Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Divergent (Divergent, Bk 1)

Divergent (Divergent, Bk 1)
booksalicious avatar reviewed on + 43 more book reviews


I first saw Divergent in Half Price Books a few months ago and it peaked my interest; I just recently got the chance to see the movie with my significant other and that confirmed for me the need to read the series because for me when it comes down to whether a movie or the book that it was based on and which will be better the book will almost ALWAYS win.

Divergent took me into the faction based society of Beatrice who lives in a world where at sixteen teenagers must choose one of five factions they will stay in for the rest of their lives; these factions are based on different aspects of the human character; and to choose which they should join the candidates are tested; given the results then the choice is ultimately left up to them. Beatrice is followed through her initiation, into her chosen faction called Dauntless, through the forming of new friendships, into learning what it is to form a life beyond her nuclear family, and most importantly Beatrice finds that she has a more complicated path to follow then most and the novel follows her path as she learns that the most important thing is not always what you are but who you are.

I enjoyed the book because it delved into the complicated idea of what a society can turn into when humanity tries to take the best of itself and split it up into different pieces instead of using them together to work as a moving whole piece. The characters and descriptive scenes described in the book were amazing to imagine for me as a reader; Roth has an amazing talent as a writer; it's inspiring for me to know she wrote this piece of literature so young and it's a book I can't recommend enough. I am reading the second book in the series now.