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The Divergent Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series
The first companion guide to the blockbuster bestselling Divergent trilogy—soon to be a major motion picture
Written by the New York Times bestselling author of The Twilight Companion and The Hunger Games Companion, the book takes fans deeper into the post-apocalyptic world created by Veronica Roth—a dystopian Chicago in which humanity has organized itself into five factions, each with its own core value to uphold. At the age of sixteen, Beatrice Prior must choose to which one she will devote her life.
Written by the New York Times bestselling author of The Twilight Companion and The Hunger Games Companion, the book takes fans deeper into the post-apocalyptic world created by Veronica Roth—a dystopian Chicago in which humanity has organized itself into five factions, each with its own core value to uphold. At the age of sixteen, Beatrice Prior must choose to which one she will devote her life.
The Divergent Companion includes fascinating background facts about the action in all three books—the third book, Allegiant, publishes in October 2013—a revealing biography of the author, and amazing insights into the trilogy's major themes and features. It’s everything fans have been hungering for since the very first book! This book is not authorized by Veronica Roth, Katherine Tegen Books, or anyone involved in the Divergent movie.
The Divergent Companion is a must-read and a terrific gift for the millions of fans both young and old—especially with the Summit Entertainment film version of Divergent, the first book in the trilogy, hitting theaters in March 2014.
The Divergent Companion is a must-read and a terrific gift for the millions of fans both young and old—especially with the Summit Entertainment film version of Divergent, the first book in the trilogy, hitting theaters in March 2014.
- GenresNonfiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 2014
5 people are currently reading
433 people want to read
About the author
Lois H. Gresh
73 books141 followersLOIS H. GRESH is the New York Times Bestselling Author (6 times) and USA Today Bestselling Author (thrillers) of 30 books and more than 65 short stories. Look for SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. CTHULHU #1: THE ADVENTURE OF THE DEADLY DIMENSIONS (Titan Books, April 2017), the first in a new trilogy of Sherlock Holmes thrillers from England's premier publisher of all things Holmes, with Random House distribution in the USA. Lois’ books have been published in 22 languages. For five years, Lois was a staff book reviewer at scifi.com (now SYFY.com, the Science Fiction Cable Channel), and her work has been on national/international award ballots eight times. She is a frequent Guest of Honor Author at large fan conventions and has appeared on television series such as The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and Batman Tech.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
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March 22, 2021This definitely digs into the personalities of us as humans and the factions! And it really went in depth of Divergent!
November 8, 2016
3.5/5 stars
This book is quite an interesting companion to the Divergent series. However, it's nothing like I thought it would be. For any Divergent fans wondering, this has very little to do with the actual story and characters of the story, as one might be deceived to think. Instead, this book provides a lot of scientific explanations on the possibilities of the Divergent world becoming a real place and the correlations between it, our society and other dystopian/utopian books.
As someone in their teens, I have very little knowledge on psychology, biology, sociology among all the other sciences that compose this book. From a more fangirl point of view, this book would be pretty disappointing. While there are some interesting analyses on the characters here and there, it wasn't made for the younger demographic. For me, I could sort of understand what the author was trying to explain, but some of the words I had never seen before, so it made understanding this book an utter impossibility.
From the point of view of someone who finds psychology and biology interesting, it was quite cool to think about what in my head was always a fantastical and impossible world. This book imposes you to ask a lot more questions about the world of Divergent itself, and some of the gaps that can't really be filled, from a more scientific perspective (and even as a reader, there were some plot holes in Allegiant, especially, that I could not fill or understand).
All in all, I thought this was interesting read. It was not by any chance an easy one, but entertaining nonetheless. I would not recommend this book to most Divergent fans, unless you really are a die-hard one and have some interest in learning about the possible science behind the book.
This book is quite an interesting companion to the Divergent series. However, it's nothing like I thought it would be. For any Divergent fans wondering, this has very little to do with the actual story and characters of the story, as one might be deceived to think. Instead, this book provides a lot of scientific explanations on the possibilities of the Divergent world becoming a real place and the correlations between it, our society and other dystopian/utopian books.
As someone in their teens, I have very little knowledge on psychology, biology, sociology among all the other sciences that compose this book. From a more fangirl point of view, this book would be pretty disappointing. While there are some interesting analyses on the characters here and there, it wasn't made for the younger demographic. For me, I could sort of understand what the author was trying to explain, but some of the words I had never seen before, so it made understanding this book an utter impossibility.
From the point of view of someone who finds psychology and biology interesting, it was quite cool to think about what in my head was always a fantastical and impossible world. This book imposes you to ask a lot more questions about the world of Divergent itself, and some of the gaps that can't really be filled, from a more scientific perspective (and even as a reader, there were some plot holes in Allegiant, especially, that I could not fill or understand).
All in all, I thought this was interesting read. It was not by any chance an easy one, but entertaining nonetheless. I would not recommend this book to most Divergent fans, unless you really are a die-hard one and have some interest in learning about the possible science behind the book.
March 6, 2014
*I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I'll admit, I got excited when I was offered to review this book for two reasons, 1) DIVERGENT is still one of my all-time favorite books despite the fact that I hated the ending of the series, and 2) I was expecting a book filled with lots of glossy pictures of this guy...
[image error]
Wrong companion book.
But that's okay, because this one is really good too!
It's well written, informative and loaded with interesting facts even the most Non-Erudite person can get into. (If you don't know what Erudite is, then I can't help you.) It's an analytical behind the scenes look at the book and it's themes as a whole. It even has an aptitude test similar to the one Tris has to take in DIVERGENT. I took it and I'm still proudly waving my Dauntless flag.
Fans who enjoyed the book or those looking for a more in-depth guide to the series should definitely check this out.
I'll admit, I got excited when I was offered to review this book for two reasons, 1) DIVERGENT is still one of my all-time favorite books despite the fact that I hated the ending of the series, and 2) I was expecting a book filled with lots of glossy pictures of this guy...
[image error]
Wrong companion book.
But that's okay, because this one is really good too!
It's well written, informative and loaded with interesting facts even the most Non-Erudite person can get into. (If you don't know what Erudite is, then I can't help you.) It's an analytical behind the scenes look at the book and it's themes as a whole. It even has an aptitude test similar to the one Tris has to take in DIVERGENT. I took it and I'm still proudly waving my Dauntless flag.
Fans who enjoyed the book or those looking for a more in-depth guide to the series should definitely check this out.
August 12, 2014
This book is not an easy read. It's essentially the equivalent of college-level Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, Genetics, Philosophy, and Neuroscience classes packed into 170 pages. Luckily, it was easier for me to understand as I am a Psychology major so I learned about many of the things discussed in this book in my college classes. Even so, it was still difficult to understand some of the science in this book. I feel like sometimes the author went way too far into the science behind the ideas in Divergent at times and then she didn't go in far enough at other times and the writing came across as lacking. It was still interesting to read, however, if you are not an adult and have at least a basic understanding of biology and psychology, don't bother reading the book as it will really be too difficult to understand.
April 9, 2023
This book would have been more properly titled something along the lines of: 170 Pages of Scientific Jargon To Do With Divergent. While I do enjoy scientific analysis and would very well have loved this in another context, I do feel like the title, blurbs, and advertising are misleading. I was expecting fun facts, exclusive tidbits from Roth, and those such things. I dragged myself through it and honestly regret that choice.
June 29, 2018
The Description on Amazon:
"The Divergent Companion includes fascinating background facts about the action in all three books—a revealing biography of the author, and amazing insights into the trilogy's major themes and features. It's everything fans have been hungering for since the very first book!"
This was not what I signed up for when I bought this book. It was not a guide to the series at all. It seemed to be an attempt for Ms. Gresh to look smart and show how much science she researched looking for ways to undermine the "possibility" of the gen mods/serums/mind control being feasible now or in the future. I don't personally give a shit if it's possible because it's called FICTION for a reason. My eyes glazed over so many times while trying to get through her long-winded explanations about neural pathways, psychobiology, neurotransmissions and other boring scientific jargon that really has no bearing at all on the divergent series much less as a "guide" to it. It's almost if she's looking for reasons to bash the books.
So Ms. Gresh, you somewhat succeeded in sounding smart but totally failed in writing a guide to the Divergent series that readers can identify with. It would have been a lot better if it wasn't labeled as a guide but as a scientific study of the science in the series.
"The Divergent Companion includes fascinating background facts about the action in all three books—a revealing biography of the author, and amazing insights into the trilogy's major themes and features. It's everything fans have been hungering for since the very first book!"
This was not what I signed up for when I bought this book. It was not a guide to the series at all. It seemed to be an attempt for Ms. Gresh to look smart and show how much science she researched looking for ways to undermine the "possibility" of the gen mods/serums/mind control being feasible now or in the future. I don't personally give a shit if it's possible because it's called FICTION for a reason. My eyes glazed over so many times while trying to get through her long-winded explanations about neural pathways, psychobiology, neurotransmissions and other boring scientific jargon that really has no bearing at all on the divergent series much less as a "guide" to it. It's almost if she's looking for reasons to bash the books.
So Ms. Gresh, you somewhat succeeded in sounding smart but totally failed in writing a guide to the Divergent series that readers can identify with. It would have been a lot better if it wasn't labeled as a guide but as a scientific study of the science in the series.
June 10, 2017
I have never read a companion book, so this was new. Being a big fan of the series I thought I would attempt to read it. I definitely expected something different. I was a fan of the quizzes and the short brief summaries of the characters
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Spoilers:
I guess because I have never read a companion novel that I should not be such a harsh judge. It gave way to much detail on background things that were not very interesting. Specifics the equipment the erudite use to stop water from flowing. The quiz while gave a great new outlook on the question "which faction would you choose?" It had some selections that were the same and then did not make sense. Overall it wasn't bad. A quick read. Although, I'll probably stick to some actual in time books.
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Spoilers:
I guess because I have never read a companion novel that I should not be such a harsh judge. It gave way to much detail on background things that were not very interesting. Specifics the equipment the erudite use to stop water from flowing. The quiz while gave a great new outlook on the question "which faction would you choose?" It had some selections that were the same and then did not make sense. Overall it wasn't bad. A quick read. Although, I'll probably stick to some actual in time books.
September 15, 2018
This book was kind of interesting, but that's about it. The author spends the majority of the book talking about different science terms and only spends a fraction of this book actually talking about how it applies to the Divergent series. If you understand different complicated sciences then I guess you can read this? But if you understand all that anyway, you probably don't need this book so.... just skip this.
May 20, 2018
Admittedly I was slightly dissapointed that this book didn’t indulge much into the characters. However I did read on anyways. There was a particular error which frustrated me saying that peter was from amity (he’s from candor). Other than those two things I found the book moderately enjoyable. A short quick and easy read. Not something to indulge yourself in but more as “huh. Fun facts.”
November 20, 2024
Who is this for lmaooo
This book takes the mystery and fascination that comes with a fantasy and ruins it by trying to explain stuff that clearly doesn't need to be explained in a super complicated way
This book takes the mystery and fascination that comes with a fantasy and ruins it by trying to explain stuff that clearly doesn't need to be explained in a super complicated way
December 23, 2017
I paired this text for when I taught Divergent to my 9th graders. I really enjoyed the research that went into making this book.
November 27, 2016
yes i read this during my divergent phase. i have nothing else to say.
March 10, 2017
Went way over my head, too much science in such a short book. Needed more separation between discussions.
April 9, 2015
I got this book from the library thinking it would offer more depth to my perspectives on the Divergent trilogy. In some ways, it did -- especially the last chapter on utopian vs. dystopian fiction. But the majority of this book is the author's attempt to use contemporary science to explain the science in the Divergent fictional world. It's an interesting thing to do, certainly; it just wasn't what was advertised.
One thing that really bugged me was that the author seemed to use the film world interchangeably with the book world. I can't speak authoritatively on this because I have not seen the movies, but one example that showed up clearly is her continual references to the lack of racial diversity, which is a statement she could only possibly be making if the movie has an all-white cast. It would be quite a stretch to imagine that every character in the books is white; I don't recall that anyone's skin color was explicitly described, but certainly very few characters in the books were described in racially coded ways. I imagine have been other times when the author used film references that don't relate to things that were actually in the books too, but I would not have picked them up without seeing the films. I think it's important to distinguish between information from a book and information from a movie based on a book, when writing a book that specifically states it is about the books!
It also seemed like the author grossly oversimplified the factions, which really detracted from my willingness to take her ideas seriously. She equates the Dauntless with authoritarianism, reduces the Candor to a brutal rudeness, and attributes religious faith to the Amity far beyond anything that was represented in the book. Maybe this is another instance where the movies portray the factions differently from the books, but it certainly felt like the author of this book read a different book from the book I read.
The book wasn't terrible, but I can't say that I would recommend it.
One thing that really bugged me was that the author seemed to use the film world interchangeably with the book world. I can't speak authoritatively on this because I have not seen the movies, but one example that showed up clearly is her continual references to the lack of racial diversity, which is a statement she could only possibly be making if the movie has an all-white cast. It would be quite a stretch to imagine that every character in the books is white; I don't recall that anyone's skin color was explicitly described, but certainly very few characters in the books were described in racially coded ways. I imagine have been other times when the author used film references that don't relate to things that were actually in the books too, but I would not have picked them up without seeing the films. I think it's important to distinguish between information from a book and information from a movie based on a book, when writing a book that specifically states it is about the books!
It also seemed like the author grossly oversimplified the factions, which really detracted from my willingness to take her ideas seriously. She equates the Dauntless with authoritarianism, reduces the Candor to a brutal rudeness, and attributes religious faith to the Amity far beyond anything that was represented in the book. Maybe this is another instance where the movies portray the factions differently from the books, but it certainly felt like the author of this book read a different book from the book I read.
The book wasn't terrible, but I can't say that I would recommend it.
March 25, 2014
This was an extremely interesting read and great companion to the Divergent trilogy. It raises questions about Divergent that I never thought about before like the technical details. I loved finding out that Divergent is mostly scientifically accurate and in the future, a society like the one Veronica Roth created could very well exist. That's a little bit of a scary thought, considering that means the government will have multiple ways to manipulate people into submission. The book contained a few grammatical errors and misinformation about the trilogy. For instance, Gresh said that Peter transferred from Amity into Dauntless, but he didn't. He came from Candor, which is something Christian talks about in Divergent. Don't read this book if you do not enjoy science. It's loaded with scientific terms and anatomical descriptions. I'm glad I have strong aptitude for Erudite! :)
March 30, 2014
This book is for hardcore fans only. Or those who are really, REALLY interested in the science behind what happens throughout the series. While this book does have some very interesting points, it often veers away into long scientific explanations of how something works or how it applies to the real world. For some that may be fascinating but for me it started to get pretty boring and I found myself skipping through until the author got back to explaining how all this actually applies to the book.
All too often it felt like the author was getting caught up in the details and forgetting to apply that information to what's in the book. Or delving far too deeply to find answers to questions that were never asked in a book of fiction.
All too often it felt like the author was getting caught up in the details and forgetting to apply that information to what's in the book. Or delving far too deeply to find answers to questions that were never asked in a book of fiction.
March 30, 2015
Okay, so first of all; you need quite a bit of knowledge about various scientific branches to understand this properly, so wouldn't recommend it for anyone who's not graduated from high school. Unless you're really into understanding various sociological, physical, biological and psychological thoughts :)
Personally I couldn't get through it as easily as I'd first thought because of the various science-y elements to it but it was still a very good book. Like reading an interesting course-book for uni, but for a fandom instead. So this is definitely something to go back to and check when you get questions about the Divergent series, such as the natures of the factions or the genetic manipulations or the political aspects of it.
Personally I couldn't get through it as easily as I'd first thought because of the various science-y elements to it but it was still a very good book. Like reading an interesting course-book for uni, but for a fandom instead. So this is definitely something to go back to and check when you get questions about the Divergent series, such as the natures of the factions or the genetic manipulations or the political aspects of it.
May 28, 2016
This book is really nothing special. Wouldn't recommend, even for big fans of the series. I bought this when I was pretty obsessed with the series and because I was writing an essay about it and thought this could help. Never actually got around to reading it and that was two years ago.
The titles of the chapter seem interesting but the writing is pretty basic and doesn't really tell you much more than what you can already figure out by yourself from reading the series (this is just from reading the beginning). I honestly didn't read the scientific parts because I stopped doing sciences after finishing sixth form and hope to never go back.
The titles of the chapter seem interesting but the writing is pretty basic and doesn't really tell you much more than what you can already figure out by yourself from reading the series (this is just from reading the beginning). I honestly didn't read the scientific parts because I stopped doing sciences after finishing sixth form and hope to never go back.
March 25, 2014
I honestly didn't like this book
I am only 13 and this book used words suitable for 20 year olds
In this book , he puts down the faction system and actually confused me about the whole divergent series
I was looking forward to reading this book since I am a massive divergent fan but I was unable to read past page 50 and was confused throughout it all
I wouldn't recommend it to people under the age of 16 in my opinion
I am only 13 and this book used words suitable for 20 year olds
In this book , he puts down the faction system and actually confused me about the whole divergent series
I was looking forward to reading this book since I am a massive divergent fan but I was unable to read past page 50 and was confused throughout it all
I wouldn't recommend it to people under the age of 16 in my opinion
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April 8, 20183.5 stars. This book was interesting enough and raised question about the trilogy that I'd never though about. However the explanation of the science behind the transmitters was hard to follow along and there were a few grammatical errors as well as false fact about the series. I also disagreed with some of the authors opinions. Overall it was interesting to read and I enjoyed the majority of it.
July 26, 2014
Not what I was expecting...I wanted more like the Twilight companion books. This was okay but more along the lines of "what if"-ing this could happen in real life. Interesting, but not what I was looking for...
July 20, 2015
not what I was expecting. was too much like being in science class or college. 95% education. 5% divergent. hoping the mortal instruments one is better. I don't think you can turn a fantasy series like that into pure logic.
July 31, 2014
I didn’t actually finish it, but I have a feeling that I won’t get back to actually reading it in quite a while.
April 14, 2014
Not what I was expecting. Gresh has written not a companion but a scientific explanation of the Divergent world.
August 24, 2014
This book is so shitty
I've just wasted my money buying this book
and what;s with the "The Amity-Born Peter"
He's from the CANDOR!
this book's a waste
I've just wasted my money buying this book
and what;s with the "The Amity-Born Peter"
He's from the CANDOR!
this book's a waste
August 12, 2014
Science behind the factions, serums and psychology of groups.
March 17, 2015
I haven't read it yet because I can't figure out how to read the books on here. but I just found out about this app so can anyone help me?
April 7, 2014
really full of exelent detail
April 8, 2014
Review has been written and will post here after it posts to its original Review destination.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews