Book 24: Divergent

TITLE: Divergent
AUTHOR: Veronica Roth
STARTED: May 9, 2012 
FINISHED: May 19, 2012
PAGES: 490
GENRE: Juvenile

FIRST SENTENCE: There is one mirror in my house.

SUMMARY: [From Barnes and Noble] 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.

THOUGHTS: In my head, this book is a "Meh" read. If my actions, however, are any indication, than this book is really really good.

You see, I have heard many a good review about this series (including one comment that said it was better than Hunger Games) - so I decided to give it a shot. As I was reading, I was not thrilled - but that could be because I was reading about 10 pages at a time. Then, a break in my schedule allowed me to complete the book in two big chunks (and I stayed up WAY past my bed time to do so). Since I've finished, I've been not-so-patiently waiting for Insurgent, the next book in the series. I even went as far to take time out of my lunch break to renew my local library privileges so that I could get on the hold list. And yes, when I saw that I was 92nd on the list, I pouted. I also scoured the catalog of the academic library consortium where I work to see if any copies turned up. And, yes, I've contemplated buying the darn thing so that I don't have to wait.


I consider this book to be a Hunger Games bandwagon book - which is most likely the reason why I can't separate the two. This also makes it hard for me to review Divergent unbiasedly. I loved Hunger Games (and re-reading it right before tackling this book was probably not fair). But, all things considered, Hunger Games was still the better book (and most likely will be the better series in the end).

Divergent was not bad, in fact it was quite a good read in the end. But it felt like a knock-off the whole time I was reading it. The main character, Tris, is a strong female who is dealing with a whole new (and dangerous) world and her own emotions toward the male lead, Four. (He is pretty hot, and they do have obvious chemistry.) The parallels of the two series are obvious, and Hunger Games pulls it off just a bit better. The story is more forced in Divergent, and the plot feels more contrived. There is less nuance to the story, and more "I have an idea so I'm just going to spit it out" going on in the book. I guess you could say the story needs more editing. To many things happen without explanation - and the turning points at the end felt like escapes from more complicated plot lines.

That said, I couldn't put it down. The main story and characters are still compelling. No matter how bandwagony the book was, I still wanted to know what would happen in the end.

Divergent feels like it's trying to hard to be the next Hunger Games series - in both the characters, plot lines, and writing style. Setting all of that aside, however, this is still a good book and one that I glad I read. A book can't be bad when I'm ravenous for the next addition to the series.

RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]