Book Review: Divergent

Book: Divergent (Divergent book #1) by Veronica Roth

Description:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, 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 alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating 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 unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.


Rating: 2 stars

Review:

I know, I might catch some flack for saying this but I found this to be boring. The story was okay, nothing really spectacular and it didn't start to get interesting until the end. It also didn't help that I didn't find any of the characters to be interesting or likeable. Which made it hard to care what was going on in the story or to the characters. 

The story had a rather slow build up and in my opinion it suffers from incorporating too many unimportant details into the story while at other times lacking any information at all. The story is told from Beatrice's point of view and first person wouldn't normally be a problem except Beatrice or Tris as she goes by, is one of the most boring characters around. She has no personality and is extremely dull.

There were times when I wanted to skim through this story but no I continued on and that's saying something because I usually just don't finish reading a book if it's slow and boring.

The story centers on a post-apocalyptic world where people are sorted into one of five factions: Abnegation - The Selfless, Amity - The Peaceful, Candor - The Honest, Erudite - The Intelligent and Dauntless - The Brave.

But when a teen reaches a certain point, they are given a test and after that they get to decide for themselves either to stay with the faction they were born in or switch to another. However, something sort of went wrong when main character 16 year old Beatrice Prior (who is an Abnegation) took her test, she didn't quite fit in one particular faction. It turns out she's Divergent.

She decided since she's never felt like she belonged with her faction, she decided to join Dauntless. The story takes you through her training process and her meeting fellow initiates then stumbling upon a horrible plan that will change the factions.

I also found it hard to believe the romance between Four and Tris. Despite Four being only 18 he was more like an adult compared to Tris who would fit in more at a middle school. This girl really needs a personality.

I didn't think this was awful, the story had potential but somewhere along the way it just didn't work out. If I ever do plan on reading any of the sequels I will check them out from the library instead of buying them like I did with this one.