Divergent

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Published:Katherine Tegen Books; 2011
Genre:Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Source: Amazon Kindle store
From Goodreads:

"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her."

When I went to see Catching Fire back in November, the preview for Divergent looked pretty good.  My friend and I agreed to go see it together in March.  I knew  I would have to read the books first.  I got a new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas so this was one of the first books I bought.

Honestly, I was a little dissappointed in the first installment of this trilogy.  I wish that there was more back story.  What events lead up to this point? Why did the citizens decide that people should be divided into factions?  I also didn't understand why people would have to choose one particular virtue.

I don't want to give away what faction Tris decides to join, but I had a hard time understanding what her faction did.  I get that they had certain jobs but I didn't think that the size of their faction could find employment for that many people.  Her faction seemed much more reckless than actually embodying the spirit of their virtue.

This was Roth's first book that she wrote rather quickly.  You can tell.  The plot of the book just seems to meander along until the sixty pages or so.  However, once I reached those last pages, I was hooked and am definitely going to read Insurgent.  The meat of that last part of this story was very exciting.  I needed to find out how Tris' and company are going to deal with the very major complications.

Roth's writing did have some good points.  I found her depiction of Albert to be incredibly touching and a realistic portrayal of an adolescent placed in that situation.  She wrote very descriptive scenes that weren't overly wordy.  Her training scenes were exciting and I couldn't put the book down in the middle of them.

If you loved The Hunger Games trilogy and want to read this thinking it will be like them, it's not.  It's nowhere near as good as The Hunger Games.  It is an entertaining read and I have higher hopes that Insurgent and Allegiant  will fill in the gaps that annoyed me and will meander less now that the antagonist has been identified.