Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

BLURB

One choice can transform you. Beatrice Prior's society is divided into five factions—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice must choose between staying with her Abnegation family and transferring factions. Her choice will shock her community and herself. But the newly christened Tris also has a secret, one she's determined to keep hidden, because in this world, what makes you different makes you dangerous.

3 STARS

My Review

Divergent is an intense and interesting YA dystopian novel about the dangers inherent in attempting to create a perfect society. This is a good read, but something about the concept of being divergent seems a little shaky to me. As far as I can tell, a divergent person is one who carries all the traits most human beings carry. Most people are sometimes honest, sometimes brave, sometimes selfless, sometimes peaceful, and sometimes intelligent. Even in this world where people have been broken off into different factions, most of the characters have a mix of these common human personality traits. There a couple of things Tris can do that most people can't, and those things I get, but other than that I'm not really understanding how being divergent makes her so different.


That having been said, I really enjoyed this book. Tris is a great character. I loved watching her change and grow within her chosen faction. Her interactions with the other characters were both believable and entertaining.


This novel does have a somewhat slow start and a long buildup to the core plot, but this helps the reader to really connect to the characters and form a bond with them. There are hints of the coming conflict scattered throughout the book, and once the action begins it is full on and nonstop. I was able to sort of guess what was going to happen, but there were still plenty of surprises to keep me on the edge of my seat.


Divergent is a great start to this YA trilogy and I'm looking forward to seeing where the characters and story go from here.

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Veronica-Roth-ebook/dp/B004CFA9RS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397737976&sr=1-1&keywords=divergent