Divergent
Divergentby Veronica Roth
Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. (goodreads.com)
If you are like me and have been wary of this debut novel by Veronica Roth because of all the hype and rave reviews - well, wary no more! The rave reviews are actually 100% warranted because this book is fantastic!I swear I only bought this book because a) it was $10 at the Book Depository (.com) and b) people outside of the circle of book bloggers who always rave about new releases told me it was good. Does it surprise you to know that I hold some people's opinions higher than others when it comes to books? It shouldn't because I know you do it too. ;)The entire dystopian world that Roth creates is fascinating to me. The five factions are so interesting and their reaction to each other intriguing. The fact that you have to abandon your family if you choose a faction other than the one you grew up in seems very harsh to me but it made the book all that much more interesting. How society things you can only think one certain way your entire life is beyond me. People who always tell the truth and tell it like it is (Candor) shouldn't negate them from wanting to help others or give up their seat on the bus to someone in need (Abnegation). I don't see how one virtue cancels out the other.Apparently if you think with the mindset of a combination of these virtues you are Divergent, which is what happens to Tris. Personally, I think that makes you a well-rounded person, but not in this world! (I would suck at being in any of these factions, I guess I'd get stuck in Amity or Abnegation as a final resort.)Do you know what I thought will reading this book? How awesome it would be to see this story play out on screen. Then I scolded myself because if this gets made into a movie, it won't be all awesomesauce like Harry Potter was. Oh, no! It will be stripped down of all the parts that make this book excellent and it will be rewriten for an entirely different audience and I will hate every minute of it! So unless the book-to-movie script stayed 100% true to the story, I do not want to see it on the big screen. (Even though I think what's in the book would look AWESOME in a movie!)The characters in this story are fantastic. I loved Tris from the start and the individual personalities of pretty much everyone in the Transfer Initiates dorm were wonderful. With the exception of Molly and Drew, who seemed sort of bland, everyone else had a striking personality and their changes and reactions throughout the initiation process were like watching a social psychology experiment and I was riveted.I could not put this book down yesterday! I was thinking and talking about it even while we walked the dogs (after a long hiatus of walking because of how hot it has been!). If I could have gotten away with walking and reading, I think I might have done just that. I read and read until it was 11pm and I was done! I was daunted by the 482 pages at first because I was worried I wouldn't like the story. Not so, my fellow readers! There is action! Betrayal! Gross eye knifing! Fighting! Every single page in this novel was full of something interesting and necessary to the plot. Not once did the story drag! Not once did I think "Oh, is this over yet?" in fact I didn't want the book to end. I was completely immersed in the story and I just couldn't stop because every page was a new discovery!The worst part of an excellent book like this is that the wait for the next book is agonizingly long. We just had a May, the next one seems like it's forever away! I can assure you that I won't be putting off paying attention to the next book. Oh, no! I will be there the day it comes out (or my pre-order will be, anyhow). This book was so meaty and delicious! Scary and endearing! Exciting! Enrapturing!In other words - I loved it!Divergent