Written by a 25 year old, the Divergent trilogy could be considered a successor to The Hunger Games. With similar themes of a divided society and rebelling against the government, the trilogy is truly fascinating and thought provoking.
Having briefly researched the author, Veronica Roth is a pretty remarkable woman; she’d sold the film rights for Divergent before she’d finished college. It’s pretty unusual for such a young author to become so successful in such a short amount of time, but Roth undoubtedly fully deserves it.
Divergent is based around the idea that the dystopian Chicago city was divided into five factions after a war, in an attempt to create peace. Abnegation, the faction in which Beatrice Prior grew up in, was founded by those who thought selfishness was the cause of the war. They value the virtue of selflessness and live simple lives.
The 4 other factions, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity and Candor each value their own virtue; Dauntless value bravery; Erudite cherish intelligence; Amity treasure peacefulness ; Candor prize honesty.
One of the first questions that came to mind is: why can’t everyone value all the virtues?
I haven’t fully answered my own question, but it’s something that’s open to interpretation.
The next question was: which faction would I choose at the Choosing Ceremony?
One of the first things that happens in the book is the Choosing Ceremony, another similarity to The Hunger Games in which the characters are subjected to a potentially life altering ceremony.
I’m conscious of giving away some of the plot, but Beatrice, or Tris, makes an unexpected decision, leaving her family and friends and life as she knows it. Would I be able to do the same? This is what I meant when I said it’s a thought provoking novel!
The plot has elements of romance, like most young adult fictions, but the story is laced with tension and suspense that never really goes away, but keeps you coming back for more. On one occasion, I read for an hour and it felt like 10 minutes. It’s such an absorbing book, interspersed with humour to stop the narrative becoming too heavy and, for want of a much better word, depressing.
Some characters are endearing, others are despicable and some of them are a mix of the two, but each of them is well thought out and developed, and key to the plot.
The story deals with love and loss, conflict and camaraderie, and lots of life threatening decision making, and I think I'm in love with it.
This review really hasn’t done the book any justice, but all I can say is that it really is worth a read. Even if you wouldn’t normally read teen fiction, there’s something to be learnt for it.
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