Divergent (Divergent, #1)

by Veronica Roth

I was hesitant to start this series, because I read a spoiler which told me how Allegiant, the last book in the series, ended.Tris, the main character dies. I would see this series in every bookshop and I was afraid to buy it because I felt as though I might not enjoy the series due to the ending that I knew about. After I watched the movie (yes, I broke the book nerd rules by watched the movie before reading the book), I wanted to see what the hype was all about and thankfully at the time, my school library had the book. There was a humongous waiting list, and even although I put my name on the list in June last year. When I finally got the book in my hand, saying that I was excited was a total UNDERSTATEMENT.

Beatrice Prior, the main character, lives in a society that maintains peace by separating its 16 year old citizens into a faction based on the virtues that they have. There are five factions: Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (peace), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery) and Erudite (knowledge). When an aptitude test is taken, Beatrice's result are inconclusive and she decides to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless.

Beatrice (Tris) was an amazing and REAL main character. She's likable, smart and her thoughts and emotions are easy to understand. I loved the manner at which she developed throughout Divergent, physically and emotionally. At the beginning, she isn't good at everything (unlike most characters, who fight a battle for the first time, don't even know a basic self-defence mechanism and wins), but she gradually and slowly learns how to be the best that she can be.

The secondary characters were well developed. I loved hating the villains and rooting for the heroes. Tris's relationship with her mother and family was beautiful. Christina was such a fun best friend and Four was dreamy. I loved the chemistry that he had with Tris and it was amazing to see the way in which their attraction progressed into a relationship that I was rooting for.

Divergent has a whole load of Dystopian aspects to it, but Roth was able to make the cliche' parts seem original. The whole logic that this book is build on, was simple, but effective. Veronica Roth has an amazing imagination that she used to form Tris's tests and trails and her fight scenes were realistic and easy to visualize.

I'm really glad that I gave this book a chance and I can't wait to get my hands on Insurgent to find out where Tris's journey takes her. If there was one word that I could use to describe to describe this dystopian novel, it would be REAL.