SERIES. Divergent, Book One
RELEASE DATE. May 3, 2011
PUBLISHER. Katherine Tegen Books
PAGES. 487
FORMAT. Hardcover
AGE GROUP. Young Adult
GENRE/S. Dystopian, Romance, Science Fiction
PURCHASE. AMAZON
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.
THOUGHTS. I’ve got three words for this book; brave, bold, and brilliant. It’s an action-packed story that kept me up the whole ungodly night. In this intriguing thought of the future, Roth had me in constant suspense. From the five idealistic factions who believed in different values yet had one thing in mind, to extinguish human faults; to the blossoming romance between Tris and Four. The build up of the story was incredible even after reading it. I can’t get this book out in my head (until at this moment). I was so fascinated by the book. Every flip of pages, I have to pause and stare on the ceiling for about, an hour perhaps, imagining the brilliantly plotted world in my head. Tris’ story was clearly written out. Her voice is also an incredible one. One of the original voices I’ve known. I wouldn’t say that Tris is a heroine to be reckoned as strong because as expected, heroes or heroines are always physically strong but emotionally weak or you can say the opposite. And I didn’t have a hard time of distinguishing who the friends or the fiends as Roth had written them very well with key factors of their personalities. Scenes are clearly well-thought with expectations of violence in some parts. Of course, it made the book more mature yet highly-appropriate as this is a Dystopian book. This book is also unpredictable. I have to keep guessing on what will happen next but sometimes the unexpected comes. And the unexpected really made the book a great read. I couldn’t put into words on how I love this book from the front cover to the last sentence of this book. The bottom-line here is this: Veronica Roth gave us a book which should be placed right next to The Hunger Games trilogy. I wouldn’t mind if I read this book again and again. Now it’s clear, that I’m addicted to this kinds of books. Totally moving, totally amazing, totally recommended, and totally cannot wait for the other books. Divergent is a debut novel which is not to be missed.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Veronica Roth is a twenty-two-year-old debut author and a recent graduate of Northwestern University’s creative writing program. While a student, she often chose to work on the story that would become DIVERGENT instead of doing her homework. Now a full-time writer, she lives near Chicago. DIVERGENT is soon to be a major motion picture by Summit Entertainment.
