This is another book I listened to on audio book, and I love the narrator: Sarah Drew who you may know from Grey's Anatomy. She does a wonderful job of changing her voice so it is easy to identify when different characters are speaking. Another thing I really liked about this book, was its ability to stand on its own. It didn't spend a lot of time rehashing and recapping the previous book. It referenced it throughout, however, I think this is a book that you can read without necessarily having read the first. Lauren Oliver writes in such a poetic style with lots of imagery. The ending is an ultimate cliffhanger, which makes readers want to read more, immediately. I can almost say I liked this book as much more than the first book in the trilogy, which I find is a rarity for most sequels.
Challenge: The chronology of the novel jumps around, which makes it hard to follow sometimes since it is not linear.
Curriculum Connection & Themes: This novel picks up where the other one left off and the controversy of choosing who you love is a taboo, as is feeling "feelings" for another person, especially feelings of love because love is unpredictable. However, in this novel, Lena is able to speak more forcefully about why it is okay to let your emotions in and choose love, which makes her a stronger female character than she was in the first novel.
This is a book that I would use to explore imagery because Lauren Oliver spends a lot of time describing trivial events in such vivid ways that it really is a great example of "show, don't tell."
Lexile: 760L
Interest Level: Middle School +
Controversial Scenes/Content: I honestly think there are under 5 cuss words, and the only scenes with sexual content are about kissing. This novel has much more suspense than the first novel, which keeps you on the edge of your seat, however, I would not call it controversial. A little violent perhaps, but nothing that I would be uncomfortable with in my classroom.
Rating: 4/5