Divergent
by Veronica Roth
Date Read: 08/03/2012
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
I would really give this 4.5 stars if I could. But the beginning
started out a little slow for me - still entertaining - but slow. And I
know that's how a new series starts, but it seemed like it took a
really long time to get going.
I very much enjoyed this the
entire time I read it. Even when it was slow. The world had to be
built. The characters had to be introduced. It was really good, but
just a little slow. It took about 200 pages to really understand where
the story was going. And then another 150 pages or so to know where the
big climax was going to happen and what it was going to be.
But
OMG. When it happened, holy crap. Those last 100 pages were so action
packed I could barely stop reading to let my dogs inside!
Ok, so
the world. It starts off pretty much with the aptitude tests and
choosing ceremony. Roth does a pretty good job of getting us to
understand the different factions before Beatrice chooses which faction
she will be in. She also does a decent job with us somewhat attaching
to her family, and realizing how hard the decision she is trying to make
is. Perhaps that is because I love my family too, so I know how
difficult the thought of leaving them would be. But throughout the book
Roth continues to build the world, and show us how this dystopian world
was meant to be set up, and how much is has digressed from what it
originally stood for.
I really liked Beatrice, the main
character. She was strong, but she also had insecurities that came from
the faction she was originally from. So she had strengths and
weaknesses. I liked that we got to see both. And I liked how we saw
different friendships of hers grow and how she questioned who were her
real friends. She definitely grew as a character over the length of
this book.
Four
[SPOILER: aka Tobias. Did anyone really not expect that Four was going to be Tobias?
]
This was an interesting character. I didn't really latch on to his
character right away. He had a detachment to him that I didn't warm up
to. But eventually you start to see him warm up, or wear down, and see
that he is a pretty good person, but has had to deal with a lot in his
past. But he always tries to do what's right.
Beatrice and Four.
Of course there has to be a relationship in a YA novel. I thought
this one was done pretty well, because you didn't start reading this
novel because there was a romance...it's just a side note that helps the
story at the end. But this relationship grows. That's what I really
liked. She got to know him. Then realized she kind of liked him. Then
they realized they liked each other. And THEN they kiss.
[SPOILER:
And I really liked that at the end they both reflect that they think
they love each other. Tris thinks about why she can't shoot Tobias and
then Tobias declares his love for Tris. It was a sweet ending to an
otherwise dramatic ending.
]
Supporting
characters. Boy there were a lot of them. There were her family
members. There were the Dauntless leaders. There were the Dauntless
initiates. There were the transfer initiates. And there were a couple
other random characters. No wonder it was slow to start...she
introduced us to soo many characters! But by the end, I was either
rooting for some and crying for some outcomes, or hoping she would kill
them! Which I think is impressive with the amount of characters in this
book, and that it is in fact one book. There were a lot of characters
in Harry Potter that I cried for, but they were introduced over several
books and by the end, you were invested in them for 6 or 7 books!
I
thought the idea of fear was interesting. That is what this book
focused most on. And I thought it was interesting when Four mentioned
that Selflessness and bravery aren't that different. When I thought
about it, I realized he was right. I've never stopped to think about
fear and bravery before. But this really brings it to light. And I
thought it was interesting even how it brought up suicide, and how it
isn't an act of bravery, it's an act of cowardice. I've always believed
that, and I was pretty shocked to see it brought up in a book. It was
quite interesting. And we saw how people coped with the things they had
to go through. It reminded me of watching the characters in the Hunger
Games cope. They really weren't in THAT much different of scenarios.
The
climax I thought kind of came on a bit fast. We finally figured out
what was going to happen, and then BANG. It happened. That is my only
real complaint on this book. But once that action started, I couldn't
stop reading. It was constant action. Constant shock. And constant
hope.
This book was really good, and I will be recommending it to
my friends. I cannot wait to get my hands on Insurgent, the sequel, to
find out what happens to these characters next.
