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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I FINALLY read Divergent! I know I am probably one of the last YA readers to have not read Divergent until now. I was a little hesitant about reading Divergent at first only because I still don’t know how I feel about Dystopian novels.
Beatrice Prior lives in a world where factions are the norm. When the children come of age they go through a test to find out what faction they belong to: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice and her family belong to Abnegation and while Beatrice loves her family, she never truly feels like she’s enough for the life of a Abnegation. On the day of the testing she’s told she’s a Divergent and to stay hidden. However, she’s also given two options: Abnegation and stay with her family, but the good selfless girl she was raised to be. Or join the Dauntless and take what she’s always wanted. She chooses Dauntless. Now it’s a race and a test of strength, smarts, and alliances to get through the Dauntless testing or become factionless.
Wow! I have to say I wasn’t expecting what I got from Divergent. First off, let’s start with the characters.
Beatrice was pretty kick-ass if I do say so myself. She definitely had the whole heroine in the making throughout this book. She never really gets scared about a lot of things and instead can face them head on and think through them. She stands up for her friends until the bitter end and I liked that about her. She was willing to take a knife for her friend. She can sometimes be overcome by her emotions but at other times seem emotionless. That was somewhat bothersome to me because none of her angst seemed real I guess. Despite all that though, I really enjoyed reading from her perspective and following her as she learns about the corruptness of the factions.
Four was the real mystery to me though. While I knew almost immediately he liked Beatrice, and had some ties to Abnegation I never truly realized how complex of a character Four truly was. He definitely has a high ideal of what everyone in the world they live in should be like. He also keeps Beatrice in check a lot of the time when she seems to want to be going in without a plan or she takes things too far. He seems like the strong broody type who has deep hidden secrets and feels. Four is totally book boyfriend material though. He’s definitely caring and sweet but still strong and protective.
While I really did enjoy Divergent there was just something missing in this book for me. I’m not sure honestly what it was which is really bothersome but I just wasn’t “in love.” I think it may have been just how easy this story was to figure out and how Beatrice while an amazing character seemed almost emotionless.
All in all, I really enjoyed Divergent. Veronica Roth has done an amazing job creating the world of faction. I enjoyed the action and getting to know all the amazing characters besides Beatrice and Four. If you haven’t read this book yet I would suggest it to you. It’s a nice, easy, and enjoyable read.
Teaser:
"Why..." I swallow hard. "Why is that your first instinct?"
"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake.”
Swoon:
“I might be in love with you." He smiles a little. "I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though.”
Beatrice Prior lives in a world where factions are the norm. When the children come of age they go through a test to find out what faction they belong to: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice and her family belong to Abnegation and while Beatrice loves her family, she never truly feels like she’s enough for the life of a Abnegation. On the day of the testing she’s told she’s a Divergent and to stay hidden. However, she’s also given two options: Abnegation and stay with her family, but the good selfless girl she was raised to be. Or join the Dauntless and take what she’s always wanted. She chooses Dauntless. Now it’s a race and a test of strength, smarts, and alliances to get through the Dauntless testing or become factionless.
Wow! I have to say I wasn’t expecting what I got from Divergent. First off, let’s start with the characters.
Beatrice was pretty kick-ass if I do say so myself. She definitely had the whole heroine in the making throughout this book. She never really gets scared about a lot of things and instead can face them head on and think through them. She stands up for her friends until the bitter end and I liked that about her. She was willing to take a knife for her friend. She can sometimes be overcome by her emotions but at other times seem emotionless. That was somewhat bothersome to me because none of her angst seemed real I guess. Despite all that though, I really enjoyed reading from her perspective and following her as she learns about the corruptness of the factions.
Four was the real mystery to me though. While I knew almost immediately he liked Beatrice, and had some ties to Abnegation I never truly realized how complex of a character Four truly was. He definitely has a high ideal of what everyone in the world they live in should be like. He also keeps Beatrice in check a lot of the time when she seems to want to be going in without a plan or she takes things too far. He seems like the strong broody type who has deep hidden secrets and feels. Four is totally book boyfriend material though. He’s definitely caring and sweet but still strong and protective.
While I really did enjoy Divergent there was just something missing in this book for me. I’m not sure honestly what it was which is really bothersome but I just wasn’t “in love.” I think it may have been just how easy this story was to figure out and how Beatrice while an amazing character seemed almost emotionless.
All in all, I really enjoyed Divergent. Veronica Roth has done an amazing job creating the world of faction. I enjoyed the action and getting to know all the amazing characters besides Beatrice and Four. If you haven’t read this book yet I would suggest it to you. It’s a nice, easy, and enjoyable read.
Teaser:
"Why..." I swallow hard. "Why is that your first instinct?"
"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake.”
Swoon:
“I might be in love with you." He smiles a little. "I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though.”
I loved this book. Its somewhat similar to the hunger games goes as far as being drawn into it, and staying drawn in. I recommend it. I can't wait to read the next two books.
"Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it."
4.5 stars.
**SPOILERS**
I really did enjoy this book, despite many people saying they found it hard to get into or that it started out boring. Personally, while the first few pages were boring (as they usually are when starting a completely new and foreign book) as soon as I got past the barrier I was sucked in.
Now, obviously it wasn't perfect. Tris' actions in the beginning, before she understood what Dauntless was truly meant to stand for, were less than admirable. I found that sometimes her actions seemed hypocritical and judgmental (like how the only things that she would think of that differciatied the Dauntless and Abnegation were that the Dauntless wore excessive amount of piercings, even though parts of this book made me weary of if Veronica Roth even knew how piercings worked, they had tattoos and wore black. Black, black, black. And while that ideally sounds like a kind of place I would belong in for fashion and appearance alone, getting an eyebrow piercing or a couple of tattoos is not what identifies someone as "cool" or "brave", and that was the first issue I had with this book, the way stereotypes are embedded into this world. And don't get me wrong, that possibly could've been a conscious choice, but as someone who rocks a nose piercing and blue coloured hair and can't imagine for the life of her falling from 70 feet off a building, this part seemed a bit unrealistic to me.
The second problem I had was that Tris was wildly hypocritical from time to time. She criticized Al for crying after he had to beat Will unconscious and then goes crying into the arms of her instructor (not that I missed in the slightest). She was constantly judging people in her head and then questioning their loyalty, as if she had any to begin with! But Tris is smart, I'll give her that. She actually listened when Four told her to keep her head down and act vulnerable, nothing like some protagonists who COMPLETELY disregard higher authority and the fact that what people are telling them might actually be true.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with Four. Except, you know, when he called Tris pathetic. But I feel like he made up for that when he almost killed Tris, so I'll let that one slide.
Christina on the other hand. bOY I cannot count for you on both of my hands how many times I wanted to smack her straight. maybe she belonged in Erudite, because her obsession with power was, well, quite an obsession. Though, nothing as bad as Peter, she often times made me question whether or not she'd become the main antagonist of the book, even though once you get to a certain point, who the main antagonist is becomes pretty clear.
Christina is constantly power hungry, getting mad at Tris every time she scores higher than her. And maybe that stems from wanting Peter to not succeed, maybe it's because deep down it's not that she wants to see just Peter be beat, she wants to see her name in first place on the rankings list.
Which, expectedly, doesn't happen. Go figure.
I felt that her obsession with the rankings and being the best ultimately left a huge window for who the villain could've been, which I feel was a direct plot choice from Roth as Christina wasn't the only one who made me feel unsettled.
But Uriah was great. I have no problems with Uriah.
Concluding this review, I'll talk about the romance, which, admittedly, is probably close to "The Infernal Devices" level of greatness. While the romantic subplot isn't perfect, nothing in any book is perfect so take this with a grain of salt. I thought this romance development was great. It had the perfect amount of tension at the beginning to keep me hanging onto the eve of my seat whenever Four and Tris were in the same room, and perfect amount of buildup to where I didn't feel cheated out of the book, whereas in other books I find they sometimes get the romance done first to get it out of the way. This buildup was perfect, and the best part was that every time they got close to each other you thought they were going to kiss, but then when the kiss actually happens, it comes out of nowhere! While the buildup was spot on, the after effect could've used some worked. I would've like to known what happened after Four and Tris kissed once the final rankings went up instead of just "Will and Christina stared at us in shock" or whatever that line was. I just expected more.
Overall, I think this book address the way important and ever looming topic of dictatorship and discrimination, and everything along the lines of that. it discusses the differences between each faction and also how they overlap, and then goes into how human induct to control and have power over what is unknown to them, and I feel that is a message we could all use in this day and age.
4.5 stars.
**SPOILERS**
I really did enjoy this book, despite many people saying they found it hard to get into or that it started out boring. Personally, while the first few pages were boring (as they usually are when starting a completely new and foreign book) as soon as I got past the barrier I was sucked in.
Now, obviously it wasn't perfect. Tris' actions in the beginning, before she understood what Dauntless was truly meant to stand for, were less than admirable. I found that sometimes her actions seemed hypocritical and judgmental (like how the only things that she would think of that differciatied the Dauntless and Abnegation were that the Dauntless wore excessive amount of piercings, even though parts of this book made me weary of if Veronica Roth even knew how piercings worked, they had tattoos and wore black. Black, black, black. And while that ideally sounds like a kind of place I would belong in for fashion and appearance alone, getting an eyebrow piercing or a couple of tattoos is not what identifies someone as "cool" or "brave", and that was the first issue I had with this book, the way stereotypes are embedded into this world. And don't get me wrong, that possibly could've been a conscious choice, but as someone who rocks a nose piercing and blue coloured hair and can't imagine for the life of her falling from 70 feet off a building, this part seemed a bit unrealistic to me.
The second problem I had was that Tris was wildly hypocritical from time to time. She criticized Al for crying after he had to beat Will unconscious and then goes crying into the arms of her instructor (not that I missed in the slightest). She was constantly judging people in her head and then questioning their loyalty, as if she had any to begin with! But Tris is smart, I'll give her that. She actually listened when Four told her to keep her head down and act vulnerable, nothing like some protagonists who COMPLETELY disregard higher authority and the fact that what people are telling them might actually be true.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with Four. Except, you know, when he called Tris pathetic. But I feel like he made up for that when he almost killed Tris, so I'll let that one slide.
Christina on the other hand. bOY I cannot count for you on both of my hands how many times I wanted to smack her straight. maybe she belonged in Erudite, because her obsession with power was, well, quite an obsession. Though, nothing as bad as Peter, she often times made me question whether or not she'd become the main antagonist of the book, even though once you get to a certain point, who the main antagonist is becomes pretty clear.
Christina is constantly power hungry, getting mad at Tris every time she scores higher than her. And maybe that stems from wanting Peter to not succeed, maybe it's because deep down it's not that she wants to see just Peter be beat, she wants to see her name in first place on the rankings list.
Which, expectedly, doesn't happen. Go figure.
I felt that her obsession with the rankings and being the best ultimately left a huge window for who the villain could've been, which I feel was a direct plot choice from Roth as Christina wasn't the only one who made me feel unsettled.
But Uriah was great. I have no problems with Uriah.
Concluding this review, I'll talk about the romance, which, admittedly, is probably close to "The Infernal Devices" level of greatness. While the romantic subplot isn't perfect, nothing in any book is perfect so take this with a grain of salt. I thought this romance development was great. It had the perfect amount of tension at the beginning to keep me hanging onto the eve of my seat whenever Four and Tris were in the same room, and perfect amount of buildup to where I didn't feel cheated out of the book, whereas in other books I find they sometimes get the romance done first to get it out of the way. This buildup was perfect, and the best part was that every time they got close to each other you thought they were going to kiss, but then when the kiss actually happens, it comes out of nowhere! While the buildup was spot on, the after effect could've used some worked. I would've like to known what happened after Four and Tris kissed once the final rankings went up instead of just "Will and Christina stared at us in shock" or whatever that line was. I just expected more.
Overall, I think this book address the way important and ever looming topic of dictatorship and discrimination, and everything along the lines of that. it discusses the differences between each faction and also how they overlap, and then goes into how human induct to control and have power over what is unknown to them, and I feel that is a message we could all use in this day and age.
i had this series on my shelf for a while so i decided to finaly read the series. This first book i blasted through in 2days
Read this in 3 days on vacation to relieve my teenage years and it never disappoints. I won’t lie, I loved Tris when I was younger but now I love Four. Easy read, love it. Also, this gives you perspective on how bad the movie was. The book? 10x better they skipped everything in the movie
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Easy read but pretty entertaining. So of course now I have to read the rest of the series.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No