LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Author Veronica Roth attends the 19th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - Day 2 at USC on April 13, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images) (Photo: )
Just a couple tantalizing weeks before the release of the film adaptation of Insurgent, the second novel of Veronica Roth’s hit Divergent trilogy, Roth fans have even more cause for anticipatory excitement: The author has inked a deal with HarperCollins for an as-yet-unnamed duology, the first installment of which is due to arrive in 2017.
Little detail has been offered about the two books, both of which remain untitled. According to HarperCollins, the saga will feature “a boy who forms an unlikely alliance with an enemy [...] they help each other attain what they most desire: for one, redemption, and the other, revenge.” The release also somewhat cryptically describes the narrative as “in the vein of 'Star Wars.'”
Roth’s choice of a male protagonist is a departure from the recent wave of girl-centric fantasy adventure narratives, of which Divergent was a notable example. Since the success of Divergent, the books have been relentlessly compared to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which also features a gritty heroine fighting back against a cruel dystopian regime. Though Roth has insisted she appreciates the Hunger Games comparisons, a "Star Wars"-esque tale with a male hero may allow her to break out of this mold.
She explained to the Associated Press that the character was actually the starting point for the books: “All the other elements -- setting, world, even a substantial portion of the plot -- came after."
Still a college student when she sold the Divergent series, Roth is now 26 years old. She has maintained a feverish pace of activity in the past few years, finishing her popular series, promoting the movie adaptations, and writing a bonus Divergent book. Four, a book of stories told from the perspective of the love interest of heroine Tris, was published last summer.
"Relic" by Heather Terrell
Just as Tris underwent brutal training with the Dauntless in Book One, Eva trains for The Testing in "Relic," the first in a new fantasy-meets-dystopian series. The Testing is an epic rite of passage involving dog sleds, ice climbing, and hot competition (literally) to recover artifacts from an ancient civilization that might seem all too familiar... Eva and Tris both grow up to be seen and not heard—Tris, in Abnegation and Eva, a Maiden in the Aerie—but both rise to the occasion when called to duty.
"Unraveling" by Elizabeth Norris
At the start of "Unraveling," Janelle Turner is killed—but a boy from another universe saves her, breaking all sorts of physics rules, and a countdown to the world's end begins. "Unraveling" and its sequel, "Unbreakable," ramp up the science fiction with doppelgangers and journeys into alternate dimensions, but just like Tris, Janelle has to figure out where she belongs when her world is falling apart (a little more literally in Janelle's case.) Plus, Janelle and Ben are just as steamy a pairing as Tris and Four.
"Sanctum" by Sarah Fine
"Sanctum" is for the "Divergent" fans who wouldn't have minded a little fantasy or dark creatures in the dystopian Chicago setting we've all grown up in with Tris. The heroine, Lela Santos, must rescue her best friend from the city beyond the Suicide Gates—an in-between world filled with swoon-worthy bad boys and not-quite-human creatures. It takes a real Dauntless spirit to save someone from hell, don't you think?
"Coda" by Emma Trevayne
The dystopian society in "Coda" is unlike any other. The Corp robs everyone of their free will with encoded music that acts like a drug to listeners, and all music that isn't produced by the Corp is forbidden. It's up to Anthem, the frontman of an underground band of insurgents to fight back, but when he's taken prisoner by the Corp, Anthem has to choose: fame and security for his family as a Corp-sponsored rocker, or defiance? A rebellion has never been this loud.
"False Memory" by Dan Krokos
Miranda North is part of a quartet of human weapons who could give the Dauntless a run for their money. She's spent years training to kill first, ask later, and Miranda also has the power to incite mass panic in those around her. The downside? She doesn't know any of this. She remembers nothing about herself except her name. The award-winning first book in this thrilling trilogy challenges Miranda and her crew to fight for everyone else's future—even though her own past is a mystery.
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