Thursday, January 12, 2012

Book Review - Divergent

I decided to make a personal commitment to myself to read more in the new year, participate in a few challenges and to actually read the selected books that my book clubs pick. So now you will (hopefully) see book reviews here. The majority of these books will be books i own or borrowed from the library.

This month one of my book clubs picked Divergent by Veronica Roth. Divergent takes place in dystopian Chicago. The book's main character is sixteen year old Beatrice Prior. For all children after they turn 16 they have to take a assessment test that they are not allowed to know about, study for or talk about. The test is a simulation that tells you where you would most belong in the 5 factions, Dauntless - the brave and who polices the city and its border, Amity - the peaceful who are counselors and farmers, Candor - the honest they do not lie, they runt he judicial parts and see everything as black and white, Erudite - knowledgeable they crazy all knowledge run the papers and seem to be openly honest to other factions, and Abenegation - the selfless they do all community service and are in charge of the government. After receiving your results you then later go to the choosing ceremony and that is when you pick your faction for life.

Beatrice has been raised in Abenegation along with her older brother Caleb. She tries her best but she struggles with living up tot he values of her faction. She wonders what life would be like in a few of the other factions and so the test and the choosing ceremony weigh very heavily on her. Her father is a high level political figure and her mother is the ideal of their faction. She's worried because if you choose a different faction at the choosing ceremony for some families it rips them apart and they never see their families again.

Beatrice take the assessment and there's a complication with her results. Instead of it tell her one faction which is is supposed to for everyone it instead tells her that she belongs in any of 3 factions and she is Divergent. The tester tells her that she will make a cover story and report different results because being a Divergent is extremely dangerous and to never tell a soul. She worries so much about whether she should stay where she's not sure she fits or to leave and go where she believes she does.

At the choosing ceremony There are a small amount of transfers from very all the factions Caleb goes first and its a shock to Beatrice, Then its her turn. If you've read the dust jacket its not hard to tell that she picks a different faction. She then chooses to go under a different name ans calls herself Tris. She's the only Abenegation transfer into her new faction and she sees how some of the other factions view her and her faction. She also finds that what she is taught in school and what she knows of the other factions isn't all true. She then has to go thru several weeks of as an initiate finding out that her new faction does not accept everyone, only the top 10 of the class those born and those transferred in get to stay, the rest end up faction-less which are the homeless wanderers of the city. Some of them them work, doing the jobs no one wants. They are the new world undesirables.

Tris now goes thru the tests learning new skills and trying to not only stay high enough that she makes the cut-off but also not drawing enough attention to herself. She finds out that someone is hunting for and killing Divergents so she has to try even harder to hide who she is. She never reveals as she has been told not to but 3 people find out that she is and work to help her hide it. Since she knows no one she has to find a way to fit in, make new friends, and learn to acknowledge a growing attraction to a guy something her old faction ways make difficult.

This book was really good. I hated when i had to stop reading because it was great pacing full of action and storyline. i had never even heard of the book till it was picked for book club. It is a YA book but its still a compelling story and i cared so much for the characters. The storytelling is great as well as the descriptions of the surroundings. This is book 1 of a 3 book series, I enjoyed it so much and it ended at such a place that i can't wait till the 2nd book is released in May.

Disclosure: Contains affiliate links.

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