Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent B&n Edition by Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
Release Date: 2011
My rating: 4.5of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

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.

I know I am the last among fans of YA dystopian fiction to read this book. I like to wait to read trilogies until after all three books have been released so I don’t have to wait months between books. With the movie adaptation of Divergent coming out this week, I decided it was time to dive into this series.

I am pleased to report that Divergent lived up to the hype that has surrounded it in the years since it was first released. I thought the idea of grouping people in separate factions according to their personality traits was a fresh take on dystopian world building. I was confused about how kids choose which faction to join though and that’s why I docked this book half a star. The kids are given aptitude tests when they turn 16 to determine which faction they belong in but then they are allowed to choose to join a different faction than the one they tested into if they want. So what was the point of the testing? I know that it was to set Tris up as being Divergent but I think that could have been set up in a way that would have made more sense.

Once that part was over, I was all in. I loved Tris and how introspective she was about how she was changing during the initiation process. Roth does a fantastic job with descriptive language throughout the book. I loved the metaphors she used. Usually in a book with a lot of action scenes, I have trouble picturing the choreography of the action while I’m reading it but that wasn’t usually a problem while reading this book.

Roth also does a wonderful job of building tension between Tris and her love interest. The relationship is fairly chaste but still so fraught with emotion. Roth just writes so beautifully, whether she’s describing action or interaction between people.

The edition of Divergent that I bought has bonus materials that include a Q&A with Veronica Roth, discussion guide, faction manifestos and more. I loved it because the bonus pieces gave me even more insight into how Divergent came together.

Needless to say, I loved this book and I can’t wait to see the movie!

Come back here tomorrow – I’ll have a mini-review of the e-pamphlet Free Four, which is the knife-throwing scene in Divergent as told from Four’s point of few.