Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth

Release Date: 1st May 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

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, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it might be what destroys her.

My Review:
I LOVE THIS BOOK!

When I picked Divergent up, I was unaware of all the hype circulating the blogosphere and was unsure of what I was getting myself into. I like going into reading a novel without a biased opinion and allowing the book to have a clean slate. It wasn't until I finished reading it that I discovered I was not alone in my love for it.

It is so easy to become completely absorbed in the pages of Divergent as Tris struggles with the choices she has made, how they affect her in her new faction, and her feelings towards the family she has left behind.

While I didn't connect with all the characters (when tragedy strikes some of them I didn't feel a great loss, just like Tris didn't), I did really like the slowly evolving friendship and relationship between Tris and Four. I liked his whole 'tortured soul, mysterious background' deal and was glad to not have to face ANOTHER love triangle. The relationship is a secondary storyline and I really liked that it wasn't the main focus. There were some fantastic surprises that I really loved, including revelations about her family and the discovery of a long-lost faction member.

I love Tris's spirit, her courage and trains of thought. I love her innocence but also how she feels when she lets go and becomes the person she is, rather than who she has been told to be, no matter the consequences. She is her own person, who is stronger than she, or anyone else, would have believed.

Think The Hunger Games meets Matched. I was a little worried that it would be more like Matched when I first started reading it but the more I got into it, the more I grew to really love Divergent. While I know I probably shouldn't compare books to each other, trust me, dystopian fans will not be disappointed. Beware, like some scenes in The Hunger Games, Divergent can get quite brutal at times.

I can't praise debut author Roth more. Fantastic!