because several people said "don't start there with Hobb".

Divergent isn't a bad read (or film). The series deteriorates, as many of these things do, but that one is fun and not badly flawed. I loathe Cornwell and couldn't tell you anything about the Hobb. :)

Thanks - I think Divergent is probably the one I'm inclining towards (I'm picky about historical fiction and not convinced that Cornwell will be the kind I enjoy, and somewhat dubious about the Hobb as well).

The Boy is a fan of the Cornwell but I find his characterisation lacking and have given up reading his stuff (admittedly I never tried this one).

The Hobb is okay but the Liveship Traders isn't her best.

Thanks! I think it's probably going to be Divergent if I get any of them.

Robin Hobb books tend to be very long and most of the book is setup and no action, also I wouldn't start there.

Divergent is quite good as previously mentioned the series goes a bit less good after the first book!

I've gone for that one, as it's probably the one I'm most likely to read.

I got about 70% of the way through Divergent when it was our book club choice, I felt it was basically the Hunger Games with a more contrived setup and characters I was less interested in. I've gone for the Hobb as my freebie.

I haven't read the Hunger Games yet. Despite which, I've gone for Divergent, because too many people said "don't start there with the Hobb".

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