Author(s): Veronica Roth
Edition: Hardcover, 489 pages
Edition: Hardcover, 489 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Source: Bought from Barnes and Noble
Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
The 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.
My Opinion
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll admit, I was skeptical at first when Divergent came out. People were making this comparison that this was the next Hunger Games (which is a series I LOVE), and I hated when everyone did that to Harry Potter with Twilight. So I put off reading it, and put it off, and put it off until I finally decided to see for myself if it was as good as everyone was saying. The answer: HECK YES!!!
Divergent is easily one of my top books for 2011. The world that Veronica Roth created is fantastic. there is so much layering, and intricacies that the reader immediately gets sucked into the story. There are five factions one can be a part of within the world of Divergent: Amity, Candor, Erudite, Abnegation, and Dauntless. If you looked up the definitions of each of these words, that would sum the faction up perfectly. While each lives in Chicago (not the one we know) as a whole, all have different values, morals, and rules in which they live by. And then of course there's the whole divergent thing....ooooh leave you guessing! At 16, each citizen goes through a test where it is determined what faction they are best suited. They then can choose to stay with the faction they were born into or choose to join the new faction the test gives them. After the choice is made is when the biggest divide happens because you don't always make the cut and can become factionless (no one wants to be that). The governmental system is entirely based around these 5 factions, and I love it!
Tris is the protagonist of the story, and she is the most human character I've read in a while (See I didn't compare her to Katniss.... ; ) ). She is strong and weak and scared and determined and brave and amazing and harsh, etc. I absolutely rooted for her the entire time. She is probably the only character, besides a couple periphery characters, that I really connected with and didn't, at one time, hate. Even though she does some morally questionable acts, Roth does a great job in showing why and giving her redeeming qualities. I really want to see how further her personality and character develops through the trilogy.
And be prepared for a cliff-hanger! And a not so nice ending! And a ton of questions! Oh, and hope for the future! Yes, the ending of Divergent was that intense, but luckily we have the second book, Insurgent, to squirm over (publication date is May 2012. SO FAR AWAY!). It is such a great book, and I love the whole premise so much. If you want to know what faction you'd be in, you can head over to Facebook and take the quiz (it's the same one, essentially, that the candidates in the book go through); I got Erudite, which I'm not sure I'm too happy about (when you read the book you'll see why). Divergent is available in all majors bookstores, and if you don't have a copy go get one now!! You're going to love it, I promise!
Extras
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final Rating
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book Cover: 4/5
Book Title: 5/5
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 9.5/10
Writing: 9.5/10
Ending: 10/10
Overall: 48/50: A+
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks so much for stopping by; I love to hear from you!
Happy reading!!!!