Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent

Author:  Veronica Roth

Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books, 

an imprint of HarperCollins

Date Published:  May 3rd 2011

From Goodreads:

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. 

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I knew I wanted to read Divergent as soon as the reviews started coming out.  I was reading reviews with "Best book ever", "Wow", and bloggers were even comparing it to The Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games, really?  Now it ain't no Hunger Games in my opinion, but it's still pretty darn good.

In Divergent there are five factions that at the age of 16 you must choose from Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite.  Beatrice (Tris), our main protagonist who was born into Abnegation decides to leave her family and chooses Dauntless.  This is where all the action happens, and there is definitely action.  The plot moves up and down with some non stop action to a way slower pace.  At times it was kind of hard to take the shift, and when the action would slow down I would find myself putting it down for awhile.  It didn't take long to pick it back up though because I thought the story was good.  I wanted to know what the heck was going on in Dauntless.  How exciting for author Veronica Roth to have hit a homerun on her debut novel.  

My only real dislike in Divergent is kind of a biggie.  I really wasn't feeling the romance between Four and Tris.  I liked Four but there was no chemistry between him and well anyone in my opinion.  He was a very closed off character, and the couple of times Roth wanted to show his softer side I feel it didn't come off real.  I can't wait to read the next books, but it's because of the action and to find out what happens between the fractions not because of the romance, though I would have liked some that felt genuine.

Divergent is worth the read, and I hardly doubt anyone will close the book thinking it sucked.  This is a book you can feel comfortable spending your money on.