Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books, May 1, 2011
Pages: Hardcover, 496
Series: Divergent #1
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From Goodreads: 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.

My Rating: (5/5)

This is my new favorite series; I can tell already. Ever since I read The Hunger Games, Matched and The Maze Runner, I’ve been feeling a little “meh” about finding a new awesome dystopian trilogy. But no fear – I’ve found it! 

Divergent was a thrilling read from the beginning to the end. I actually had to slow myself down while reading so I could delay the awesomeness and bask in it as much as possible. Seriously. For example, I love the factions. At first I thought, how could only five factions define all of humanity? (Well, I found out it couldn’t, but that’s beside the point. Er, I mean it is the point.) Each faction is vastly different and each one provides a different community or way of living than the next which is probably my favorite thing about dystopian novels. I love exploring the worlds authors create and imagining how society could have possibly evolved this way. The almost insane, brave and courageous Dauntless provided a striking contrast to Abnegation’s uniformity and generosity. I believed Veronica Roth’s new world and found it equal parts stifling as well as exhilarating. I’m looking forward to delving deeper into the other factions as the series goes on.

Tris is a dynamic protagonist: she’s not perfect and she’s definitely not bad, but her character does seem to lie somewhere in the middle seeing as she’s constantly torn between going with her gut and doing what’s right, or being a follower and saving her own butt while others are in trouble. I think I like her and I’m hoping she gets emotionally stronger in the next book.

Now can we talk about Four? Four is one of the best boys to pine for in 2011, if such list does exist. He’s brave, strong, sexy? (I never got a good feel for what he looked like but it didn’t matter because his personality is a-blazing!) and oh yeah, he doesn’t treat Tris like a delicate flower about to wither at any given moment. I found the growing connection between Tris and Four to be just as important and engaging as the faction drama revolving around them. 

To say I’m looking forward to the next in the series is a huge understatement. Veronica Roth is a debut author and SHE’S ONLY 22. Yup. Go get Divergent!