I love this book getting ready to read insurgent. ( )

In a dystopian Chicago (where the Sears Tower is now known as The Hub) society has divided itself into five factions. Each faction values and lives by a specific quality or virtue. Beatrice, the 16-year-old main character, is a member of Abnegation - the selfless faction where they don't celebrate birthdays or even look at their own reflections in mirrors. Once a year, all the 16-year-olds take a test, in a virtual reality sort of way, to determine to which faction they are most suited: Abnegation - selflessness, Candor - honesty, Dauntless - bravery, Amity - peacefulness, and Erudite - intelligence. Then there is a Choosing Ceremony during witch the 16-year-olds choose a faction - with which they will spend the rest of their lives - they can take into account their aptitude test results, they can simply choose to stay with their parents in the faction they were born into, or they can choose another faction altogether. The worst thing they can do is become factionless - living alone, outside of society, and without community. Being Divergent - the title of the novel - is showing an aptitude for several factions at once. And it is something that must be kept secret. It is something this society sees as dangerous. Beatrice is faced with a difficult decision - will she choose to remain with her family in Abnegation or choose to leave them to live in another faction? The difficulty of her decision is compounded by the fact that her aptitude test results are inconclusive. She is Divergent.

I really enjoyed this novel. If you liked The Hunger Games, I think you'll probably like this novel as well. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that the setting and characters are richly drawn, the storyline is intriguing and engaging, and the ending will make you want to run out and get the next installment, Insurgent. ( )

Not the best, not the worst. I don’t know what else to say about it to be honest. The films made Four seem less caring to me than how he is in the book but I’m putting that down to the fact I saw the film first. But glad I’ve finished a book on my tbr since 2019 ( )

This is the last dystopian series I'll be reviewing for a while before I return to this genre at some point in the future. The first book in the series isn't terrible, but it isn't great either. It's just... meh. The main thing keeping this book from being as bad as the next two is that this one takes place almost entirely in Dauntless Headquarters, so there isn't much room for awful world-building here. That comes later.

With that being said, this book still doesn't really make that much sense. This whole concept of people only having one personality and the Divergent having multiple is unfathomably dumb. That's because, even the non-Divergent characters in this book seem slightly more complex than having only one of five personality traits. They're decently written characters, but that's problem because, apparently, they're not supposed to be. They're supposed to be extremely one-dimensional. However, the only character I can think of who fits that mold is Jeanine.

The pacing isn't that great, either. This book is nearly 500 pages long, yet it doesn't really feel like much happens throughout. The characters pretty much just go through initiation, then, all of a sudden, we have the climax where the assault on Abnegation happens. Sure, some interesting stuff happens throughout those first 400 pages, but the story still feels really sluggish. I don't know. Besides some of the things that happened with Peter and Al, I didn't really give much of a shit.

Speaking of Al, he is easily the best character in this book. He is extremely well-written and complex. The fact that he's not Divergent just makes the entire concept of this story collapse in on itself. He has an extremely tragic story, and it adds a lot of spice to this otherwise kinda bland story.

Also, this might just be me, but I Veronica Roth's writing style felt very... odd in this book. I don't really know how to explain it. She made it difficult for me to visualize a lot of scenes because her writing wasn't always clear. Conflicting images constantly arise as I read this story because Roth doesn't describe the scenes very well. Her descriptive imagery isn't detailed enough for me to fully visualize what's actually happening. Maybe, it's just me. If anyone else felt like this when they read this the book, let me know.

So, yeah. I don't really have much else to say about this book. Overall, it's just kinda below average for me. ( )

Loved this book! Couldn't put it down!
( )

Science Fiction

Lots of fun. Not good, but not bad either. ( )

I'll change my rating next weekend after I've discussed it with my online reading club.

Quick and entertaining YA dystopian story. Kind of a hybrid of the Giver and The Hunger Games. There is a healthy dose of romance thrown in with an interesting and dare I say - sensible - section that addresses the complicated feelings of a teenage girl toward sex. And it has a PG conclusion so nothing to worry about there.

Can't wait for the next one. (I also think Tobias/Four is way better than Edward & Co. AND Peeta & Gale. ) ( )

Really 4.5... ( )

A bit too YA for my tastes to fully enjoy, but quite fun with it. I guess the moral is something like the perils of being human. Sometime in the future to avoid further wars a city has split into tribes - each representing one of the main traits that drive humans to conflict - eg stupidity is countered by knowledge. Our heroine
Beatrice is born into abnegation - being as selfless as possible to counteract selfishness. They share everything and try to quell any emotions of wanting or superiority. She never really feels like she fits here, and when she turns sixteen she is tested to see what tribe her personality best fits. She chooses Dauntless, those who believe fear should be overcome by courage. Which is lots of fun as the group hitch on moving trains and jump off buildings. Of course life is never that simple and it becomes apparent that humans haven't changed that much, even in times dedicated to preventing war, there are those who are greedy and want more, and are prepared to take what they need.

As with a lot of YA there hasn't been enough thought given to the world building - how do the trains run, where's the power come from and the technologies that they use. But if you don't think about it too hard it's enjoyable school-gang style adventure. ( )

These young adult books don't really have much that isn't covered in the film. I just read it to see if I should continue the series. Although the majority of the book is quite strong, the ending is daft. There really isn't a middle to speak of.
If you don't have anything else to read, I guess you can give it a try. However, there is too much better stuff out there to bother with this one.
I'll definitely watch the movies though :P ( )

Yeah, this is good. I don't think it's as good as The Hunger Games. But it's good. Weirdly, right when I should've been most into this book, though, it suddenly lost my interest. I was reading before bedtime and had about 20 pages left when Jeff said, "Will you hurry and finish that so we can go to sleep?" I just snapped the book shut and said I'd finish it in the morning. Jeff was truly surprised. I never put down a book when I'm that close to finishing. But I felt like I knew exactly what was going to happen...that it would just be a lead-in to book two. Turns out, I was wrong. Divergent really does have a pretty good non-cliffhanger ending. Still, I can't work up the enthusiasm I had when I was halfway through the book. If you graphed how much I liked this, it would look like a bell curve. ( )

I enjoyed The Hunger Games series, so I decided to give this one a try, and in think that's why I had such a hard time getting into it. There is a lot of similarity, but Divergent focuses on the relationships rather than individualism, and I liked that about it. The story had some surprises, which was nice, though the ending was predictable. ( )

Wow. This is one of the more hyped books in the blog-o-sphere right now, which hasn't worked out so well for me recently, but DIVERGENT lives up to the promise. Part of this might be because the concept appeals to me greatly. The idea of the Factions, like-minded individuals all living and working together as a community, pleases me. You know your place in the world then. No worrying about finding it.

The narrative style suited the book very well. Beatrice (Tris after the Choosing ceremony) has a very straight forward way of describing her surroundings. Her descriptions are detailed, but efficient. She doesn't dwell on unimportant details, though she does repeat herself (in regards to how she feels about certain people) a lot.

Roth treats all sides of the equation equally. She doesn't present one Faction as better than the others, nor does she condemn any one Faction. Nor does she give broadstrokes to all the characters. Even the despicable ones, like Peter or Eric, are given depth and understanding. Doesn't make them better people, but it goes a long way from merely pointing at them and saying 'See? See? They do bad things!' and just leaving it at that.

Tris admires something from each Faction, maybe because of who she is (a 'Divergent') she's able to SEE that all sides have something to offer. This is important to the storyline, especially later in the book, and something I'm anticipating Roth going into more details for.

Despite some things working out, or at least coming to a conclusion, this was a bleak book. Not depressing exactly, but it left me feeling dismayed. After everything that happens things just seem to get WORSE. As the first book in a planned trilogy this is a clever way to hook me for the next book, but it doesn't mean I'm still not crossing my eyes in vexation. ( )

Excellent, excellent, excellent. Dystopian YA fiction in the vein of the Hunger Games. I can't wait for the next volume. ( )

I like this book. Yes, I clearly see how it was made to be liked (and it is soooo much artificial) but in that case it does not matter. It could be cautiously compared to the “Uglies” as it somewhere in the same vein but little bit simpler and heavier. There are some pretty noticeable corner cutting in world building, character and everything else but for whatever reason it too does not bother me. Actually the whole book could be deconstructed to the ground very easily but I like it anyway :). It is purely "love or hate" book.

P.S. Also, here is the prize for the most unbelievable and cinematic training montage I have read in all the books. Waiting for the film! It was literally made for it. ( )

I now know what all the hype is about. This was an amazing book! I love the characters, the world is so interesting and everything is really exciting. There's only 2 issues I had with this book. For most of the book, up until the end it doesn't explain very well why Divergents are so dangerous. I kept thinking, "yeah they fit into more than one faction but why are they seen as so dangerous?" Then in the end they explain Divergent a little more and now I know why they viewed that way but I kind of wished that was explained a little earlier. The other thing is, I felt like the middle part slowed down a bit and then the end really picked up the pace. It felt like all the excitement happened in the last 100 pages of the book. The whole book is interesting but as they go through the last stages of the faction initiation, I kept waiting for that part to be over so something more interesting would happen. Overall I really liked this book and I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

Having read the Hunger Games series, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this trilogy. I was oddly surprised and found that the writing was a lot better than Hunger Games which to me lacked a little bit of emotion. However, comparing the two is a bit unfair; but I will say that this book was a good read. Pun intended. I just have to keep in mind that it's a young adult book, which for me is sometimes hard to get through. ( )

Awesome! Loved the main character Tris and her character development as she searches for strength. Can't wait to see the movie now and read the second book! ( )

The story started out slow but picked up the pace quickly. I loved all the characters and enjoyed watching their developments throughout the story. ( )

Representation: N/A?
Trigger warnings: Death of a mother, death of a child, childbirth, blood depiction, near-death experiences, fire, gun violence, death from a fall
Update: No the previous edition wasn't damaged or lost, it was just given away for this edition to replace it.
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

I've been wanting to read this for so long and I almost thought I never would after the previous edition got lost or damaged but they replaced it and it was such a good read, so interesting and unique and still holds up more than 10 years after it was first published, where do I even begin. It starts slowly with the main character Beatrice Prior or Tris for short and she lives in one of the five factions of this world called Abnegation and there are four others which I'll get to later. Only a few pages in and Tris doesn't feel Abnegation is right for her since that's all about selflessness and humility and it's anti-indulgence so during the Choosing Ceremony she chooses Dauntless since it's just being brave but that's not the full picture. The other three factions are Erudite, the smart one, Amity, the kind one, and Candor, the truth-telling one and they all came to be when humanity decided that personality is the root of all conflict, I just don't believe that reason though. Even after they made this world-changing thing conflict still happens within this world, what was the point other than to show it was kind of a questionable decision?

Most of the book revolves around Tris experiencing the Dauntless initiation thing and at first everything looks fine until she starts the simulations and according to the other characters something is off about her, she's Divergent hence the title. The latter half is just so brutal and fast-paced yet somehow the author shoehorned in a little romance with another person named Tobias or Four but I didn't really relate to that, besides that Tris experiences so much torture I could feel bad for her but it was also to really test her strength. The villain only shows up towards the end when she spreads rumours about Abnegation which everyone believes and now the Erudite faction wants to use the Dauntless people to their advantage. Fortunately, Tris manages to break the mind control ending the book on a high note. ( )

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, though the ending was a bit rushed. ( )

Another dystopian read. They hook me in. I really enjoyed it. ( )

I remember not really understanding this book well and not realizing, lol.

It’s a good book if not perfect; parts of it are very true to life, (the factions: workers dancers soldiers scientists church-mice; that’s pretty good), if others probs aren’t executed that well—like the test, you know. I hate to compare everything to the Best-Selling Book Series of All Time, but the Sorting Hat has more style, more esprit d’corps or whatever…..

As for the de rigeur comparison, I’m not sure it’s more similar to the Archer Games than it is to HP And Whatever Else, you know. They’re both girls, and they fight, but…. Divergent is more: you’re a girl, and so what do you do with group norms and group loyalty in an uncertain world? Katniss Quest is more like…. What do you make of hell, little girl? (nefarious laughter)

Maybe that’s why Divergent books are longer. They’re subtle, coming to the rebellion/individuation slowly if certainly, you know. In Katniss Quest it’s just like…. Boom! Survive! Or die. Either way, I’ve got other appointments today!

Not that Katniss Quest isn’t probably the better set, but in a lot of ways they’re just not that similar. It’s a lot like pairs of bands that get compared that don’t really have much to do with each other, you know. Sure, they Look the same, and they do Sorta similar things, but…. I mean, really? Do we have to go there?

Anyway, it’s a pretty good book about leaving the church mouse village and becoming a hellion with agency who doesn’t need to wait up shaming people because you’re too busy hitting the gym and doing anti-fear training, while still not wanting to, you know, crush people. “I will crush you with the unholy power of my mind. I will Prove You Wrong. I will Prove Everything Wrong!!!” (maniacal laughter).

It’s a solid little pop teen adventure that did well for itself…. That’s the other thing. Hunger Games plays a “big” game, which is fine, but, you know; it’s one style, not every style, you know. “I’ve been to Ancient Greece. I’ve been to Boston. I’ve been to Harvard. I’ve been to Rome!” (gestures wildly) “I’ve been to…. Chicago!”

…. It is hard to like Abnegation. “Give up your happiness for me, and I’ll make your dreams come true.” Although they do nice things always always, sometimes. “Hey dad what do you think of Suzy Studies-a-Lot?” (repressed rage/can’t breathe) My enemy!…. (having difficulty breathing) The village! The Village!” (dies)

Although certainly social work is a necessity, and although a lot of communists/Christians/Buddhists/social workers are suspicious of fun, it is necessary work until we make paradise, and a lot of ordinary sorts wouldn’t do it, you know.

…. It doesn’t always make sense. (For System, you need love!) I didn’t realize the first time how often it does Amity vs Dauntless, romance vs adventure; always discarding Amity immediately and then five minutes later hauling him up from the dusty earth to kick him in the teeth again. But I don’t see why happiness should only be for the KidsBop sings SpongeBob SquarePants faction, you know. Remember that 80s song? ~It’s the: eye of the tiger; it’s the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rivals…. —I mean, when people think of happiness they think of unhappy moms and monochromatic playlists stores use in public: but happiness can be so much more than that, you know….

…. It’s a decent little adventure, though. Workaday daring, even personable.

…. “You stay in the hallucination until you calm down.”

…. It’s pretty well written.

Church mice (stiffs) and the not-nice (hellions); weakness and aggression; “with a little help from my friends” but also “think for yourself, because I won’t be there with you”, right. Independence. Balance.

Definitely some themes. Pretty simple, though. Easy. (nods)

…. (smiles) Such a familiar story.

And while I do think that the Erudite get very hate-y with the church mice, you know, like, just needless hate—and those are things that go together well, my Michelle—I do think that there is usually a sort of quasi-symbiosis between the church people and the faction-less/dispossessed—like, the church people ‘need’ to have these like poor people experiencing lack, to reassure them that happiness is an illusion and life isn’t really worth living to the full—and they can be extremely angry, to the point of aggression, when you try to take that away from them, you know. Here are the people experiencing lack, and I help them experience lack. They’re mine. Hands off!

(smiles) And yes, I know that that probs comes off as far more upset than Will is in the book, so. So yeah. There you go!

…. It’s calming to read, but it’s strange, almost folksy. It’s like Harry Potter, only less glittery and more folksy, you know.

…. Sometimes I get so angry at Dalek intellectuals (who like Doctor Who) that I get a little sick—‘They can’t feel, or be creative or merciful; all they can do is hate!’—but this is, quite suddenly, a bit much, you know. “I reckon it was the godless students who Hitlered away the righteous men of God, I reckon.” Like, rap gets more radio time than rink-a-dink 40s hymns, therefore, Hitler is real and he’s a Democrat. Oh, I’m a victim because of Biden! The true people are being victimized by the under-men! Oh, the tragedy! Oh, the horror!

I mean, it’s not school crap, but still. I guess it is kinda funny though. I’m a little curious as to what happens after the end of this book, but really it’s not as entertaining as Twilight. Twilight is a little much in its own way too of course—Oh, Bella! Let’s be normal, and live forever! We’ll hate ourselves, and be suicidal, but we’ll never die!—but Bells certainly lives it up. Sometimes in adventures you wring your enemy’s neck—literally or figuratively—but then discard the corpse and find a new enemy without so much as a victory lap, because status is almost as threatening as happiness, you know.

It’s like, you climb to the top of the company, and on your first day as CEO you…. Quit. That’s almost as bad as Bella in a way, and not quite as…. I don’t know. The bloodsucker saga certainly has energy, you know; a lot of people are afraid to really show up with energy.

…. And I realize that feminists can be intentionally irritating; that’s kinda their thing, right: “Oh joy, I offended people! Victory!” “People don’t owe you smart—oh no wait. They do. That’s what I value. I value the right things. My point was that you value the wrong things, and that I’m better than you are, because I’m the grace that a meaningless world gives to you, right. (bites food) Did they put salt in this? Was that on the package, or did they lie, again?”

But you have to admit that popular writers can sometimes be very deceitful about themes vs covers/beginnings/TITLES, right. I once read this Christian fiction series where she created this like elaborate deception where she spend reams and reams of paper trying to convince you that she was all about the strong woman of the Montana mountain west in 1902, and then “fumbled it when it came down to the wire” (Haim)—except she didn’t; it was intentional. She all but wrote, Bwahahaha, Women are helpless! I tricked you!

But this wasn’t as bad as that, you know. This was just…. A Christian who likes folk music, right…. Maybe not Bob Dylan, right…. Or British people…. Or their children…. Or Eric Clapton…. But what they DO love, is the sweet love of Christ in the bosom of your grandmother’s folk, you know! Patriarchy! It’s the love of the patriarchs! It’s God, children! It’s god! (campfire folk with elementary school children)

That’s an exaggeration, like I said, but….

…. (Veronica Roth) (writing) Surely the Patriarch has brow-beaten you and harangued: A sports car is a vain hope for salvation; despite his great strength, he cannot save. (pause) (waves hand) No, I’m good. (crosses out) I’ll just remind the children to be suspicious of happiness. Well, it’s time to get lunch. I sure wish I didn’t have that song, “Safety Dance” stuck in my head! (whistles suspiciously loudly and very poorly)

(flashback) (Museum curator) So here, children, beside Homo Habilis and Brontosaurus Rex, we have Frederic Chopin, the First White Man. Because of him, we don’t dance.
(“Safety Dance” comes on)
(Museum curator) My word….
(Veronica Roth) (screws up face) You’re dropping the ball again, Jesus….

(reading about “Safety Dance”) (Grandfather Child-Hermes) Remember, children, every dance is a protest. And every protest is a dance: unless, you suck.

…. The odd thing I didn’t understand the first time, is that despite the issue of gender and even without President Coin, President Snow is ~more~ credible as Katniss’s shadow, than Jeanine is credible as Tris’s shadow. Jeanine is just Othered, you know. She’s the subhuman feminist bitch, born to be discarded.

God, and Veronica thinks she’s “divergent”.

(crying in the rain) My child, my little baby—can’t you see I did this all for you? We did it All For You. (Backup singers and dancers: “All for you!” ~pose) The heresy-hunting, the persecution of the Jewish religions, the rejection of feminism, the triumph of the village, the rise of clannishness: it was all for divergence! Oh for the love of God, it was so you’d have a choice!

—(laughs) I’m almost curious as to what the next plot point is, but it would be a serious mistake to sink any money into this fiasco series, you know. “Fiasco: The Post-Apocalyptic Military Adventure of the Village”, lol.

…. And the sad thing is, even in a lot of liberal Protestant/liturgical left Christian villages, this book would be like, (shudder) Young people…. But oh well; I guess it’s romantic, you know.

No Christian parent ever finds their kid too obsequious, even if they offer to play free therapist while researching Frank Sinatra, you know. It just isn’t done. It isn’t the custom, you know.

…. And even pop and romantic music always has to protest against the Good Christian Family in the Good Christian Village, you know; in the late 70s, people would steal their little sister’s/daughter’s disco records and bring them to the baseball stadium for Stamp Out Disco Day, and then in the early 80s, club bouncers would throw people out of the club for doing new wave dancing because they weren’t familiar with it because it wasn’t disco dancing, you know. Everything is protest of and non-observance of the rule of force, the rule of coercion and bullying. And people know that’s a good story, because the village tyrant will be happy to tell you that that’s really his story, you know. “Why, if you were to disobey your parents, now that you’re thirty…. If you were to disagree with how your parents see the world…. Why, they would be tyranny! There would be coercion! There would be blood in the streets! Who can imagine a more terrible sacrilege? Oh, where are the Good Children, faithfully upholding the Good Village, for the Good People’s Good Faction’s Good Country” (Chinese Communist propaganda art montage into the next scene, lol)

…. And you know, during my schizophrenic delusion days, I actually was really interested in Stalinism/Maoism, because it’s like, If it can be tyrannical like my parents, but left-wing ruthless like the kids, why, then—maybe everyone will like me, then! (laughs) But that little trick only works if people are consistent. People are NOT consistent. Stubborn, yes. Consistent, no.

…. Well, since that was sometimes fun, I guess I’ll pretend it was fun, you know: exaggerate. Even though it wasn’t the ~most~ fun, I guess if I were in the book business I could market it as fun and not feel like I was lying.

But Twilight’s better, lol. And Harry Potter.