Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Publisher: Harper Collins (2011), 489 pages

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.

I am awfully glad I picked this book up! I really hadn't heard anything about this book but I was in my school's library and saw that this was one of the new books we had got in and picked it up on whim. I didn't really have any expectations but if I had, DIVERGENT blew all of my expectations out of the water.

Fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and DELIRIUM will LOVE this book. Oh my God. This book is so good that I just completely went through it in a day. The wonderful thing about dystopian novels is the fact that there are so many new and unique plots in them and in Divergent there were several of them to love.

Veronica Roth characterization of Beatrice "Tris" Prior is simply wonderful. In the dystopian Chicago, Roth writes about, there are five different factions the people live in. Abnegation (The Selfless) where Tris is born into, Candor (The Brutally Honest), Amity (The Friendly), Erudite (The Intelligent), and Dauntless (The Brave). When a person reaches age of sixteen, they must choose the faction where they will spend the rest of their life. For the most part, no one dares to leave the faction they were born into but Tris does; she leaves Abnegation for the Dauntless.

Okay, so when I was reading this, I immediately imagined a person who was born into a New York Yankee family switching allegiances and becoming a Boston Red Sox fan. Now, everyone knows that the Sox are obviously the better team to root for and you just can not help but feel sympathy for that person who had to endure those year under the wing of Yankee fans.* And so, as I was reading about Tris' life in Abnegation, I couldn't help but think how much I would hate it. I mean, in theory, that faction sounds wonderful but c'mon! You got to have a little time for yourself, every now and then. I, too, would've changed factions the moment I could.

That's not too say that Dauntless was perfect. But it did have Four! Wow, the parts with Four and Tris were my favorite. And that ending! Jeez. Talk about cliffhanger!!!! I need to get my own copy of this book so I can read it again and so I can see the wonderful cover on my bookshelf everyday. I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I MUST GET MY HANDS ON INSURGENT NOW!!!!!!! MAY 28th IS TOO FAR AWAY!! 

Yes that was necessary.

* Hey, as a diehard Red Sox fan, I just can't help but bring them up every chance I get. Especially if the chance allows for me to call the Yankees out…

Wicked Quote:

Peace is restrained: this is free. 

5 stars out of 5

Cover: B+ I love that most dystopian books tend to be gender neutral and look really cool. 
Favorite Character: Love Tris! Wonderful character, can't wait to find out more about her in the next book. 
Put-Down-Ability: 1 I didn't put it down! 

*Source: school library