My brother’s girlfriend, Emma, bought me the first two books in Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy for Christmas as she’d heard they were the “next big thing” and thought I might like them.
The trilogy is set in a dystopian version of Chicago at some point in the future. The city has been divided into 5 factions based on personality type: Abnegation, for the selfless; Amity, for the peaceful; Candor, for the honest; Dauntless, for the brave; and Erudite, for the knowledgeable. On a set day each year all 16 year olds are given an aptitude test and after receiving the results they can stay with their families in the faction they were born in or they can choose to transfer to a new faction.
Our protagonist is Beatrice Prior. Beatrice is born into Abnegation but feels that selflessness doesn’t come naturally to her and hopes the aptitude test will help her find out where she really belongs. Unfortunately, when Beatrice takes the aptitude test her results are inconclusive, showing she could fit in Abnegation, Dauntless or Erudite. This is known as being Divergent and she is told that this is very dangerous and she should never share this information with anyone. Beatrice then needs to decide which faction she wants to join. She immediately discounts Erudite as there is a long held animosity between Erudite and Abnegation and even as Choosing Day arrives she is still unsure what to pick. Beatrice’s brother, Caleb, surprises her by choosing Erudite and she almost decides to stay with Abnegation out of a sense of loyalty to her parents but eventually chooses Dauntless.
Once she arrives at the Dauntless compound Beatrice gets to give herself a new name, choosing Tris. She makes friends with 3 other transfers, Will, Christina and Al. She also meets 3 other transfer initiates Peter, Molly and Drew, who immediately set out to make her life difficult. Their Instructor, Four, explains that they will all face a series of tasks, the results of which will lead to them being ranked. Only the top 10 ranked initiates will be accepted into Dauntless and the rest will become factionless, which is a fate many consider to be worse than death as you are abandoned to the slums of the city, given little in the way of food and clothing and only allowed to do menial jobs that no other faction wants to undertake.
The initiation is broken into 3 stages and along the way Tris grows closer to Four. News reports, written by members of Erudite, become more and more inflammatory, accusing Abnegation leaders of being abusive towards their children as several high profile leaders of Abnegation have had their children choose to transfer to a different faction, including Tris and her brother, Caleb. Tris tries to keep the fact that she is divergent a secret and seems to be doing well until stage 2 starts and Four realises what she is and again tells her she needs to get better at hiding it. This cause Tris to speak to Tori, the Dauntless member who was in charge of her aptitude test, and Tori explains that the leaders of Dauntless feel that people who are divergent are dangerous and need to be stopped. Tori tells Tris if they find out she’s divergent they will kill her, as they killed Tori’s brother.
Can Tris manage to keep her secret? Why does Four seem so intent on helping her? Will she ever see her family again?
I am so glad Emma bought these books for me as I am totally hooked. Roth has created this whole dystopian world that is so realistic. I’ve heard tell that this is the next “Hunger Games” and I would have to agree. The characterisation is very good, Tris is a very engaging protagonist. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have to choose to leave your family at 16 years old and go and live somewhere else with a load of people you don’t know. Out of all the transfer initiates at Dauntless, Tris is the only one from Abnegation so she is completely isolated from everything she has ever known.
The conflict between the factions was very well played out and again, quite realistic. Each faction thinks their way of living is the best and although they seem to have rubbed along together very well for many years, with each faction serving a different purpose in the running of the city, the cracks are starting to show even in the beginning of the book with Abnegation children being the victims of bullies at school for their quiet manner and selfless behaviour. The Leaders of the city are from Abnegation as when the factions were formed it was decided that people who were selfless would make the best leaders as they would only ever think of the people of the city and not how they could benefit themselves. The Erudite have become unhappy with the way the Abnegation leaders are running the city and feel that they could run things better and lead to people being more prosperous. They also don’t see the need to continue to support the Factionless.
The book is very well written, being told in first person narrative from Tris’ viewpoint, which gives the reader a great insight into what she is thinking and feeling during the transition from Abnegation to Dauntless. I know not everyone likes first person narrative as there can be problems with a biased narrator and you don’t get any other viewpoints but I think it really helps immerse you in the story and feel like you are a part of it.
Definitely agree with the hype, really good story, likeable characters and it ends on enough of a cliff hanger to leave you desperate for the next instalment.
thebookwormery 