Divergent by Veronica Roth is set
in Chicago during a dystopian future. Something has happened that has shut the
city off from the rest of the world, and the people have created five factions
which each have a different purpose in governing the city. At the age of 16 a
test is administered to see if the faction that you were born into is the
faction you should stay a part of. This is when we meet the main character Beatrice,
and the story follows her through her choice.
I really enjoyed Divergent; I read
half of it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. The writing really
draws you in and I wasn’t able to figure out what was going to happen next, it
was always a bit of a surprise. I found
the idea of different factions where you are raised to believe a certain thing,
and to act a certain way really interesting. The idea of factions make you
think about society and how it works, and why it works.
I loved the characters in
Divergent. The main character Beatrice is awesome; she is so brave and kind. I like
the journey that she takes and it is fascinating how she continues to have an
internal struggle even after she makes her decision about which faction she
belongs in. Beatrice seemed too real to me, like her thoughts and feeling could
be exactly what someone would actually have, and it made her more believable. I
wish that more female heroes were written like her.
The male lead, named Four, is
completely swoon worthy and I’m not talking in an Edward Cullen sort of way.
Four really cares about Beatrice, and works really hard to make sure that she
gets through all the hard ships she encounters. The thing about Four that is
really cool is that he doesn’t coddle Beatrice, he helps her, but in a way that
makes her able to deal with things better on her own. Four never once tries to
save her from pain, because he understands that it is part of life, and he
never puts her up on a pedestal.
I gave Divergent a four out of
five on Good Reads, and if you enjoyed The Hunger Games you will definitely like
this book. It is a dystopian novel,
where the world is different and the government is bad, but I enjoyed Divergent
and would recommend it to anyone.
