Divergent (Divergent, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 12, 2012 Amy Rosa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent book! Fast-paced and action-packed. If you liked Hunger Games then this is definitely a new series for you too. Has its similarities to Hunger Games (main character is also a girl with special abilities, dystopian future, world divided up into sections, etc) but it also has its own interesting spin on the dystopian genre. I couldn't put this book down and I'm looking forward to reading the next one. ...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Jessica rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: chicago, speculative-fiction, dystopia, ya, audio

Unfortunately, this one suffers from what I've come to call YA disease - it's so bound up in teenage-ness that it loses any relatability outside of that realm. If you happen to be a teenager or have a strong positive connection to that period in your life, this book is probably great; if you're not, it'll likely frustrate you completely.

The teenage characters are authentic in their emotional volatility and self-involvement so I'll give credit to Roth on that, but unfortunately that doesn't tran Unfortunately, this one suffers from what I've come to call YA disease - it's so bound up in teenage-ness that it loses any relatability outside of that realm. If you happen to be a teenager or have a strong positive connection to that period in your life, this book is probably great; if you're not, it'll likely frustrate you completely.

The teenage characters are authentic in their emotional volatility and self-involvement so I'll give credit to Roth on that, but unfortunately that doesn't translate into my caring about them at all. Tris is definitely a typical YA heroine - the few "flaws" she has are either immutable physical traits (such as her diminutive size) or are really strengths wearing the thinnest of negative veils. She's not popular, but instead secretly the most awesome awesome to ever awesome, and totally humble about it. I see the appeal of that, I do, but.... sigh. Just once, I'd like to see an author subvert the Mary Sue trope a little. The other good guys are in some ways worse - they're either so thinly defined (Tris's family) or even more idealized than Tris (Four) that they don't seem like real people at all. But the bulk of my problem is with the bad guys - after 11+ hours of listening hoping for some character development or complexity, I'm forced to conclude that no, Roth isn't going to do anything more than give them a loose "jealousy" as motivation.

Sadly, the plot (such as it is) doesn't do much for me either. I'm willing to give the first entry in a speculative series some time to get going because setting up a world isn't an instant process, but Roth squanders that opportunity by spinning out fight scenes and feats of derring-do that ultimately do nothing to explain why this world is the way it is or establish anything like consistent ground rules. When significant events finally start to happen, they emerge with little to no preamble and rely heavily on authorial convenience for resolution. I still don't understand what caused this dystopian world, how and why factions were settled upon as a solution, and how the faction system stayed stable for the 40 years (my estimate of Tris's parents' ages) prior to the events here. Also, there's nothing in the text to indicate that the characters are super-human/enhanced, but somehow the Dauntless bounce back from beatings that would trigger serious brain damage (or at least recuperation time) in normal folks, which is a major pet peeve of mine.

Ultimately, I feel like YA authors increasingly try to appeal to readers by giving a highly engineered experience that satisfies a basic instinct for idealized heroes but doesn't offer much to take away for more long-term ponderment. Mind candy has its place, but the overall lack of depth I've been finding in the category lately is definitely souring me on it. I guess I'm just not willing to offer a pass on the basics of the writing craft just because the intended audience is under 18. While I get that going for the emotional hot-buttons of the audience (romance! action! good over evil!) is an easy sell and probably smart strategy if your writing isn't superlative, it doesn't mean that I have to keep buying it. ...more

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