Divergent: the Official Illustrated Movie Companion by Kate Egan: Book Review!

Hello, everyone! I'm back with another book review. This time, I'm reviewing Divergent: Official Movie Companion by Kate Egan. This, like other movie companions I've reviewed, is a book about the making of a movie. In this case, that movie is Divergent. But enough about that, let's get onto the review!

Divergent: Official Movie Companion takes a closer look into the making of the movie Divergent. The book starts at the very beginning, before author of Divergent Veronica Roth even had her book published. It goes through publication, getting film rights, getting the movie off the ground, and all of the processes that it took to make the movie. From scouting locations in Chicago to having costumes made in bulk in Europe, this book has an in-depth look at the entire film making process. Let's see how well this book covers that, shall we?

First off, I was incredibly impressed with the ease that I read this book. It really played out like a story. It told of the story's humble beginnings, in the mind of a recently graduated college student. Then how it grew into the fandom we know today. Then it told how the director, actors, and the crew adapted the book in specific detail. It finished with a small interview with Veronica Roth on set when she was shooting her cameo and a few pictures of fans visiting the set. It all flowed very nicely, and the set up of the book really made sense.

There was also a definite narrative to this book. In the Vampire Academy: the Official Movie Companion, most of the book was a selection of quotes, which is okay if they were arranged in a way which made them flow, but it wasn't. This companion definitely had quotes, but they were placed sparingly and appropriately to make the companion better as a whole.

Another aspect that I really enjoyed about this companion is that it actually informed me of some aspects of the movie that I did not know. I typically know a good deal about a book-to-movie adaptation before I even see the movie. I watch interviews, read articles on the Page to Premiere website, and I typically have a good idea of what goes on to make the movie. Even with all of that information under my belt, I was still able learn a few details about the making of the movie. For example, I learned a bit more about detailing the set and how they choose tiny pieces of wood to make up the floors of Abnegation homes to give it a recycled look. The whole companion just contained a good amount of really specific detail that I just crave when reading this type of book.

Pictures are a pretty big deal in an illustrated movie companion, and I have to admit that I was pretty impressed with the size and selection of this particular companion. Most of the pictures were of decent size that contained a good amount of detail. There were pictures that were specifically from the movie, and there were a few that were behind the scenes pictures, which is hard to find sometimes. What I liked the most, though, was the inclusion of concept sketches and artwork. They included concept sketches of outfits of all five factions and concept art for many of the scenes. You can see how they changed modern Chicago into the dystopian Chicago that appears in the film. It was just really cool to see.

Now I have a tiny critique of this particular movie companion. At some points, the book makes sure that there isn't any spoilers for the books or the movie. However, there are some major spoilers in book regardless of what it tried to establish before. I'm okay with spoilers as long as they are noted or that the book establishes that it will have something that spoils the book or the movie. This one makes you think that there won't be any, and then spoils a major part of the plot. I would rather they would have it one way or another.

With all of that in mind, I'm going to give this movie companion four and a half faction clothing sketches out of five.

That's it for this one! Comment down below about your favorite part of the film making process. You can subscribe to the blog by adding your email to the Subscribe Box down below. You can add me to your circles by clicking the Google+ button off to the right. You can get up to date information about the blog and ridiculousness about my life by following my twitter @KK_Donna_Blog. Lastly, you can follow the tumblr dedicated to the blog, and yo can find it at this link. Read on, lovelies! I'll see y'all next post!