Review: Divergent

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Published: 2011
Pages: 487
My Rating: 4.5/5

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 threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it 

might be what destroys her.

There'd been so much hype on the release of Divergent. The whole blogging community was buzzing at it's release and some people were even calling it 'the next Hunger Games'. Now having read it, I totally see what all the hypes about. 

Divergent is a perfect new edition to the Dystopic, Young Adult fiction. I would put it up there with The Hunger Games and the Uglies. The story follows a girl named Tris, who has to choose between five Factions to spend the rest of her life in, along with everyone else when they turn 16. The five factions being; Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, Amity and Dauntless. But little does Tris know that for her, it's not quite that simple. 

I thought Divergent was written brilliantly. It was so fast paced, and got into the story rivetingly quickly. The writing, as well as the Dystopian themes, reminded me of The Hunger Games often throughout the book. However, there were times during the book that I felt odd sentences didn't quite....fit together. I can't really think of a way to describe it, but there just seemed to be a few errors in the sentence structures. But this is an extremely picky point, and barely puts a mark on the terrific book. 

The storyline was brilliantly thought-out. And the book gets more and more brutal as it goes along. The tests that Tris has to pace at the beginning are bad enough, but they seem to get worse and worse, and I really felt for the characters who had to go through it. Several times I put down the book and stared into space, imagining what I would do if I were in those circumstances.

The themes of war, corrupt government and identity were extremely strong throughout the book, but not too strong that they took away the entertainment of the story. The ending was exciting, tense and scary at the same time, though I did think it was a little bit weak and sudden compared to the rest of the book. The ending  had a killer cliff-hanger yet had enough of a resolution to not have you gasping for the next book. 

Overall, this was a fantastic, exhilarating book! I recommend it to anyone! But it's a must read if you're into YA or Dystopic. Or anyone who liked The Hunger Games or Uglies. Waiting for the next book will be torture!