Saturday, April 23, 2011

Early Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent
Author:Veronica Roth
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Harper Collins
Divergent Book #1
ISBN:  0062024027
ISBN13: 9780062024022
Genre: Divergent
Review Copy Source: Shelf Awareness

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.
I LOVED Divergent. The writing, pacing, world building and characters were all beyond enjoyable.  The story was filled with heartache, stress, betrayal, hard choices and situations that made my heartbeat jump up a few notches and I enjoyed every single minute of it. I felt like I knew all the characters from the moment they were mentioned. Beatrice/Tris was strong and didn't let anything or anyone stand in her way. Four was filled with mystery and had so many layers to peal back I still dont think we know all we need to know about him. All of the supporting characters were well developed. The setting was awesome, I'm from Chicago and enjoyed the descriptions of the ruins that it has become in this Dystopian world. I cant write anything more about it as I really think you have to experience it for yourself with no spoilers going into it But I can say there is nothing about DIVERGENT that I did not love. The last part of the book completely blew me away and I am on the edge of my seat looking forward to the next book in the series.

I gave it 5/5 stars