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A review by willowsmeanders
Divergent by Veronica Roth
3.0
Plot Synopsis
Divergent follows the story of Beatrice Prior. In future Chicago, society has divided people into groups based on their characteristics — Abnegation, the selfless; Amity, the peaceful; Candor, the honest; Dauntless, the brave; and Erudite, the intelligent. At the age of sixteen, people give an aptitude test and get to choose their faction. Beatrice is a Divergent — someone who belongs in multiple factions — for Abnegation (where she was raised), Dauntless, and Erudite. Beatrice goes into Dauntless, renames herself Tris, and begins initiation tests there. Oh, and she falls in love with her instructor, who goes by Four.
THOUGHTS
First thought: it's very much similar to The Hunger Games, one of my favorite books. However, unlike Collins's books, the Divergent premise is poorly written and half-thought out.
Plot
Hardly any glaring issues with the plot, honestly. Mostly some tiny plot holes. On the other hand. . .
World-building
The general concept, premise, and worldbuilding was stupid and poorly-written. In The Hunger Games trilogy, world-building was heavily emphasized and thought-out. Collins explored the idea of an old Roman saying, drawing parallels to history and present society. In Divergent, however, the factions were too one-dimensional. It's like they took one quality and assigned people places where they will stay forever. Look:
Abnegation: selfless people
Candor: honest people
Erudite: smart people
Amity: friendly/peaceful people
Dauntless: brave people
By that logic, everyone should be Divergent, not just Tris. I don't know if Veronica Roth thinks everyone has one characteristic. Don't Abnegation and Amity overlap? Doesn't honesty (Candor) require bravery (Dauntless)? Shouldn't a brave person be Divergent for Dauntless and Candor? Shouldn't kind people be Divergent for Amity and Abnegation? And don't get me started on jobs. The Erudite are in charge of communications? Why not the Candor — who are LITERALLY DEFINED BY HONESTY? Why is Abnegation in charge of healthcare? Why not Erudite, who should know medicine? What does Candor do? What job requires nothing but honesty, other than lawyers? Why does Amity only farm? Couldn't they go into healthcare like Abnegation? Why does everybody do white collar jobs? Why are blue collar jobs for the Factionless? How do people become Factionless, other than failing initiation tests or quitting? Why are the Factionless crazy homeless people? What is so terrible about being Factionless
Now about the Dauntless faction – why do they need to jump onto a moving train? What sort of bravery does it prove? Couldn't the train just stop? Do they do it just to be "cool"? Why is this book so obsessed with being cool? I refuse to buy that people would forget everything their faction stood for. They have f**king MANIFESTOS! Can't they read? The manifestos could at least be discussed. I refuse to believe that no-one would even mention them.
Why the actual f**k does only one faction — Abnegation — form the government? I get that the rest of the factions have representatives, but why Abnegation? Couldn't it be Candor, the people who are actually trustworthy and honest? Actually, why is democracy no longer in place? The American Revolution was fought for this – lack of representation in government. I refuse to buy that a nation which started a war for governmental representation would also relinquish it without second thoughts.
Characters
Tris Prior: USA Today said that Tris would be Katniss Everdeen's replacement. Yeah, and Bella Swan's the new Elizabeth Bennet.
Tris is very poorly written. She is retconned again and again, and is just a sulky b**ch for no reason. Katniss had a reason to be sulky and angry — she was the active breadwinner in her family, in a very impoverished district. Hell, her whole family nearly starved to death at one point, and she became the breadwinner at eleven. Tris was well-fed and lived a comfortable life with both of her parents. She was also very flat. I felt more connected to Katniss in twelve chapters than to Tris the whole book.
Four/Tobias Eaton: Eh. . . I don't see anything likable about Tobias. He was hardly written as anything other than "mysterious instructor with tragic backstory for girl to fall in love with". Also flat and dull.
Tris's friends: I liked Tris's friends more than her. Christina seemed so nice and lovely, and Will was smart and likable. Al also provided great insight, and his betrayal, brief atonement, and subsequent suicide was one of the best moments in the book – its description and the moral dilemma it presents was great to think over. And Tris having to kill a brainwashed Will was heartbreaking.
Writing style
Nothing noteworthy. Very laconic and straightforward, but not particularly charming.
Romance
There's a romance between Tris and Tobias, and I don't honestly dig it. Both of them are as likable as dead slugs. And the romance was also not that great. It was mostly predictable, forgettable, and you could do without it.
Overall, Divergent was a disappointment. It has one or two shiny moments of glory, but mostly it is boring and lacks proper thought, and is weirdly obsessed with guns and being "cool". I'd suggest you pick up The Hunger Games rather than this.