Divergent

This six weeks I read a Divergent by Veronica Roth. The first copyright date is April 25th, 2011. This book is a science fiction/dystopian book. It is set in the future, where there are 5 factions and you have to choose one and live by their rules. Beatrice (Tris) and Caleb, brother and sister, choose to leave their faction and they learn bad things about both of them. In the end, Caleb's faction starts a war between the factions and Tris and her friends have to stop it. The overall theme of this book is the struggle of having to choose to follow in your parents footsteps, or to go on to your own way of life.

The story is told by Tris, in the 1st person. Tris and Caleb are both from the faction abnegation (selflessness) and it comes time for them to choose which faction they will live in. Tris takes the aptitude test and her results come out as divergent. Her test administrator says being divergent is dangerous but doesn't say why. The next day, Tris chooses dauntless (brave) and Caleb chooses erudite (intelligence). Once training starts, Tris has to hide the fact she is divergent. She falls in love with a guy named four, his real name she will come to realize is Tobias. The boy who switched from abnegation. When she becomes dauntless, her mother comes to her and says to search the simulation serum. She finds out that the Erudite are going to use it to make the dauntless do whatever they want, to start a war. She's divergent though and the serum doesn't work on her. That's why the faction leaders thought she was dangerous. She finds our Four is divergent also. Caleb, Tris, and Four have to stop the serum and the war. The intended audience is from middle school to high school. The genre is a dystopian book, which means a book where a society has a problem it has brought upon itself. I think this book fits into it because it came up with a stupid idea to choose a faction to live in and forget everything you know to live with your faction. Then, when it doesn't work it's kind of like you brought it upon yourself. This author keeps you interested with new problems and information that comes into Tris's life. The authors style is to put a mystery into the book so you can figure it out while you read. It is effective because it makes you want to find out the mystery.

I like this book a lot because you can relate to Tris. Not exactly what she's going through but the idea of trying to find yourself and who you really are, which is effective for the intended audience. She also makes the story interesting by putting really out there things into it. Like when Tris has initiation, the initiation ceremony is you jumping off a building, it's crazy, but it is interesting. There is some violence, maybe a bit too much. It may have been a little depressing at some parts. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in my grade or older.

Zoe Troy
12.16.13
RATING☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5