Divergent - Veronica Roth

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Review:

This was the first book that I read after seeing its movie counterpart. To tell you the truth, I wasn't even planning on reading it, even with all the rave about it. If wasn't for the movie that got me quite confused, I wouldn't have read it at all. But honestly, I only started reading after I saw Insurgent, and it's been in my shelf ever since Divergent came out. That's how uninterested I was. With that being said, I can safely say that I loved the book more than the movie (any book with a movie counterpart, for that matter).

The theme was not that original in terms of dystopian novels go. We saw the whole walled-in thing in The Maze Runner. And the division of factions (districts) in The Hunger Games. But it was still refreshing to have the factions have their own distinctive characteristic that they don't have control over. My favorite factions were Amity (the peaceful) and Candor (the honest), maybe because they were the least cited factions in the whole book that we did not see their unfavorable characteristic. Maybe I'll find out more about them in the next books.

The book was very well-written and I loved the characters. Four was my favorite character, very intelligent and strong, he always had an answer for everything and his moves were calculated. He knew not to poke his nose into the irregularities that's going on around him; but he still knew when he needed to move and react. He was smart that way and that's what I liked about him.

The love story between Tris and Four did not interest me that much. And what was it with women protagonists that did not find themselves beautiful, but have multiple men falling at their knees? It's kind of becoming a cliche in YA books.

The book is quite fast-paced, I found myself finishing it in 3 nights (a good one for me). I already saw Insurgent movie and I loved it more than the Divergent movie, so I can't wait to read the book.