It seems like after The Hunger Games was successful (I'm not ignoring Battle Royale's existence, before anyone says something), every YA author out there went and wrote a dystopian novel.
Delirium, at least, was something different. It focuses on the idea of love as a disease and being forced to be "cured" of it.
Then I read Divergent. And it wasn't bad by any means. But I wondered what the point was. What caused the old government to crumble and these factions to be created? If you're not going to explain it, why should I care?
I just finished reading Matched. Started it last night, finished this afternoon. Obviously, I wasn't bored with it. But there were so many elements that reminded me of Delirium. And The Hunger Games. And Divergent. And The Giver! I'm starting to get all of these books confused with each other.
And I feel like there's a huge flaw in novels like these when the main draw ends up being the love story.
I didn't feel that way with The Hunger Games, especially during Mockingjay. The love triangle definitely held my interest, but I cared more about the rebellion. Because that's really what it all came down to in the end. And obviously, Delirium had to focus on romance because the entire plot revolved around being cured of love.
I feel like it didn't work as well for Matched. It passes itself off as a book about seventeen year olds being "matched" (basically an arranged marriage), and they're supposed to go off and live a happy life together because it's what the government decides is best for their Society...You know the government, always SO concerned about the citizens, there's never an ulterior motive. But there's so much more to this book than the love triangle, and it frustrates me. This series can go somewhere. Make it happen. I'm starting the next book tonight, hopefully it focuses more on what led to this society in the first place.
As for Divergent, I can't even remember what happened in that book anymore. It's a muddled mess from all the others. I can't remember the characers' names. I know there was a love story that I didn't really buy into. Five different factions that worked independently of each other. I can't recall how it ended. I only remember thinking, "Well. This is a trilogy and I can't judge it until I read the other books."
You can keep publishing these novels, and I'll read them because I'm fascinated by these $#%^*& up governments and the parallels they have to our own, but if you have to rely on a romantic subplot in a DYSTOPIAN novel, you're doing something wrong.
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