Divergent (Divergent, #1) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Jun 12, 2012 Gary Nilsen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Divergent, a young adult dystopian offering from Veronica Roth is the opening volume of a three book series involving the main character of Tris Prior. Told in the first person, Ms. Roth lays out an engaging story set at some point in the future where the society in and around the ruins of Chicago have divided into five factions, each of which represents a particular mind set. At the age of sixteen, every youth is given an aptitude test which will help the candidate decide the future that makes Divergent, a young adult dystopian offering from Veronica Roth is the opening volume of a three book series involving the main character of Tris Prior. Told in the first person, Ms. Roth lays out an engaging story set at some point in the future where the society in and around the ruins of Chicago have divided into five factions, each of which represents a particular mind set. At the age of sixteen, every youth is given an aptitude test which will help the candidate decide the future that makes the most sense based on the results. Trouble begins when Tris’s aptitude test fails to reveal a definitive path, and there is a fear that she might be Divergent – something which portends serious repercussions.

Unlike many stories of this genre, Divergent doesn’t spend much time commenting on the social order which came before theirs, so there is little or no extrapolation of present day culture giving rise to the future depicted in the novel. It lacks the cautionary angle of novels such as M.T. Anderson’s , Feed or the Scott Westerfeld’s, Uglies series. Instead, the tale revolves around many typical young adult issues such as compliance, love, betrayal, trust of authority, family, and individuality. Similar to many dystopian themes is the pressure to conform to the group by suppressing individual agendas – faction before family.

Roth blends several story elements together very successfully and fleshes out her main characters well, which is quite an accomplishment for such a young writer. The book begins to stumble, during the last few chapters. Many of the plot points seem a bit too convenient, the meaning of being Divergent fails to carry as much weight as I thought it would, and the emotional resonance the story is looking for from its readers falls flat. The story lost some of its organic flow.

The novel has won awards for popularity and will appear as a feature film. Hopefully the movie cast will infuse some of the emotional content that didn’t make it onto the pages. Books and movies often form a mutually advantageous symbiosis – think Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Hopefully this might happen here as Divergent was fun experience overall and was sufficiently well written to propel the reader forward into the sequels.
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May 13, 2014 Pr!ya rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, fiction, adventure, futuristic

The story fell short for me. For modern dystopian young adult fiction, I much prefer The Hunger Games.

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Jan 17, 2012 Julia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-favorites, dystopia

This book was pretty amazing- I couldn't put it down! It's been a long time since I have been able to say that about a book! This is what the hunger games should have been. ...more

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