Divergent (Divergent #1)

In the world of Divergent Chicago is divided into five sections. Each section has a group of individuals who are unique in their own way. Dauntless is the home of the brave. They are dressed in all black with tattoos and take the motto YOLO to heart. They do parkour, jump over buildings, and even walk on trains. Abnegation is a very peaceful and selfless and do not care about their appearance. They are normally dressed in all grey and have the same hairstyle. Their members are not even allowed to look in the mirror! Abnegation is where the subject of our story came from first until the switched factions because of the Aptitude test. The Eurudites are the smartest and most intellectual of the factions. They are the group that helped create the Aptitude test and are normally dressed in all blue and glasses (even the ones who do not need a prescription). Candor members are very honest. They are always dressed in suits and are the businessmen of the factions. I find this very ironic because the stereotype of the average businessman is selfish and dishonest. The final faction is called Amity. They are peaceful and loving people who take their faction name to heart. They are normally dressed in all red.

Siblings Caleb and Beatrice turned 16 last month. Their father is one of their home faction’s leaders. They are currently members of the faction Abnegation. Caleb and Beatrice have to take an aptitude test to determine which faction they will belong to. The aptitude test was developed by the Erudites. During the test, the kids are injected with a serum and are judged based on their reactions. When Beatrice finds out she is a Divergent (she has three factions to choose from) the information may kill her if anyone finds out. She can choose from Dauntless, Abnegation, or Erudite. They are not allowed to share their results until the day of the Choosing Ceremony. They are selfless and kind and are often shunned at school. The reason why is because their faction requires it. There are five factions: Abnegation: The Selfless, Dauntless: The Brave. Amity: The Peaceful, Candor: The Honest, and Erudite: The Intelligent. Abnegation and Erudite are in a sort of Silent War. Erudite stole information from Abnegation which was supposed to be locked up for more than twenty years. With this information Erudite is brainwashing and controlling other people. At the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice chooses the Dauntless Faction and Caleb chooses the Erudites, becoming a traitor to his home faction. When Beatrice survives the Dauntless Initiation, she becomes a Dauntless and changes her name to Tris. She has tough times ahead of her and has to watch out for those who may be dangerous to her and her faction. This decision will change her entire life…

I would recommend this brilliant novel to anyone who liked the Hunger Games series or read the Mortal Instruments series. It is a fascinating novel and one of the best I have ever read!

Everything about this book is perfect. The characters, style, plot. Tris isn't like Katniss. And Four isn't like Peeta or Gale. Divergent is not The Hunger Games. Divergent is it's own story and enjoyable for everyone, even those who ddn't like the Hunger Games.

This book was amazing! This book was on my to-read this for a while but just didn't have the time, but we had to read this book for english class and it finally forced me to read it. Thank You teacher. If it wouldn't have been for my english class it would probably still have been on my to-read list! This world the Veronica Roth had created is amazing! In this dystopian world you're put into a faction which kinda represents you in a way. Tris's character is very strong. Her trails to become a dauntless were amazing! Four! Four is like the best. I highly recommend this book. Its amazing I LOVED it

This book is a page turner and soon to be a movie. I read this book about a year ago and have re-read 4 times so far and to plan on re-reading soon. After you read this book you will start thinking about life and the future. when i read this i realized i am Divergent. If you like Distopian books you will love this one, Veronica Roth Writing is amazing she really knows how to suck you in.

I absolutely loved the idea of factions! It seems like something likely to happen after a major event to put everyone in nice little boxes, and keep order. However, I felt like the factions were just over-exaggerated stereotypes. I had a hard time believing that people would behave that way without brainwashing. For example what does having 37 piercings and jumping out of a speeding train have to do with bravery? Nothing, it’s just reckless. If they’re the ones who are suppose to protect the people, why are they behaving in a way that’s likely to get them maimed and killed? Also, how is self defensive and eating hamburgers self indulgent or selfish? It just doesn’t make any sense to me. And I’m pretty sure you don’t need hipster glasses to pursue knowledge, especially if you have perfect vision.

Sure bravery and selflessness are great qualities to value, but the level of exaggeration of their actions (or inaction) bothered me. This one-mindedness was briefly acknowledged towards the end, but the explanation just wasn’t good enough. I never was able to accept this world and it hindered my enjoyment of the novel.

I did like Tris though. She had her own thoughts and opinions, and didn’t follow the one-track mindedness of the factions. But I suppose there wouldn’t be a story if she was just another faction member. She was something known as “divergent” but what that means, no one knows, but it might get her killed if anyone finds out. It’s a super interesting concept, but we don’t get many answers about what exactly divergence is or why it happens. Perhaps in future books?

Divergent does end on a cliffhanger, which is the only reason why I’ll probably read the second book. Maybe there will be some more world building that can explain more of why things are the way they are. Plus I’d like to see more of the Amity faction, which seems like it will be a bigger part of the next book.

I just did not like this book.

this was the best book I have ever read that was distopian. When I started i could not stop. I was hooked.

This is a really really great book.
Beatrice Prior is living in a dystopian world where her 'country' is split into 5 'factions' that each value one moral (peacefulness, braveness, intelligence...) and on your sixteenth birthday you take this test (the aptitude test) which sorts you into one of the five factions, and then the next day you choose which faction you wish to go in.
But Beatrice has aptitude for 3 factions.
Which is unheard of, and is called being Divergent.
Other Divergents have been shot and killed.
And so all hell breaks loose.
It was action packed, romancey, and philosophical. Such a great novel from a really talented new voice.

It didn't take me long to get immersed in Beatrice's story. I felt for her that she didn't exactly fit in and felt she was on the edge of her faction, the people that her family belonged to, the ones that she grew up with. When she takes the test to help her determine her faction, she realizes why. When she chose to leave her faction, I felt for her, but also admired her bravery. I don't know that I could leave everything I knew, and my family for the unknown.
Beatrice, or Tris is kick-butt and I liked watching her really determine what she thought was right and learn to stand up for it. With each trial in front of her, she realized more of her motivations and that she couldn't be boiled down to just one word, one character trait.
I appreciated getting to know Christina, another transfer and watch them learn about the faction and face challenges together.
I was kinda shocked at some of the betrayals and decisions that a few of the characters made. I was left in this position of almost seeing where they were coming from, but never being able to justify it. Then there were the actions of certain members in leadership that I don't think I will ever be able to forgive.
Four was a constant mystery to me, I wasn't sure where his motives lay and especially at first, couldn't get a good read on him.
Divergent was definitely entertaining, and I will be reading the next one. I liked it, but I do have to say that I have read other dystopias that I liked better. It was good, but not mind blowing to me. I think that I wanted more information than this book gave me about exactly what being a divergent meant and why it was such a secret. We see clues, and I guess that I understand why we don't see the whole picture, but it was just too clouded in secrecy and I didn't understand why. I also needed a bit more world building. I felt like I knew the qualities of the factions oh so well, because they were explained over and over, but not so much why they were there or how they worked in the world that is different from ours, and I am not really sure why.
This is a very gritty book, it has violence, a bit of gore, and hard issues. It was hard to read about the characters I'd come to care about fighting each other, getting beat up, and going through other trials. It was also hard knowing that not all of them would make it until the end. Every time something happened, I wanted to halfway close my eyes because I didn't want one of the characters I'd just started liking, or had respected from the beginning become an outcast.
Bottom line: Enjoyable start to a trilogy. I liked it but it did not live up to the hype for me. While I really liked Beatrice and the characters, something didn't completely click with me.

I like big books, y’all. Big, thick hardbacks or paperbacks with lots of adjectives and page turning twists. So how could I pass up Divergent?

Divergent is chockablock full of excitement. Everything is constantly a rush of anticipation at what Tris/Beatrice would get herself into next. Or where Four/Tobias would lead her. Or if and when the factions would revolt.

I’ve grown to love Dystopian books. Especially ones where the community is set up into smaller communities run by some deranged government. It’s the factions that pulled me in here. Each equipped with its own special trait of choice. I’m very interested to see where the next books take us.

Now, Four. I’m finding it hard to find any fault in him. He was simply charming. Equal parts kick ass hero and delightfully adorable normal guy.

Just about every other supporting character was great. All with their own quirks. Interested to see what Christina will do in the next one!