Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth
Release Date: 1st April 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Paperback
Pages: 487
Rating: 5.0/5.0
This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 GVR and 2013 BSR
Summary from Amazon:
"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, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."
Review:
I am honestly finding it so hard to write this review right now, simply because I can't think how to put into words how awesome this book was. I can't believe that I let this sit on my shelf for so long.
Just everything about this book was amazing. This dystopian future world that you are fully immersed in from the beginning, is just so interesting to read about. The idea of society being split into different factions, and the thought that you have to conform wholly to one faction - it's really interesting to think about. Especially when your choices are Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (bravery), Erudite (knowledge), Candor (honesty) and Amity (peace). I don't know about you, but the thought of having to live in just one of these factions for my entire life (or at least one for the first 16 years of my life, and then another for the rest), just messes with my mind. I can't fathom living in Candor and having to tell the truth all the time, or Dauntless, where I literally wouldn't survive a day. This whole world that Roth has set up is so different and distinctive and so interesting to read about.
And the characters. Oh my god. I loved our narrator Tris and I loved Four and l loved the two of them together. I loved Christina, Will and Uriah, I thought they were great friends for Tris. I liked Caleb, and then I didn't like him, but then I liked him again. Went through the same thing with Tris' parents. I loved to hate Peter, Molly and Drew. I also loved to hate Eric and Jeanine. For me, all of the characters were just perfect.
There were some things that annoyed me in this book, the main thing involved Tris and Will. I can't say what it is because it would be a spoiler, but I just logically thought that it could have played out in a different way. I thought Tris had other options, besides the option that she took (which I really wish she hadn't). I can tell that this going to annoy me for some time.
Overall, this book is a must read. It's sold as a book that fans of the Hunger Games will enjoy, and whilst they definitely will, I wouldn't get confused with thinking that Divergent is similar to the Hunger Games. Yes, they are both set is dystopian futures where shit goes down, but, Divergent is a completely different storyline. Same themes, same moral messages, yes indeed, but completely different. Please just go and read this book, I can't stress enough how amazing it was.
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