"Divergent" by Veronica Roth

So here we go back to dystopias! Divergent by Veronica Roth has been on my Kindle for probably more than a year, but I had too many other books to read and, frankly, I was a bit weary of the genre. However, now that the movie is out in the theaters, and it seems to be doing fairly well compared to other young adult book to movie adaptions, I decided to give it a shot.

Divergent does not disappoint. It is action-packed, fast-paced, and features a strong female character. The book is set in a distant future in Chicago. The society is divided into five factions. Each faction is centered around a predominant character trait which defines the life of its members: courage, intelligence, selflessness, kindness or honesty. At sixteen, all children undergo a test which is meant to identify which faction they belong to. Regardless of test results, children get to choose which faction they will join. They can go with their test results or pick some other faction. The main character - Tris - gets an inconclusive test result. She shows equal aptitude for three out of five factions. This phenomenon is called the divergent, which is extremely rare and dangerous. Dangerous because divergents are hunted and eliminated. And so we follow Tris on her journey to self-discovery as she joins an unfamiliar faction, makes friends, confronts her fears and ultimately comes to terms with who she is.

This book was clearly conceived as a trilogy from the very beginning. There is not a lot of world-building in the book. Tris seems to be pretty uninformed about the politics of the society she lives in and does not even know what lies "beyond the fence" of the city of Chicago. Readers are left wondering about why the society is divided the way it is and what the rest of the world is like in this distant future. These questions are tackled by the author in Insurgent and Allegiant which I have not read yet, but intend to do so.

In sum, I do recommend the book especially if you liked Hunger Games and are looking for a similar feel. The book explores what true courage really is and what motivates one to face and overcome his or her fears. Roth is an amazing story-teller and I can't wait to read the other two books.