Divergent (Divergent, #1)

by Veronica Roth

[mary]

I do love dystopian novels. The genre is so fun to me and extremely easy to read and enjoy. They tend to be more character driven and thick with action. Divergent is a fun, edge-of-your-seat read. It is easy to get submerged in, effortless to remain engaged in, and impossible not to enjoy even the slightest bit.

The opening to Divergent describes the faction called Abnagation, a completely selfless faction.Beatrice, the narrator of the book, is part of this faction and right at the beginning you can sense her unease with this way of life. I really liked that Roth made Beatrice believe that she herself was the problem and not the faction system. Beatrice is unhappy with Abnegation, but she doesn’t project her unhappiness as a problem with the society. As a person that was born and raised in this government system she believes in it. She questions herself, instead, and wonders if something is wrong with herself.

What I didn't like was the overall lack of world building, which I hear occurs in Insurgent. So I guess I will have to continue reading once I get my hands on the second book to hopefully have some questions finally answered. For instance how long have these factions actually been in place and how long ago was the war? I guess I will just have to wait and see.

The writing in this novel was very simple. I think the one thing that irritated me about this story was the simplistic style. I really felt that Roth just told me instead of showing me.

Overall it was a very entertaining read and I will be continuing on with the second book hopefully soon.