Divergent by Veronica Roth

     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.

     I've been hearing a lot about this book in the YA-reader circles and there are lots of reviews raving about it, so I decided I wanted check out what all the buzz was about. And needless to say, I had HIGH expectations for this book because of all of the hype surrounding the book and the upcoming film adaption.

     And guess what...it lived up to my expectations.

     I will admit, it started out sort of slow, and I sort of had to force myself to keep reading for the first couple of chapters, but sometime around when Tris changes her name and moves to the Dauntless camp, I found it difficult to put the book down. Before I realized it, I was engrossed in this story, and the writing was incredibly well done and the story steadily became more dramatic, exciting, and enticing. It's easy to see (after finishing the book) why so many people are excited for the final installment, to be released in October.

Things That I Liked:

1. I really liked Four. He has the greatest personality, and I love his veiled interest in Tris, although there was a point, like, two pages after meeting him where I said to myself "he's that kid that was abused by the Abnegation leader."

2. The action; the story was narrated in Tris's head, but because she is an action-oriented character, there isn't a lot of long thought-passages of her trying to make a decision or thinking about her situation.

3. The fear landscape/simulations were a really cool idea, and I totally didn't see the use of them coming up in the end-scheme of the big turning point in the book. I thought it was a really interesting use of the simulation and it really makes the reader think about morality and the owner of the responsibility of people's actions.

4. Tris's struggle with "becoming" Dauntless but being unable to be completely Abnegation. It felt real and relatable, and I really admired how she handled her issues.

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. Peter is a b*tch. But he is a good villain, I guess.

2. Eric. I know nothing about him except that I was supposed to hate him and indeed I did.

3. Is there, like, a history, or some kind of origin story for how the factions came to be? Like, it's obvious this supposed to be a dystopian version of Chicago, but how did Chicago as we know it now get to the point it is in during Divergent? What's going on in the rest of the world?

4. It would be really cool to know what exactly it means to be Divergent, because from what I can tell, it just means that you are indecisive and can actually think for yourself.

Overall Impression:

     This was a really interesting novel, and I'm really excited to see where things go from the end of the first book. It's clear that the next two books are going to be very different from the first one, so it will be interesting to see if the style can stay the same.

The Blonde's Rating: 4/5

Amazon Rating: 4.6/5

Goodreads Rating: 4.3/5

To read the review for Insurgent, click here.

Thanks,

The Blonde