Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Release date: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 496
Source: Purchased
About the Book
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
My Review
I know I am one of the last people in the world to read this book, lol! I have so many books on my TBR Pile and am never sure which one to pick. I have been hearing about this one for over a year now and figured it was well past time for me to pick it up. I have become a big fan of dystopian books and I love YA as well so I hunkered down to start reading it. It was read in less than a day – not a small feat considering we were on vacation. I seriously could not put it down.
I did read some of the other reviews out there about this book, and while some of them gave it a lower rating due to the lack of back story, I didn’t think it made much difference – at least not to me. Would I like to know why Chicago is the city where the factions are located? Yes. Would I like to know how the US came to be this way? Yes. Would I like to know how these 5 factions were chosen? Of course I would. I had lot of questions as well and hope that the author expands on them in future books. I also would love to know if the rest of the world is like this too. And what about the rest of the US? And if the factionless are so many, what stops them from trying to overtake the remaining factions? See, lots of questions.
That said, it didn’t take away from the book as I was reading it. Picking a favorite character is hard because even the characters I wanted to hate (Peter, Eric, etc..) I didn’t because they were depicted so well. I know there was a question from one reviewer as to how Tris could go from living a selfless life to so easily adapting to a life as one of the Dauntless. Seeing as how she had an aptitude towards this faction, I don’t find that hard to believe at all. It would be as if your creativity was stifled for years because it wasn’t acceptable, but one day you could let it free, I think it would flow out of you very naturally. That’s how I viewed Tris’s transformation. She wasn’t allowed to be her true self (at least not completely) while living in Abnegation, but once Dauntless she was free to do whatever she chose…well, within the rules of Dauntless.
I rarely give a book 5 stars but this one gets it. I would pick it up and read it again, and would certainly recommend it to anyone that loves books. What did you think?
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