Divergent ~ May #3 Series

[Jazmine]

What did you think about this book? What was your favorite part in the book? Who is your least favorite character? Who is your favorite?

[K, Moderator]

Halfway through the book (~50%+), I can say that Tris is definitely my favorite. She is such a promising and capable girl; always willing to learn (especially from her own mistakes). I wish I was as brave as her. Who I dislike the most is none other than Eric, Peter as a second. Thus far one of my favorite parts is when Natalie (view spoiler)[(Tris' mom) "hints" at her having been Dauntless-transfer to Abnegation when she came to visit Tris. (hide spoiler)]
Another favorite part is when Tris fights (view spoiler)[ Molly and totally mops the floor with her. I mean c'mon, she was so enraged and really taking it out on her that Four had to come in and break up the fight. Think about that! Haha~ (hide spoiler)]

Can we talk about the political mess that is going on due to many (view spoiler)[of the abnegation born (hide spoiler)] transferring to other factions. Now the faction is being called into question.
The leader for the faction was already a target due to his only son having transferred to Dauntless (view spoiler)[, his name was Tobias (hide spoiler)] (pg. 34-5/Ch.4).

Now let's talk about Tori, divergents, and the government.
The divergent she knew was (view spoiler)[ her own brother and he died because of it. I am blaming the entire government, or more specifically those corrupted government officials, that allowed it and swept it under the rug. They kill off divergents because they are a threat, I believe that it's due to not being able to control the diverents' ideals.
Now let's bring up the fact that Natalie brought up that the abnegation-born children that transferred out had "inconclusive" results and they didn't know why (P.186/ Ch.15).

Think about it. Does this mean that those Abnegation-born children are divergents?
How many others, most recent to Tris' aptitude test, received the same result?
Is this happening in the other factions as well?
How long has this "error" been occuring?
Why are the Abnegation faction ( or just Natalie) in such a hurry to find out more information about the simulation serum?
Should we suspect foul play in messing with the serums or the aptitude test in general?
What about messing with only the testing for one specific faction?
If so, why?? (hide spoiler)]

[K, Moderator]

May 18, 2018
I have finished the book, but will come back at the end of the month to share my thoughts.

EDIT-POST: May 29, 2018.
I just want to say that I really enjoyed the book. It was fast paced and I just couldn't believe just how many people the author kills off in the first book.

From here the rest of this post will contain spoilers for those who have not finished the book:

[SPOILERS AHEAD- WARNING!] [SPOILERS AHEAD- WARNING!]
[SPOILERS AHEAD- WARNING!] [SPOILERS AHEAD- WARNING!]

I can't believe Albert died the way he did. I had to read that section twice because it was so sad. He was a textbook example of just how far humans are willing to go when feeling threatened. Let's put into perspective that he really liked Tris, and wanted them to be more than just friends. Now let's add in that he had a crazy amount of stress put on his shoulders due to the "fears" they needed to face and conquer. Poor kid woke up screaming/crying every night. Let's add in the fear of becoming factionless, which he stated before (I think) that he wanted to avoid at all cost. Mix all this up and you have a boy driven to eliminate competition, aid an enemy, risk getting caught and punished, all to attempt to secure a spot in the Dauntless faction.
He was pushed to the edge so far that he was willing to get rid of the girl he essentially liked and saw as a close friend.

We see that he later regrets it and asks Tris to talk, but to apologize and seek forgiveness from the only person that mattered to him the most in the faction--Tris.

"I won't hurt you. I never wanted to...I just want to say that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't...I don't know what's wrong with me, I...please forgive me, please..."

She ended up dismissing him and that, my friends, is what pushed him to the brink of no return. This is where I think he finally snapped. He couldn't get forgiven and figured, with how everything is going in the faction, his crumbling humanity/sanity, and his friendships, he probably made the decision that it would be better if he ended it all by taking his own life.
I pity him, and I think we all should. Sure, what he did was wrong, but he was human after all, so it brings into question, what are we capable of when pushed to the edge? Think about it, even Al didn't know he was capable of doing what he did, he was struggling to stay sane and "alive" in the faction.
Right after his death Tris talks to Four about Al's suicide and feels regret by not having given him the chance to talk like he had asked.

"I should have forgiven him".

She decides that if she would have forgiven him he'd still be alive and feels like she failed him. Four then comments

"Maybe. Maybe there's more we all could have done," ... "but we just have to let the guilt remind us to do better next time."

Which I think is true, they all failed Al.
"Do better next time" --sure, but what I wonder is, how many others did the Dauntless faction fail as well.

Fast forward to Erudite's leader being the queen of evil. This is an example of the idea of too much knowledge can lead to wanting to take control of everything simply because you're "smart enough" to do it. Jeanine was a glorified, high-revered member in her faction and we even have someone mention that there's nothing she doesn't know. With this type of esteem, it would have been only a matter of time for her head to swell and believe herself perfect and worthy of winning over the factions.
She's a bully, right off the bat, she didn't question the leadership of the other factions, she only targeted sweet and "selfless", Abnegation. Sure the faction wasn't perfect and had a corrupt leaders, but so did Erudite. *cough* Jeanine *cough*.
What about Dauntless you say? Don't get me wrong, they have horrible leaders too, but they didn't publicly point the finger and start political attacks towards other factions, like Erudite did.
Why am I blaming all of Erudite? They are a faction, and I'm assuming that everything was read and edited by an editor and brought up with other Erudite leaders before being published, right? If this is the case, the faction is at fault too for not stopping Jeanine; they ended up supporting her instead.

Now let's fast forward to the apocolypse.
The giant Dauntless soldier-zombie takeover constructed by her incredible genius, Jeanine. *BOOOO!!*
There's an abnegation masacre going on and low and behold, Marcus Eaton (Tobias' father) is among those who are safe.

Unfortunately we find out that Tris' mom, Natalie, dies in order to give her daughter a chance to runaway. And to think we had just officially confirmed that she was a Divergent originally from the Dauntless faction and how she came to Abnegation just before her sacrifice.
(Natalie was a Dauntless-born Divergent and was instructed by her mom, a Dauntless leader, to switch factions to ensure her own safety. She ended up choosing the Abnegation faction due to its core beliefs and way-of-life being the complete opposite of the Dauntless faction.)

Skipping forward towards the end, Tris and the abnegation survivors break into the Dauntless faction and manage to shut down the "soldier-zombie" control Jeanine had had implanted into the Dauntless members. On the way out, we have more deaths, unfortunately one of them being her dad and another being her friend, Will.

From here we end the book with Tris and the (Dauntless and Abnegation) survivors escaping to seek refuge in the Amity faction.