Title: Divergent (Divergent #1)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen 2012
Genre: YA Dystopia
Pages: 410
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Fall Reading Challenge; NPR Teen; US of YA - Illinois; Ebook; New Author; 52 Books - W48; Book to Movie; Well Rounded - Dystopia
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.
This has been on my list for ages... I stayed away mostly because I really enjoyed The Hunger Games. I thought this would be too close for me to truly enjoy. Thankfully they are different enough that I really enjoyed this book. Tris is a good character, not great, but good. You can definitely tell that she is 16 years old, but that's the point right? We are supposed to follow her journey of growing up, making mistakes, finding her identity. I liked Four as a character and especially loved Christina and Will. My main issue was with the romance sections. They just felt incredibly forced and fake. For that I knock off one star. I would have preferred just the fight against the society. Overall, I am excited to read Insurgent, but first let's watch the movie version.
Movie:
Surprisingly good. I was expecting large deviations from the book. I was expecting annoying characters and no chemistry between the leads. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the actors and actresses. The screenplay kept fairly true to the book. There were only a few changes and I understood the need for changes for most of them. The best part were the world building visuals. I loved the scenes of old Chicago especially the lake shots. I'm hopefully anticipating the second movie...
Divergent:
- #0.1 The Transfer
- #0.2 The Initiate
- #0.3 The Son
- #0.4 The Traitor
- #1 Divergent
- #1.5 Free Four
- #2 Insurgent
- #3 Allegiant