Book Review: Divergent

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen (Imprint of Harper Collins)
Pages: 487
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository

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.

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.

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.

Rating: 5 out of 5

I loved this book. I didn’t like the cover all that much at first, but then it grew on me. There was so much hype about Divergent that I was certain it’d never live up to it. I thought it’d just be another Hunger Games wannabe. How wrong I was.

It was confusing at first, all the factions were thrown straight in my face and I had no idea what the hell an “Abnegation” was. Or a Candor. Or Amity… well, you get my point. There was also this part in the beginning after Tris’s test. She went home early, but somehow, nobody saw her and she just went Poof! Straight from the testing room to walking back home. But her brother, Caleb, came back from the testing room after his test.

One of the things that made this book awesome were its characters. I loved Tris, right from the beginning, which was a good thing, since I was following her through the book. This is going to sound weird, but I loved her tattoos and what they meant to her. Speaking of tattoos, one of the things that I’d like to find out more about in Divergent’s sequel, is the Dauntless who administered the test on Tris. I feel as if there’s something more to her, that she’ll be important later on.

Four also has a special place in my heart. I must admit though, I think “Four” suits him more than “Tobias.” He’s so cool. I like him as much as I hate Marcus, which would be a lot. The Marcus-really-did-hurt-Tobias twist was an unexpected one, and who’d have thought the Abnegation leader was this kind of person? I think Marcus is going to appear again and play a bigger role in the future, and I don’t want to see more of him—I keep picturing him as a middle-aged man with a butt-chin who looks like Severus Snape.

I practically screamed “WHAT?! WHY?” when Tris’s parents died. Even though I knew that I’d probably laugh at the whole story if nobody had died, I still couldn’t stand reading it without some sort of spaz attack. For some reason, I didn’t have that much of a reaction when Will died, even though I saw more of him than Tris’s parents.

I stayed up until 3am reading Divergent. That’s just how good it is. There’s nothing fancy or pretty about Veronica Roth’s writing, but the simplicity works, and if it were all pretty, I don’t think I’d love it as much as I do. It makes it so there’s this driving need to read more, read faster without long-winded descriptions slowing me down.

Even if you feel like you’re going to puke at the sight of yet another dystopia, try Divergent. I didn’t even think about stopping until I was finished (and that happened to be in the wee hours of the morning). And when I did finish, I nearly threw a hissy fit 'cause I remembered the sequel wasn't out yet. Veronica Roth’s dystopia is different. I can guarantee that, as can the ridiculous hype Divergent has over the net.

Oh, by the way, I took the Facebook faction quiz.
It tells me, I am Dauntless. I am brave.