Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Rating: ★★
 (5/5 Stars)
Paperback, 487 pages
Published February 2012

Book #1 in the Divergent series



Looks like I've finally joined the rest of society and read Divergent by Veronica Roth! (Note: I wasn't being lazy or not reading it because everyone else is or anything like that...THERE IS A SIX MONTH LONG WAITING LIST AT MY LIBRARY. I finally gave up and just bought it myself at Target.)

Here's a quick description for any of you that have been living under a rock since last February and have no clue what this book is about:

"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, 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 alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating 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 unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her."


GAH. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I love Four/Tobias especially! (Another quick note: Why, in every review, do I always point out that I've fallen in love with at least one character?)

Roth's novel was totally gripping. I found myself constantly being sucked into the "one more chapter" vortex night after night, and eventually I just resorted to taking this book with me everywhere I went.

I love the whole idea around it, especially the idea around having to worry about whether to stick in your family's faction, where you know you don't truly belong, to stay with them and be happy--or to choose the path that you know is right, and leaving your family behind forever. After all, in dystopian Chicago, their mantra is "Faction before blood."

And, naturally, as with every great novel, there's always at least one character that doesn't belong anywhere. That character is Beatrice (Tris), and she's Divergent.

*Gasp* 

From what I understand, Divergent individuals are people who take the test to find out what faction they belong in, just like everyone else...although for them, there is no set answer. They can belong anywhere. They don't fit into the mold that is the city's system.

This book was totally action packed, and it kept me at the edge of my seat after every single chapter. Throughout the Choosing Day, the vigorous training, the initiation, and *spoiler alert* the war that is beginning to rise, I found myself not able to put the book down.

Props to Roth!













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