Sunday, March 30, 2014

Divergent, by Veronica Roth



Synopsis: 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, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Thoughts: If you enjoyed the Hunger Games series, you should also enjoy this one. There is still quite a bit of violence,some of it senseless, but for me, at least, it makes more sense than having young people murdering each other for entertainment purposes.  Watching Tris progress from the girl she was before her choosing day, to the person she is by her initiation day, you see her struggle with her choices, worry about her future, try to balance her friendships with her desire to excel in the testing. The last few chapters are very action packed, and the ending left me anxious to read Insurgent as soon as possible.

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