Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Release Date: May 3^rd, 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Recommended? Heck yes!

Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, 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 to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating 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 a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her. – Goodreads Page

The society in which this book’s set is split into five different factions. Beatrice was born into Abnegation – the selfless. The book kicks off by introducing the reader to Beatrice and her life as one of the selfless. We learn that Beatrice doesn’t like living without mirrors. She doesn’t like always putting others before herself. And so, when the day of the big Test comes, she decides that she may want to choose a different faction at the Choosing ceremony. I won’t say which one she does choose (although it’s pretty obvious), however I will tell you that I think she is crazy for doing so. But I’d have done the same thing.

We follow Beatrice as she renames herself Tris, and goes through her training as part of her initiation. She has to do some pretty awful things. At first, she’s just a weak little girl who really can’t do much compared to others in her class. But as the novel progresses the reader sees an incredible change in Tris. She becomes a strong, courageous woman – at just sixteen.

Another of the recurring characters is Four, Tris’ mentor. He is honestly one of the most complicated characters I have ever come across. His character development was outstanding – and we weren’t even reading from his point of view! Plus, he is hot stuff. That always helps us to fall in love with characters, doesn’t it?

There were so many extra characters in this book, and normally it would have been easy to get confused. But Roth pulls it off fantastically. Each character has their own traits and personality, it’s so easy to tell them apart and learn their names. There were some characters I loved, some I hated, and a lot that I felt sorry for by the end of the book!

The ending is everything I could have ever wanted. Packed full of action - people dying, people fighting – and a couple of heartbreaking scenes. A few of those scenes, actually. The ending also leads nicely onto the sequel which, believe me, you will be highly anticipating and longing for after you’ve read this book!

As for the writing style, I cannot believe that this is a debut! Veronica Roth writes as if she’s been doing this forever, and she’s only 22 years old! The woman has some serious talent, and I can’t wait to see how she uses it in the next two books in the trilogy.

Veronica Roth also recently announced that the film rights for Divergent have been sold to Summit. Yes, the studio that is responsible for The Hurt Locker. And Twilight, but I’d rather forget about that. Let’s hope that all goes well so we can see this story on the big screen!