Happy Booker

Veronica Roth’s first installment of her new dystopian series Divergent simply blew me away. I was not expecting this novel to contain such intensity and emotionality. I usually enjoy dystopian stories, but this one, although much more violent than what I was anticipating, was above and beyond my expectations both with the depth of the characters and the unique plot. The storyline was thrilling, definitely not for the faint of heart. In this society, each citizen is classified into 5 separate factions based on the virtues that their personality is most suited to. The factions are Candor (honesty), Erudite (intelligence), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful). This seemed a bit strange at first, I was worried that a society of people adhering to such one dimensional views would fall understandably flat. This was not the case however. Veronica has created a fascinatingly terrifying world where nothing and nobody are quite what they seem. Divergent contained a bit more violence than what I am used to in a YA novel. This was not a negative aspect however. Roth did not shy away from the unexpected character deaths either which I always enjoy in a book as it is conceivable that when there is a war, many people are killed, and highly unlikely that the main characters make it out unscathed. The main character, Beatrice or Tris as she comes to be known, certainly does not make it through this book unscathed, physically or emotionally. I was fully caught up in her struggles to fit into her new faction and reconcile her feelings about the family she left behind. I loved how she grew as a character, realizing her inner strength while still acknowledging what she is physically incapable of doing. I think that the romance was fairly well written, building slowly as they got to understand one another. I really can’t think of anything that I did not like about Divergent. I can’t wait to read the next in this action packed thrilling dystopian series.