Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 genies
Published: May 3, 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 487
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library loan
Purchase At: The BookDepository.com or Amazon.com

Goodreads Summary

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

My Thoughts

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Overall: 3.5 genies

Characters: 3/5

Plot: 4/5

Setting: 2.5/5

Writing: 4/5

H.M. (honourable mention:( Both Beatrice's mom and dad.

P.A. (problem areas:( The general un-likeability of the characters at times. There was just too much bad about them and not enough good, kind of depressing, actually.


What I Liked:
I liked a lot about this book. It is my first ever dystopian novel and I am very pleased that it was, I mean it was a good read. There was action and danger and intrigue which I greatly enjoyed, also Roth's story-telling abilities are kind of amazing. She weaved this world where people are literally divided into factions based on personal belief and are made to follow the motto, Faction before blood, pretty intense when you think about it.

I applaud the creativity necessary to come up with such a concept and all my problems with certain aspects of this universe aside, I think Roth is a good author. I will read the next book, Insurgent? Because I need to see how these problems are resolved; needless to say, that last chapter left behind a lot of cliff-hangers. [Also I have a snaking feeling that Will is alive, I mean Beatrice never actually saw the bullet hit him, he just stopped chasing, and I have a tiny crush on will so fingers crossed! (hide spoiler)]

When it came down to it, Beatrice was tough when she needed to be and I liked that she kind of evolved. Like Superman.






Or SuperKitty. I like him better.



What I Struggled With:
Generally just Beatrice's Harshness, the girl was a bitch the majority of the time and until she metWhat's his face Tobias she was cruel. I get necessity in harsh times and the need to toughen yourself, but also understand meanness, she went about things like some army recruit ready for war. Would being factionless really be that bad? Of course it would, because Tris is just to good for that! I should never have felt that way about the protagonist but I did; not to say I never sympathized with her, I stopped liking Al because of just how much I felt bad in her defence so there, I care.





She was just so robotic and kind of hard to relate with. Oh and her friends kind of sucked. And between me and Christina there were major issues; the way she was depicted as petty and envious rubbed me the wrong way, I hated it. Did she always have to be jealous of Tris? From what I hear, the robotic little pipsqueak doesn't have much going for her other than Tobias and that relationship in itself is a little far-fetched. I'm still trying to buy it.

Side-note: The guy did not have nice hands, they were dry and icky from what I hear and he should really consider giving me a call.

Ahem, remember what I said about there being more bad than good? Da, da, dada! Perfect examples: Peter, Molly, Drew, Al, Max, Eric, The high-officials from both Erudite and Dauntless, Marcus and whaleJeaniene. These people were all baddies, I mean all of them. Can I take it to mean that Roth has some serious villain-creating-tendencies or just that she wanted as many as possible? I'm going with the latter.

All through the book I kept gritting my teeth because of how much I hated Peter, all along I kept wishing he would just die. Partly because Tris wished that a lot of people did that, she was like a trigger-happy toddler sometimes! Can you say, 'Kill 'em all'?






It got old fast, and the overall violence was a little much for me. The way the world sounds is as though a good 3/4 has been wiped out. What could they possibly need to train for/protect? Why would no one consider that?

Overall: I would buy this book. Why? Because it is so unique and different, plus interesting enough to keep a reader flipping close to 500 pages ahead and ladies and gentlemen that takes skill. From now until the release of Insurgent I will send up multiple prayers that the second book is somehow more personal and human because I found this to be a little robotic. I want to experience Beatrice and Tobias's love beyond rules and constraints because the way they kept it the majority of the time hush-hush was not romantic nor ideal.

Lastly:


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