Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

Book Review:

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, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

My Rating: 2.9/5
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia
Read from October 9 to 15, 2014


Paperback, 487 pages 
Published February 28th 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books (first published April 25th 2011)

My Review:

Divergent was one of those books that, personally, I can't decide how to rate. When I started it, it felt likē Christmas - I was so, so happy because there were plenty of action, danger and fresh ideas. Unfortuanately though, when I reached the ending I was more than dissapointed - it was rushed and felt extremely fake. 

Plot:


In a post apocalyptic Chicago, the city's inhabitants are divided into five sections - Candor, the honest, Dauntles, the brave, Amity, the peaceful, Abnegation, the selflsess and Erudite, the intellectual. Each year, the teenagers who turn sixteen have to face an extremely serious choice - they can either stay in their faction, or they can choose to become members of another faction. Due to the fact that such a choice is made for life, there is an aptitude test that the candidates undergo, which as a result gives the optimal choice for the individual.

What happens though, when your results are vague? This is the question Beatrice Prior comes across. Born into an Abnegation family, she always felt that she didn't belong, although she had never thought of a life without gray dull clothes and selflessness. Now, the test has unlocked three paths ahead of her: Dauntless, Erudite and Abnegation. In her confusion, all she gets from her tester is that she mustn't share the result with anyone and in a moment full of agony and without second thought she chooses dauntless. 

Beatrice has to survive through neverending fight duels, jumps from rooftops, bullying and even worse, a strange attraction towards her instructor, a boy named Four - who has a concealed truth of his own. But in that rally of survival, will her secret remain hidden?

Characters:

As about the sentimental levels of the story and the characters... I found the romance in this story absolutely fresh and healthy, and I can say that those two are one of my favorite fictional couples. THAT IS the exact reason why the shallowness of the characters felt like a bath in icicles.

Tris - Beatrice - is described to have the physical appearance of a child, and from what I collected from the story, she has the immature feelings of a child too. She is good in being bullied, taken care of, pulling stunts etc. and she is foolishly courageous. I can't say I liked her as a character, it would be a huge lie. Still, she is a lot better than many other female characters just for the fact that when she wants something, she will ask for it and take it. And luckily, there is no whimpering!

Four answered to most of my expectations as a male hero, and this is a huge thumbs up as I distaste most male fictional characters I've come across. In opposition to Tris, he is mature beyond his years, brooding, and a quick thinker. What let me down a bit is the part he played in the ending of the book which, personally, I found really un-fitting and dissapointing for a character with the above traits.

I forgot all about the rest of the characters the instance I finished the book, which is all the more proof that they where poorly built and shallow.

I am definitely going to give a chance to the series, hoping the second book will be better than the first.