Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

I've read many books in 2012 so far, but Divergent by Veronica Roth has been one of my favorites. Don't worry if you haven't read the book yet, this review does not contain any spoilers!

Source: Goodreads

Plot: 

 

Divergent takes place in a futuristic, dystopian Chicago where society is divided into 5 different factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the brave).
The protagonist of Divergent is Beatrice "Tris" Prior who was born and raised in the Abnegation (selfless) faction.
At the age of 16, everyone in the society has to decide whether they want to stay in the faction they grew up in, or change factions. But before choosing, everyone has to take a test, the so-called aptitude test, which tells you which faction fits you best.
Tris takes the test and gets a strange result: Tris is "divergent", which means there is more than one faction that fits Tris' character. But Tris is told to keep her divergence a secret from everyone she knows, because being divergent is dangerous. If you read the book, you'll find out which faction Tris chooses, and why being divergent is considered dangerous.

My Thoughts: 

There is a number of reasons why I liked Divergent:

- I could totally relate to the protagonist. Tris is a girl, Tris is physically weak, but during the novel she becomes this strong and brave person.

- They way the story is told is just terrific, I could NOT stop reading. I don't know about you, but I think reading an almost 500-page book in one sitting doesn't happen very often. I just always wanted to know what's gonna happen next, there were no parts of the book that I felt like could have been left out. When I found out that Veronica Roth, the author of this book is only 24, and that she published the book when she was only 22 (which might not be true, I suck at math), I couldn't believe it. This doesn't seem like a debut novel!

- Divergent is a book that makes me want to write fan fictions. I never write fan fictions, the only times I considered doing it were when I was reading Harry Potter and Twilight. (Please don't kill me because I like Twilight!).
It's a story I want to find out more about because I love some characters with my whole heart, while on the other side there are characters in this book that I absolutely despise. There is just so much more to explore, and I'm more than happy that Divergent is just the first book in a trilogy.

- Yes, just like in almost every YA book there is ROMANCE. I'm not going to tell you who it is going to be (you'll quickly figure it out yourselves), but let me tell you it is GENUINE. The relationship in this book is in no way forced, although it develops fairly quickly. If I had to choose my favorite couple in YA books, it would be the couple in this book. Sorry, Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling can write anything! but romance. Sorry ): )

- I find the world, the dystopian Chicago, especially the factions in the society extremely interesting. I want to find out more about the different factions, I want to know more about how the whole thing started, and I want to know WHAT'S OUTSIDE THE FENCE! And why the locks on the fence are on the outside!


At the end there is just one thing I want to say: Read the book. Just read it, I promise you you'll love it! And if you've already read Divergent: Read Insurgent! (Which is the sequel). (Review of Insurgent coming soon!).


RATING:                                                                       

Plot: 5/5
Language: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: May 3 2011

Genre: Young Adult / Dystopian

Pages: 496 (Hardcover)

Get it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Book-1-Veronica-Roth/dp/0062024027 (Available as: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle)

Have you read Divergent? Did you like it? Please tell me in the comments :)

"Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie

I read two books last week that I really wanted to review. They're "Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie. (Yes, I've been loving dystopian novels recently. This book series really reminds me of "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver (which I also highly recommend!)).

Don't be afraid of spoilers, these reviews don't give away anything about the books' endings!

Matched by Ally Condie

 

 source: Goodreads

"Matched" is about a 17-year-old girl called Cassia who lives in a world where everything is controlled by "the Society", e.g. you can't choose your job or your relationships, how many children you will have or what you eat. The only choice you get to make is whether you want to be "matched" or stay single for the rest of your life when you turn 17. Cassia chooses to be matched, but the result she gets is very strange and dangerous: She gets two results. On the one hand there's Xander, her neighbor and best friend. On the other hand there's Kyle, who Cassia finds out is an "Aberration" (which means he's not considered a citizen in the Society and can't be matched. But for some reason he gets matched with Cassia).

What I found fascinating was the world Ally Condie created. Her descriptions of the houses, technology and the Society in general are very detailed.
It took me a while to be able to relate to the main character, Cassia: At the beginning of the book she doesn't question the rules of the Society at all, she's very naive, and that kind of annoyed me at first. But after getting the strange matching result she grows more and more suspicious of the whole situation, and her whole character develops a lot.

I read "Matched" in only 2 days. I really got sucked into the story, and couldn't put it down. So when I found out there was a sequel I HAD to read it straight away :).

Crossed by Ally Condie

 

source: Goodreads

I always look up reviews online before reading a book. When I finished "Matched" and looked up reviews for "Crossed" I was kind of disappointed because so many people didn't like it ("Eew, I don't like the setting", "there's not enough Xander", "it's boring" etc. etc.)

Now, after finishing "Crossed" I don't think I'll ever read reviews before reading the book again. Because I really liked Crossed.

It's really hard to compare "Crossed" to "Matched". The setting is totally different, and there are many new characters. But different doesn't always mean worse. I really enjoyed getting to know the Outer Provinces, new characters like Indie, Hunter and Eli, and finding out more about Ky (because, let's face it: we didn't really get to know him in "Matched")...

My favorite part of the book was the character development (imagine what Cassia was like at the beginning of "Matched", and how she's so much more independent now), and of course I loved the fast-paced storyline.

I can't wait for the third and last book to come out (next month? Can't wait :D ). I feel like after Cassia found out about Xander's secret, the story will focus even more on the love triangle. (Which I know is like "soo YA", but done really beautifully in this series in my opinion).

"Crossed" was a really quick read for me (just as quick as "Matched"), and even though I liked Matched a little bit better, Crossed didn't disappoint me in any way.

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 If you have any questions about the book, or if you want me to review a book please leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you!