Divergent
One choice.
One choice decides your friends, defines your beliefs, and determines your loyalties... forever.
Or, one choice can transform you.
In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions — Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) — each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue in an attempt to form a “perfect society.” At the age of sixteen, teens must make a dramatic, irrevocable choice: To which faction will they devote their lives?
On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris and makes a choice that surprises everyone — including herself. As she and her fellow initiates undergo an intense initiation into their chosen faction, Tris transforms, finding a new sense of self, friendships like she’s never known, and unexpected romance with a boy who constantly challenges and continually fascinates her — but she also discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society. To survive and save those she loves, Tris must stand up for the person she has become while uncovering powerful truths about her identity, her family, and the order of her society itself.
Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with a dystopian thriller filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, and stunning consequences.
Veronica Roth
Veronica Roth (born 1988) is an American author known for her debut Divergent trilogy. She has a degree in creative writing from Northwestern University. Roth wrote her first book, Divergent, while on winter break in her senior year at Northwestern University. Her first novel became New York Times Bestseller and the movie rights were sold before she graduated from college. Roth lives in Chicago.
Divergent
Divergent consists of three primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Book Reviews
I will sum this book up in two words: "Stupid" and "Generic". Whoever thought up this faction system is an idiot. Seriously, you see no problem at all with making 16-year olds choose who they are supposed to be and how they are supposed to behave for the rest of their lives? No one knows who they are at 16, it's probably the worst time ever to make them choose anything! Also, training said youths to become killing machines that are supposed to police the rest of society...yeah, that seems like a really good idea! What could possibly go wrong? Divergent is your average, run-of-the-mill dystopian YA novel, it's almost like Roth went through a check list when she wrote it: 16-year old girl: check Has longer name but uses a short form of it: check Doesn't think much of her looks, but is actually quite pretty: check Some sort of initiation/training: CHECK! Inexplicably good with weapons/fighting: check Society divided into different classes: Check One particular group of people got the short end of the stick: check Instalove/fall in love with first guy who looks at her/Love drama: CHECK One villain who has no redeemable features:check One villain who isn't quite what he/she seems: Check Government Conspiracies: Check Conflict: check Betrayals: OH HELL YES CHECK Twists and turns:check I'm gonna make two predictions about the other books: 1. The Factionless are going to F%&ยค shit up. 2. There's going to be some "everything isn't what it seems"/DEus Ex Machina-type situation later on. Also 3. Someone is going to be revealed as someone else's close family member. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been so painfully clear that Roth doesn't really know what she is doing. I couldn't tell most of the characters apart, and hadn't the slightest idea about how the city or the different compounds looked. There is almost no world-building evident in this book. Everything is just squares and rectangles and things, cardboard placeholders with no depth or life of their own. As are the characters; they're basically just names and actions that further the plot. People died and I didn't give a flying rat's ass about it, because Roth had failed in creating any sort of emotional relationship between the main character and those who died, and between the main character and me... The main character was also bland, boring and at times, extremely annoying. She almost literally falls in love with the first guy who touches her, and when she gets to pick a new name for herself, to go with her new life as soldier and police, she goes from Beatrice to Tris... Really? Tris? Too bad there isn't a Creativity faction you can join...I mean, seriously?! I would've gone for something like Slagathor, The Undertaker or Mung the Destroyer, but that's just me I guess. And don't get me started on the dialogue! Everyone sounds exactly the same, and their lines are so unnatural and forced I want to set my hair on fire! I don't think Ms Roth has ever had a tattoo done or seen a gun,least of all been in the vincinity of someone using one. OMG, those parts of the books are the least credible of all! WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW!!! Instead of writing half-assed shit about a topic you know nothing about...or you know, watch a Yotube-video or something. You literally have all the knowledge in the world at your fingertips...use it. I hate myself for not being able to put this Sloppy Joe of a book down, but by the gods it was exciting and interesting! Reading this book was the equivalent of watching a season of Pretty Little Liars. It's not good, but I can't stop. You know what? Don't bother reading it, just watch the movie instead. You get a visual representation of stuff that the book sorely lacks, and that guy who plays Eric is hot so..