Reviews

I'm not generally a fan of the whole dystopian genre. I suppose I just prefer to read books that take place somewhere I'd actually want to go, like Hogwarts. This book didn't feel truly dystopian to me - yes, it takes place in the future after some sort of awful event forced everyone to live in a rundown version of Chicago, but it didn't feel that bad to me. Most people had reasonably decent standards of living, except maybe the factionless.

The society is divided into five factions, each of which favours a particular personality trait (Dauntless = bravery, Candor = honesty, Abnegation = selflessness, Amity = happiness, and Erudite = intelligence and knowledge). You take an aptitude test that tells you which faction you're best suited for and then, technically, you can choose any one that you want (keeping in mind that you never ever get to change your mind or go back to your old faction if you choose to leave it and if you fail any of the entrance tests to your faction of choice you're booted out and you become factionless, living on the streets.

My first question is: who decided this was a good idea? What purpose do the factions serve? They sort people into neat categories that don't actually really work because everyone kind of needs everything and that's about it. There doesn't seem to be any point to them. Someone somewhere just decided hey, let's divide everyone into groups based on personality and...keep doing exactly what we were doing before, just with cool names. The only thing the factions really seem to do well is make it clear what of those five traits you value most. That and give readers plenty of online quizzes to take (which faction do you belong to?).

That being said, I did really enjoy this book. It's fast-paced and I actually cared about the main character, Tris. Every time I started wondering what the point of something was, I still found that I wanted to find out what happened next. I really liked that Tris' entire frame of reference comes from Abnegation, the selfless faction she was raised in. Even as she gets less Abnegation and more Dauntless, she still views everything through that selfless/selfish lens. You can see her friend Christina interpret everything through the Candor lens of honest/lie. As pointless as the factions are, they are a culture that molds you and affects you for life.

I was disappointed with the Erudite - they're the main villains and don't seem to have any real reason to be. What would they do with power if they got it? They don't seem to have any kind of plan other than 'take power'. If they'd had some sort of plan, or proof that other factions were detrimental to society, it wouldn't have seemed as much like they were just evil, wanting power for the sake of it, no matter the cost. Other characters, including Tris, have shown Erudite capability, so the the message here is that it's not that intelligent that are evil - it's people that choose to value intelligence over other qualities.

marsiunio's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

autumn_sunfire's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I read this book over a year ago and for reasons inexplicable to myself am now suffering the urge to write a review.

First up: I liked things about this book. I haven't read a lot of dystopian, so I wasn't bothered by the similarities other reviewers complain about. I found the prose, while not exceptional, strong and even gripping, particularly when building tension. Whatever else, Veronica Roth can tell a story. Tris bothered me sometimes, but her voice was easy to follow and I wanted to see what happened to her.

That said, the faction concept was shaky at best. I rolled my eyes and accepted it for the sake of the plot, but really, I mean really, if you're writing actual people, EVERYBODY would be Divergent. Maybe that's where she's eventually going with the series? Idk? I don't plan to read on and find out.

Sometimes the bad things that happened honestly felt gratuitous. I'm all for books wrestling with deep/dark subjects, but this book didn't do that... it was kind of more like, "And now this bad thing happened, and now that we've made your hair stand on end and let Tris have a breakdown we're going to move on." The innuendoes and touchy-feely romance also got a little bit much for me.

Speaking of the lovey-dovey... Tris and Four's romance does not bother me, as a romance. Sure, he's her teacher, but for real, they're just kids experiencing the hormones. A two-year difference is not creepy. What bothers me is that Four is an instructor for these trainees at his age of eighteen. Like... I don't care how special he is, wouldn't they pick somebody with more experience? To me that feels implausible.

The thing that lowered my opinion of this book most, however, was that a character dies who should absolutely, for the sake of story, themes, and readers, not have died.

Spoiler

The mom's death was good. It served a purpose, it completed Tris's arc, it was poignant and well-executed and it actually shot my opinion of the book UP considerably. But her father's death was none of that. It effectively cheapened the effect of her mom's death, and that is just a no. N-O, no. Besides, I loved what was happening with her dad. It wasn't even finished and she just kicked him off the charts. It felt like a lazy way out of the complex relationship issues that I was genuinely looking forward to see unfold and resolve. Couldn't the author have at least waited a book? Or did she just want to get all parental authority out of the way so this could be proper YA? Either way, I was left feeling cheated and punched in the gut (not in a good way).

To sum up: Divergent is a book with a lot of sketchy areas that I managed to moderately enjoy despite the holes. But I have no interest in reading on.

skipperkaydee's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous fast-paced

3.5

I love this book in high school and that is probably the reason I have raided it so high. Reading it as an adult, Tris is so annoying. She is obsessed with how small she is and you have to hear about it almost every chapter. I love Four and the dynamic that they share. The concept is great and the writing is well done. I just wish I liked the main character more.

ohthatkimberley's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Divergent - Tris' POV | earthfaye.tumblr.com

“People tend to overestimate my character," I say quietly. "They think that because I'm small, or a girl, or a Stiff, I can't possibly be cruel. But they're wrong.”

I started this book after finishing the A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin, devastated at having to wait about a year for the next season on TV and ages for the next book. I wasn't expecting much from Divergent, thinking it was going to be overly mushy like Twilight but in a Hunger Games-like dystopian world. Oh, how wrong I was! The Divergent world is similar to present-day USA but with a couple of significant changes that I found fascinating. The main characters Tris and Four are easy to get attached to, being quite realistic and fully-fledged. The flaws lied in the secondary characters, which were not as developed in the first book as the rest of the series and I often muddled some of them up. However, this was a good start to an easy series to enjoy.

Divergent - Tobias' POV | earthfaye.tumblr.com

a Dauntless fanmix | earthfaye.tumblr.com

More...