Divergent (book) review

Divergent 

By Veronica Roth

Divergent is a teen fiction/young adult, dystopia, love story, with some action. It is also the first in the Divergent series. This book starts off a little slow (but picks up speed quickly!) with a girl named Beatrice. She and her brother are about to choose their faction. They can choose from Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. Each has a value that they live by: Candor is about truth and honesty; Abnegation is about selflessness; Dauntless is about courage; Amity is about nurturing and caring; and Erudite is about knowledge and learning. Beatrice changes factions from her birth faction, and this book is basically about the initiation process that Tris (as Beatrice chooses to be called) goes through.

The characters within this series were crazy, because I felt they were so unpredictable and didn’t fall into stereotypically actions. They are all quite different and have depth to them; it was like their backgrounds were actually thought through. I found myself being pleasantly surprised by the depth that the characters seemed to have. Though, I did find that I wasn’t as attached to the main character as I felt I should be. That might just have to do with me and not the writing involved with Beatrice, because I was able to connect with other characters. Four and Caleb are two characters that I’m excited to see more of in the future, because they both have this air of mystery to them.

The font in this book bothered from the moment I opened the book, because it was quite large. I feel like the book could have been smaller if they had changed the font size. But compositionally, it was quite nice. It wasn’t quite a poetic type read, but it did read like someone’s thoughts. There were certain moments that had quite large words that just felt rather out of place. Some examples are proselytizing and dissension. I did find a good chunk of the book didn’t really have any breaks in it which made it difficult to put done; it really felt like a day that was never going to end, because it is just event after event.

There are a few negative things that I didn’t like about this book (but not enough to stop reading the series!). I found a few moments to feel a little jumpy, but I credit that to the fast pace for the majority of the book. Some of the scenery that is described was a little hard to follow, but not so much that I felt lost. It just didn’t come to life for me like some of the other books that I’ve read. While the characters in the series were rather unpredictable with their behavior, I figured out the plot to the book quite early on. The final thing that bothered me is that it seems like things get crazy really quickly towards the end; it just seemed to elevate too quickly almost like going from 0 to 100 in under a second. The braking from that same 100 felt too quick as well so it left the ending feel rushed and anticlimactic.

Overall, I wasn’t as connected to the characters like I was with other series (like say Harry Potter), but there is so many things hinted at with the story that I’m hopefully the sequels will keep getting better. So I do think it is worth a read if you like a plot with a little bit of action, mystery, and a philosophical feel. The main thing the book left me thinking about was if I had to personify one quality (much like the different factions within the book) which one do I think is the key to a better life. Not to think too highly of myself, but I found myself leaning towards the Divergent triad of Erudite, Dauntless, and Abnegation. (Also side note: faction names were thought out well! Don’t believe me; look them up in a thesaurus after you learn about them!)