Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up

Divergent - Veronica Roth 

So how many times have we seen the story Divergent? Many times!

However, what makes Roth stand out are the factions. Her story is based in a world where everyone is split into five factions: Abnegation, Candour, Dauntless, Amity and Erudite. Each one favouring a different quality. It follows a teenage girl on her journey to find which faction she belongs to.

As this book includes the factions it makes it stand out from say The Hunger Games despite them being the same genre. The story is slow to begin and gets more action packed as the book progresses with underlying stories of romance and friendship entwined in the main story.

The main heroine in this book is Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior, she has to choose which faction she wants to belong to for the rest of her life. Struggling with emotions of not fitting in with any of the factions she takes a leap of faith. She is a strong heroine who throughout the book progresses and becomes even stronger with the secondary characters such as her friends Christina and Will to help make her even stronger.

The male lead in this book is occupied by Four; he is the strong manly man that balances out Tris’s impulsiveness. He has a level head – most of the time- and becomes the voice of reason for Tris. Four is what any girl imagines a strong tough guy willing to stick up for them. As the book progresses so does Four’s character and you learn more about him in depth.

Despite there being some strong secondary characters there are also ones that even though they do contribute to the story (a little anyway) they are not really needed and leave weak links in the story these include Tris’s brother Caleb and her parents. They have a big impact on Tris but as characters they lack depth and intrigue.

Divergent is the first in a trilogy, it gives a strong starting base for the other books to build. Despite it not being as strong or as good as it could be it does lay groundwork for books to follow and hopefully get better.

If a fantasy world is what you enjoy then Divergent is a definite buy. It has a strong story (if not written as well as it could be) which means

6/10

There is no doubt that this book is unique, the story as a whole is different. The main characters are strong however, due to the writing the book still has more to offer.