Divergent by Veronica Roth
pages: 489
released: May 2011
publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
cover love: ♥♥♥♥
Beatrice “Tris” Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth’s dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place her in mortal danger. Veronica Roth’s young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances. (Goodreads)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 12/2/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET
Review:
Divergent is the best 2011 debut book I’ve read so far. In fact, it’s one of the best books I’ve read all year. Veronica Roth had me glued to this book for two days, I couldn’t wait to get a minute to sit down and get sucked back in, it’s such a powerful and enriched dystopian novel. It’s definitely a solid contender for fans of The Hunger Games. I can almost guarantee, if you are a fan of THG, you will absolutely love this!
Divergent is set in futuristic Chicago. American society as we know it has fallen. War has devoured and destroyed our government and the blame placed in the hands of the ignorant, the selfish, the greedy, and the corruption of the people. To prevent war from ever taking over again, it was decided that all citizens were to be sliced into five groups, known as factions: Abnegation for those who are selfless and put others before themselves; Candor for the honest, who never lie; Amity for those who honor peace; Erudite for those who put knowledge before all else; and Dauntless for those who are brave.
Beatrice “Tris” grew up in Abnegation, plain and quiet, never able to have small luxuries or look in the mirror and has to where only drab gray clothes. Nothing else. Abnegation views having personal keepsakes, jewelry, cars and other such things forms of materialism and conceit. She’s never felt like she belonged in her family, or her faction. In the back of her mind, she has eager desires for more out of her life than the self-denying one she’s living. At sixteen, everyone must take an aptitude test which will determine what faction you will choose to spend the rest of your life bound and loyal to. This will determine who you really are, want you will learn to be, and want job you will get. When Tris concludes her test, the administer informs her that her test is inconclusive. Her results couldn’t determine just one faction, but several. Meaning she is Divergent. Different. And dangerous. She’s warned not to tell any one and left with more questions than answers and an overwhelming decision that will effect everything that’s about to happen to her.
Tris decides to think of herself and join Dauntless, the most grueling of all five factions. And I love her for this. Most of the initiates didn’t see her as much competition because she’s supposed to be selfless and she’s petite. But in every challenge she faces, you see her strengths branch out more and more. Even when she fails, she gets back up, swallows the taunts and teases and holds her head up.
The story has that “survival of fittest” feel to it that makes everything so pumped with energy. Since a certain rank is necessary to stay in the competition, it was only a matter of time ’til people started playing dirty. The sparks flying between Tris and Four also kept me turning those pages, I just had to know what was in store for them. Tris was a terrific heroine, she was gutless and did what she had to do but still was able to stand up for herself and her friends when pushed. It was nice to watch her form close friendships for the first time in her life with Christina and Will, even when betrayal and jealousy buzzed around and I was so sad at the way things ended up for them. I hated Peter and Eric the most, the way they treated everyone was awful and wicked.
Veronica Roth did an outstanding job with the entire book, with the settings, the characters, the traits and symbolism within each faction, it was really an exciting read. I wasn’t bored ONCE! I highly recommend Divergent to all that love YA, dystopian novels and The Hunger Games (I hate to keep comparing but trust me, it’s a good thing). You will not be disappointed.
5