Review | Divergent by Veronica Roth @VeronicaRoth

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: YA Dystopian Thriller

Published: May 2011

Length: 501 Pages

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BLURB

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

A thrilling ride into a world unknown, Veronica Roth pulls you into a dystopian world with characters that squeeze at your heart strings and a story line that makes you want more from the very beginning.  The Dystopian world Beatrice lives in is split between 5 different factions - Abnegation - The Selfless, Dauntless - The Brave, Erudite - The Intelligent, Amity - The Peaceful and Candor - The Honest, making up the dystopian city of Chicago.

The Choosing- Beatrice has just turned 16 and with that she must take the aptitude test, a simulation that presents events where she has to make quick choices in order to complete the test.  This test is supposed to help with the choice of whether or not Beatrice stays with the selfless faction she's grown up in or choose another faction leaving her friends and family behind.  One of the hardest decisions of her life on the line and there is no one that can help her.  Her skills during the test are unique and now her life is on the line, if she tells anyone of her test results she could ultimately put herself in danger.

The Initiation - Beatrice's choice of faction surprises everyone, well everyone except her mother.  The initiation is hard, ruthless and brutal.  The brave do not stand down, they do not fear and if they do they are weak and the other initiates pick on the weak and fearful.  Beatrice gets a taste of this both first and second hand.  She surprises herself on multiple occasions during the stages of initiation showing vulnerability and strength.  Her trainer, one of my favorite male characters, Four has Beatrice adrenaline rushing, palms sweating and her knees turning to jelly.  He is rough on her during the three stages of training, points out her mistakes and yet his mask falls short when he catches the other initiates in a brutal act against Beatrice.

The Welcoming- As Beatrice learns who she can and cannot trust, she stumbles upon information that is very important in keeping those she loves safe and alive.  There are people in the city that must be stopped and those that follow the leaders of her faction are even more ruthless than they seem.  Relying on instinct she finds herself leading, making decisions only she has the ability to make, standing firm on an idea - how to stop those that want to destroy everything she's ever known.

In conclusion, I couldn't get enough fast enough.  I wanted to jump into Insurgent and devour it after finishing the last line in Divergent.  Sadly I had to put down my Kindle and force myself to go to sleep at 4AM in the morning!  The characters grew on me quickly, the story action packed and fast paced.  At this point I can see myself continuing with the trilogy, reading the next two books in the coming weeks ahead.

About the Author

Veronica Roth was born in a Chicago suburb, and studied creative writing at Northwestern University. She and her husband currently live in the city that inspired the setting of the Divergent Trilogy.

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MOVIE REVIEW

Let me start out by saying I went to see Divergent in theaters within 12 hours after I read the last line in the book itself for the very first time.  It was so very hard to watch the movie with the book fresh in my mind and not be one of the toughest critics in the audience.

First there's the flow of the book verses the flow of the movie.  Yes there is no way to put as much detail into a 2 hour and 20 minute movie when the book is over 500 pages.  There were scenes in the book that were combined into one scene in the movie which I could understand in some cases.  Though the part that disturbed me was two of the final scenes in the book were combined and it completely changed how the movie ended for me at least.

With that said, I liked the movie... I cannot say I loved the movie as much as the book, and this disappoints me.  With the movie though, I enjoyed the actors and actresses that were cast for the characters in the book.  I enjoyed seeing the book come to life with the action and the story line played out on screen.  The images I had in my head of the 'Pit' were completely different than the movie as well as a few other things, but again this is understandable because not everyone will imagine the same when reading a book as it is.  Though for the most part the movie nailed it on the head.

With that said I do not want to spoil this movie for anyone...  I will leave the rest to your own opinion and just remember...Readers make tough critics, that's just how it is...  I know some of you will probably read the book or re-read the book before going to see the movie in theaters or some that will add the book or trilogy to your shelf to read later just to see what the differences are between the movie and the book.