Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Genre: YA Dystopian, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: Hardcover, 486 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins

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.

Have you ever read a book that you couldn't stop reading? No matter if the house was on fire, you kids were screaming, you students were testing and needed a sharpened pencil... well that is exactly what happened with this book. I picked it up off of my shelf on the way out the door knowing that my students would be testing and I would need something to read inbetween walking around, giving out pencils, etc. Well I definitely didn't make the mistake of picking up the wrong one this time. My students were completely shocked that I read 2/3 of it while they were testing for 3 hours. I was completely sucked in.

Tris' character as well as the others (I will come back to Four in a minute) were so amazingly written within such an intricate plot full of twists and turns and such creativity that my mind was completely blown from the start. Roth has done an amazing job creating a dystopian world where society seems to have found balance within its five factions, but life is crumbling down around Tris and the world that she knows. Tris has a difficult decision to make when it comes to choosing a faction all while she has learned something that can completely change her life. When she does make her decision, she meets someone who will help her in more ways than she can imagine and even opens her heart to a brand new concept.

I knew when I was a few pages from the end that this was going to be one that I was going to be ticked off at the ending because I would want more. I was right. After I finished (later that day), I tweeted that I was in love with the book and someone tweeted back that they had a character-crush on Four. I completely agree. I love reading a book where I feel like I have experienced everything right with the characters and can understand their pain, joy, madness, fear and every other emotion. That is exactly how I feel with each of the characters and cannot wait to read the second installment of this series.

Read more about Veronica Roth on her website here.