Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

***2011 Debut Author***

Reading Level: Young Adult
Publication Date: May 2011
Pages: 496
Series: 1st in a series
Acquisition: bought

Summary:

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. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances. (from Goodreads)

My thoughts:
From the moment ARCs starting falling into eager reader's hands I have heard nothing but good things about Divergent. Lots of fangirl excitement, lots of people lost for words at how very excellent they thought this book was. The hype was (and still is) HUGE!

And you're wondering…..was it warranted? I say - "Oh hell yeah!"

I love this book. I love it for it's characters, for it's dystopian world, for it's emotion - both of love and of hate. Best of all, I love it for it's simplicity. Dystopian tales run the risk of being too messy. Too many factors at play at once with too many possibilities. Not so with Divergent. It's dystopian playground is clean and believable. The world is different from ours today but it's still very much our world. This makes the actions of each character vivid and real.

And the characters! I really did fall in love with every one of them. Very believable and very enjoyable to read. Especially Tris. She is just a strong person, both emotionally and, she discovers, physically as well.

Again though, it was the dystopian world that Veronica created that kept my attention. It's a little strange and pretty harsh but it makes sense. The rules that govern society are logical and the characters actions fit exactly into the molds they should fit into.

That's not to say there weren't any surprises because there were but they were very welcomed and enjoyable to read!

Final verdict:
Divergent is a book that stays with you for a while after you turn that last page. I find myself wondering just what faction I would choose!

I'm very excited there will be more book in this series because I feel very invested in Tris's story and even though a lot of things were worked through in Divergent, there is the potential for a lot more to be told.

I highly recommend this book to fans of dystopian YA stories - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Overall Rating:

5 / 5 Stars

Books in the Divergent Series:
Divergent
Insurgent (May 2012)
Untitled (2013)

Linkage Love:
Katherine Tegan / HarperCollins
Author's Website
Goodreads