Synopsis: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, 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 to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating 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 a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Review: This was such a long awaited book for me! As soon as it became available for purchase on ebooks on kobobooks.com I was there!

I am still reeling from this read… the end just left me so hungry for more - I so wish I didn’t have to wait until 2012 for the sequel because this has just left me hanging (in a good way!).

I absolutely love the dystopian Chicago that Veronica sets the book in. Humans have been categorized into 5 different types of people (the following all comes from Veronica Roth’s website - I am not taking credit, but this best summarizes):

“Faction 1 - DAUNTLESS: fearless, undaunted.
Undaunted: courageously resolute, especially in the face of danger or difficulty; not discouraged.

It’s those two definitions (fearless, and undaunted) that I found so fascinating. Being fearless and being undaunted are two different things. And the characters in DIVERGENT struggle with that distinction.

Faction 2 - ABNEGATION: 1. to refuse or deny oneself (some rights, conveniences, etc.); reject; renounce.
2. to relinquish; give up

I like the verbs in that one: refuse, deny, reject, renounce-active forms of stripping things from your life. As opposed to relinquish, give up- more passive.

Faction 3 - ERUDITE: characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly

The word “erudite” focuses on knowledge rather than intelligence- intelligence being something you’re born with, and can’t necessarily control, and knowledge being something that you acquire. I find that interesting, given what I know about Erudite.

Faction 4 - CANDOR: 1. the state or quality of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; candidness.
2. freedom from bias; fairness; impartiality.

That definition definitely helped me flesh out Candor more, particularly in the second book. The faction is not just trying to develop honesty- they’re also trying to develop impartiality.

Faction 5 - AMITY: 1. friendship; peaceful harmony.
2. mutual understanding and a peaceful relationship, especially between nations; peace; accord.
3. cordiality

It’s not just about banjos and apple-picking. It’s about cultivating strong relationships and trying to understand each other. Oh, Amity.”
I can not stress how big this series is going to be. Think Hunger Games… and maybe bigger. This is the first book of the next major dystopian trilogy.. I would not be surprised if this gets picked up for a movie also, in fact I would love it to become a movie!

The whole world is set up and laid out for you… I could picture everything as it happened, it was written so beautifully and fluid.

The characters! My favourite!

Written from the perspective of Beatrice (Tris as she becomes known), I absolutely found myself so drawn to her. She is everything I love in a lead female character. She is vulnerable when we need her to be, she shows such resilience and strength at times as well. She goes through the gauntlet of emotions and she fears real things. She’s not perfect, but we love her for this.

And Four… Wow. He is amazing. He is this tough strong guy, but when we get to know his character and understand him, he has so many surprises and layers that I personally didn’t see coming. I am SO conscious of giving away anything that I actually think I am going to leave it there. I might do a spoiler review someday. lol

Peter is so evil! And Molly too! I love that we have villains in this book too. ARGH don’t want to spoil! :)

I know so many people have this book on their to be read list. Please read it now! And let me know what you thought of the book below in the comments section as well.

Rating: 5 out of 5