Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Be aware that this review may contain spoilers. If you have not read the book prior to this review you may want to.

Number of Pages – 487

ISBN - 9780062024022

Price In-store Hardcover - $19.99

Price Online Hardcover - $15.19

Pre-Order Trade Paperback Price Online - $27.95

E-Book Price - $9.99

Hardcover Release Date – April 25^th, 2011

Paperback Release Date – October 30^th, 2011

Genre – Sci-fi/ Dystopia

Location In-Store – Teens

Ages – 14 & up

Grades – 9 & up

From the Publisher

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to a cultivation of a particular virtue.

• Candor – Honesty
• Abnegation – Selflessness
• Dauntless – Bravery
• Amity – Peacefulness
• Erudite – Intelligence

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, sometime infuriating boy fits into the like 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.

About the Author

Veronica Roth graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in creative writing. While she was a student, she often chose to work on the story that would become Divergent instead of doing her homework. It was indeed a transforming a choice. Now a full-time writer, Ms. Roth lives near Chicago. Divergent is her first novel.

My Thoughts

I was first introduced to this book through my job at Indigo Books & Music. As a new Teen read, it was my responsibility as a Customer Experience Representative to familiarize myself with this novel so that I could effectively sell it to customers. I was informed that if I liked The Hunger Games I would love Divergent. Once hearing that I was not very enthused about reading it. I could not get past the first few chapters of The Hunger Games and to this day still cannot force myself to read it.

At this point in my reading career I have moved away from Teen books and haven’t been able to read a Teen book and actually enjoy it. That's why I was so surprised that I LOVED Divergent. As you can see in the picture above I have the Advance Readers Copy. These ARC's are an occasional perk of working for a book company. Aside from a few spelling and grammatical errors, this copy of the story was exactly the same as the ones available for purchase in stores.

After receiving the ARC I put it on my bookshelf to await its turn in my Reading List. It probably would have sat there a lot longer if it hadn’t been chosen as the June Book at my book club. I had given myself 1 week to read this book, however, it only took me 1 day of continuous reading. Once I started it I couldn’t force myself to put it down. When I did I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next.

Veronica's writing style completely surrounded me, keeping me entertained until the last page. Even though Tris is 16 years old I could find my 21 year old self relating to her. I find she is a character most women of any age would be able to relate to as her fears and life challenges are things that we all go through.

I found the love story enough to keep me hooked (Me being used to adult love stories), however not to romantic as to make it to much for teens to handle. The appropriateness was perfect.

I have heard that a lot of people found the amount of violence in this book shocking. I however thought it was the perfect amount and it is what kept the story interesting and entertaining. The only thing I thought went a little too far was the scene which depicted fondling and the possibility of rape. I do not think this was needed and it was a little to mature for the intended audience of this book.

At the book club we all decided which faction we would have chosen to be a part of. Although it would be really cool to be part of a bad ass faction like Dauntless, I don’t think I could have handled the initiation process. So my reasonable choice would be Erudite.

I have heard that this series will have 6 books and the movie of the first book will be made around 2014 or 2015. However this is just speculation.

Overall, I would give this book a 5/5 stars. It was the best Teen book I have ever read, and it also makes my Top 10 favourite book list as well.

*Disclaimer – I was given this book for free through my place of employment. Neither the company or author is compensating me for this review. All opinions are honest and completely my own.