Book Review: Divergent (Divergent, #1) by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent 

Series: Divergent

Book Numner: 1

Author: Veronica Roth 

Genre: Fiction - Dystopia, Fiction - YA 

Finished: March 31, 2014

It took me two tries to finish Divergent. As a big fan of the Hunger Games, a friend of mine recommended that I try out the Divergent series. So, heeding this advice, I purchased the e-book version of Divergent. My very first impression was that I liked the concept. Despite a real backstory for the ‘dystopia’ that Roth created, I still found it an absolutely compelling world. I liked the concept of keeping “control” of people by dividing people into factions through which they can contribute the most to society. In the story, a young girl named Beatrice Prior, member of the Abnegation faction. When it comes time for her to take her Aptitude test, the test through which she will find out the best faction for her, her test comes out that she has qualities appropriate for all factions, a condition known as Divergent. This, according to the government, is dangerous. They want people to fit into molded groups, not to be free thinkers. Honestly, not knowing that happens in later books, I couldn’t help but wonder why this wasn’t a more prevalent condition. Human nature is ultimately hard to contain. Beatrice can’t be Divergent, which must be kept a secret, so she elect to join the Dauntless faction. Dauntless are the protectors... the soldiers, the police, the fearless fighters. It’s a long road for Beatrice, who changes her name to Tris. Predictably, Tris becomes the most powerful of the new initiates and gets the hottest guy in the Dauntless faction: Four. It took me two tries because I felt like the romance between Tris and Four took away a lot from the plot. Something about the constant kissing just put me off because I wanted more than that. I wanted action, conflict more than just “is it okay to like this guy” and to learn more about the world in which these people live. Of course, I will read the other two books because now I feel invested in the series and I hope that with the romance out of the way and established, we can get on to things more deeply plot driven.