Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent 
by Veronica Roth
length: 501 pages
file size:706 KB
ASIN: B004CFA9RS
Pub Date: May 3, 2011
by Katherine Tegen Books (Harper Collins)
current ebook price: $4.66
source: won a paper copy 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)


In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, 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 alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating 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 unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

My Thoughts

I have had this book for over a year now and began reading it shortly after receiving it, but another book I had been wanting to read became available and I never returned to Divergent. At my son's soccer practice last week I was chatting with another mom about books and she mentioned that she had enjoyed Divergent and I remembered my copy sitting on my bookshelf at home, collecting dust. I grabbed my copy to read this weekend as we went out of town for a soccer tournament.

I tried reading some other ebooks first, but struggled to get into them, so I grabbed my copy of Divergent and began reading Friday morning. By Friday night I had read all 501 pages and couldn't wait to download a Kindle copy of book two! 

I don't always enjoy the dystopian genre. I have read a few and enjoyed some of them (like Hunger Games), but I have found that the genre has been a bit overdone lately so I usually find my self avoiding them. This one grabbed me pretty quickly and I was sucked in to the story. Tris is a bit of a classic character in the genre: a strong female lead that is not like the others around her. I like the romance angle added to the story (I am a sucker for a romance, a book without one is lacking, to my way of thinking). The faction concept is an interesting one. Breaking down human strengths and weaknesses and emphasizing one at the exclusion of others is intriguing.

All in all, an enjoyable book, that while long, is an easy, fairly quick read!

Rating: 4.5 stars

Content: Mostly clean, there is mention of young people consuming alcohol, as with most dystopian, there is definitely violence, and some mention of sex but no descriptive scenes.