Divergent (Divergent, #1)

by Veronica Roth

[layawaydragon]

I get why people are saying it's the next Hunger Games (or at least was when it came out) but the idea behind the fractions is just silly. Remind me of Captain Planet and not in a good way. People are not just one thing, they don't fit in boxes. While I gladly say people suck, these are just the worst of the worst boxes. And no, there isn't some special cult that I'd just love to join. How about running away from Chicago? Is that possible, can we do that?

Though I did like the bit with Tris and her mom. And the violence, it was interesting though the deaths are shrugged off like red shirts.

Tris is definitely a special snowflake that is annoying and fall insta-love with her teacher. I like Four's type but he's bland. Then he ends up being a special snowflake too. *sigh*

But everything else is just like why? And how the hell did we end up here? And what about the rest of the US and the world? Are there factions all over the country that have to report to higher ups? Or is Chicago it's own special sort of hell? Did they kill off all the minorities in Chicago before or after dissolving into factions? Did they perform surgery a ala Uglies or genetics tampering or breeding programs or something to make people fall into fractions? Because I really don't see how Tris could be special. It's just the hideous "I'm special and ya'll are sheeple, god" aspect of being a teenager escalated to society wide nonsense.