Beatrice lives in a world where there is five factions that represent a certain virtue. Condor is honesty, Abnegation is selflessness, Dauntless the brave, Amity shows peace and Erudite is intelligence itself. Every person at sixteen years of age must choose a faction. Their choice will effect their entire lives - from where they live, who they are, what they believe and what they will do until the day they die.
Beatrice chooses to be Dauntless, renames herself Tris and throws herself into a world where tattoos, dyed hair, and black clothing are the norm - so different from her birth faction.
Not only is Tris in a whole new world, bur she has a secret she hasn't told anyone. She's Divergent and her personality shows more then one faction. She just has to make sure that this secret doesn't kill her.


I read this because my friend Naomi told me I should. Divergent never seemed to be my thing however. I saw the trailer for the first movie a long time ago while at the theater and just from that preferred Hunger Games. 
I was wrong however - this book is one of the best secular Young Adult Dystopian books I've read. It reminds me of Marked or one of those other semi popular books. While I could never understand why Hunger Games became so hot, I actually see why Divergent did.
The characters are real and beautiful. Four is the first character in one of these type of teen books that I actually rooted for. He's mature, his fears make him human contrary to his outward appearance.

Something else that I really enjoyed about Divergent is that this is a book I think that represents choices throughout. I liked the different factions and that Tris eventually sees that being dauntless doesn't mean she has to give up selflessness. I like how she comes to grip with that every faction is important - choosing just one shouldn't just be an option. They're all important.
Violence is not brave - self sacrifice is.

Now this is not to say that Divergent is perfect. H*ll is said probably about ten times, God's name is misused several times, and one time during a test to prove she is dauntless, Tris takes a serum that enters her mind and takes her into different situations that seem real but are in her minds. One of these scenarios just so happens to be Four trying to get her to have sex with him.
There is nothing explicit and it's more insinuated then "shown" but for young readers and even older readers, this may be a problem.
Another time Tris realizes that Four is going too fast for her and then admits she fears intimacy or getting too close with anyone (her birth faction never had people kissing in public).
There is also some random spiritual things thrown in. Tris recalls that her mother baptized her as a baby to consecrate her for God, her family prays before a meal, and Tris thinks about the afterlife while in a fear stimulation. It's just so random and nothing comes of it sadly.
Overall the book wasn't bad and I think it brought up some good points about choices. I loved experiencing Tris' training, meeting Four, and the plot - yeah, the plot is really good!
Still the kissing went a little too far and this being a secular book it's to be expected. It just turns me away from the series though and I don't know if I'll want to reread it in the future
However, I'm eager to see how the other books are for the time being, and this one went over my expectations - which I'll admit were very low haha.
Have you read Divergent? What did you think?