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Divergent (Divergent, #1)

Veronica Roth

Start date: January 16, 2012

Finish date: February 16, 2012

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Discussion leader: Shellbelle

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♦Buddy Reads♦

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What Members Thought

Feb 23, 2013 Nika ♥Marie♥ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I am going to be honest I had no intentions in reading this book because someone told me what happened in the last book. I thought it would have ruined the series for me but to my surprise it didn't. This book was good. Though it had it moments where it lulled especially in the beginning it took a while before things got interesting but I also understand that the world needed to be built.

I really enjoyed Tris and her character. I enjoyed the reading about her internal struggle before she selecte ...more

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May 02, 2013 Nicole Field rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book completely took me by surprise.

Having read The Hunger Games and Delirium before, I thought I knew what I was getting into this time. Dystopian future teen book. And, look, if I'm going to stop gushing and look at this emotionlessly, that's pretty much the outline of the book.

But the characters! The factions!! I made a comment early on about this book actually being a combination of Hunger Games and Harry Potter, with a sorting hat-esque scene near the beginning, but I enjoyed the diff This book completely took me by surprise.

Having read The Hunger Games and Delirium before, I thought I knew what I was getting into this time. Dystopian future teen book. And, look, if I'm going to stop gushing and look at this emotionlessly, that's pretty much the outline of the book.

But the characters! The factions!! I made a comment early on about this book actually being a combination of Hunger Games and Harry Potter, with a sorting hat-esque scene near the beginning, but I enjoyed the different factions and how they interplayed with each other far more than I enjoyed the four houses in Harry Potter.

About the only way this book let me down, and the only thing that stopped it being a five star book for me, was that I didn't have a feeling for the setting. In other dystopian books, the reader is typically given a visual description of the ways in which this world is different to the world we live in now. That part of Divergent was sort of... absent. I had more of a mental grasp of the specific train that the Dauntless jumped off and onto than the more general world. Roth was very good at describing the specific places where her characters went, but that wasn't helpful in getting me to visualise why this book was dystopian. (Harry Potter, for instance, had separate houses that the characters would be sorted into, but that didn't make it a dystopian book.)

Of the factions, I thought their histories and what they contributed to the world were well devised and interesting. Interesting too that the fact that there too narrowly defined became a symptom of what was wrong with the world.

Of the characters, I loved Four the most. Hands down, no competition. I also, like everyone else, loved the part where he told Tris that, even if she wasn't 'beautiful', he liked the way she looked, yet it was also her brains and her courage that most drew him to her.

I thought it was interesting the the plot point of the Divergent was so underplayed throughout, but I loved the entire plot, so that wasn't really a point of contention for me.

This was a fantastic book and I am definitely looking forward to reading Insurgent soon! ...more

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May 20, 2013 Connie N. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: first-in-series, young-adult, recommended, dystopia

Fascinating. Apparently someone decided that the world should be divided into 5 factions of people, representing peace, courage, honesty, selflessness, and intelligence. Interesting concept if a little blurry as a concept. But the character-development was good through the book. I enjoyed watching Beatrice/Tris grow and develop from a young and protected 16-year-old to building her personality and her skills. Brother Caleb also embraced his internal self and chose his proper path. In Tris's fact ...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Tanya Patrice rated it it was amazing

Loved this book - fast paced, action packed, interesting plot - all the things you need for a stunning novel.My only complaint is that it took a while for the author to explain exactly why the (dystopian) society was divided into factions based on a character trait - e.g., Abnegation (selfless), Candor (honesty & truth), Dauntless (Fearless, Bravery), etc. - and I think the explanation was pretty weak sauce. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the book - and the buildup to the ending ... yes, the ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Mels6675 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopia

I was not able to put this book down. I started midafternoon and was up till I completed the sage. I fell in love with the charactors, plot and society. I am looking forward to May.

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