This book won the Goodreads Choice award for 2011 which means that it is a VERY, VERY loved book! When I first reviewed it I wrote that I wanted to join the 3,534 goodreads members that had given it a 5 star rating. While writing this review today I checked that number again-it is now 123,820 people that have given it 5 stars! Trending...hot...BOOM!!! (sidenote: I am very stingy with my stars so if I give something a five I think it's more than worth your time!) Here's a synopsis for you!
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. His name is Four. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her...
Now my review-
I usually don't compare books with other books but this made me think of the Hunger Games-not because the story line is the same but because I got the same feeling while reading both stories. That feeling of shock and anticipation that you have to keep flipping pages or you will be completely useless to the world because all you'll be thinking about is the characters and what's going to happen next! I read someone else say that this book is a little like a mix of the Matrix and the Hunger Games which is a good comparison. I loved Tris the main character. She was hard core! I am in love with Four. He is now on my top ten list of favorite fiction male characters. I am finding it interesting in these dystopian novels that are coming out there is an underlying theme of when humans try to make the perfect society they always end up corrupting the system and getting in there own way. I liked that Divergent highlighted that we need to develop and cultivate all good virtues in life to be decent human beings.
Four says, "We've all started to put down the virtues of other factions in the process of bolstering our own. I don't want to do that. I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest." -pg. 405I found that very noble in the fact that instead of bringing others down in there strengths, we should try to build up that area in our life instead. Also one other thing that I thought was so cool is this author is only one year older than me! She's a rock star at 22 for sure! Another favorite sentence of mine to leave you with before you race to go find a copy of this book.
"Selflessness and bravery aren't that different." -pg. 396
Now-book number 2 which also won a Goodreads award for 2012!!!
Synopsis: One choice can transform you, or destroy you. Every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves, and herself, while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
And now my review!
"Insurgent," he says. "Noun. A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily regarded as a belligerent." -pg. 458
Boom baby! This was a fantastic book! Loved it! Makes me shout WHERE IS NUMBER THREE!!!! I CAN'T WAIT A YEAR!!!!! What a fantastic sequel to Divergent! This one focused more on Tris dealing with her world that is falling apart and her need to realize that she has to keep fighting and essentially living. I love her even if she is way to self-sacrificing! Almost to the feeling of being suicidal. I feel like if she were real and I was hanging out with her we'd be dressed all in black with combat books and tattoos and we would be super hard core. I also liked it when she said "I liked some things and hated some things, and there were some things I didn't know I had until I lost them." How different would life be if we appreciated more things around us. And as always I adored Tobias! He is the perfect amount of sensitive and bad-a-ness! I also have to applaud Veronica Roth for writing a fantastic dystopian series that doesn't have/need a love triangle!! Bravo, bravo!!!! Super awesome read! Can't think of more praise!
Now here's the wrench I am going to throw into your works-book number three doesn't come out until October 22, 2013 so if you choose to read the first two you will then have to join the rest of us in simply anxiously waiting! I dare you to read them and not be entertained! :) Let the countdown begin!!!
I played volleyball with Veronica's sister at USU. She's awesome! :)
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