Divergent by Veronica Roth

Imagine a world where the people are divided into five factions based on a dominant personality or characteristic - Candor for those who are honest and truthful; Erudite for those who are intelligent; Amity for those who are friendly; Dauntless for those who are brave and courageous; and Abnegation for those who are selfless.  Can you live in a world like that?

This is the setting of the book.  I love this setting because it makes you think how it would be like to be living in world where you are expected to act and think in accordance with the faction you are in.  Personally, I think I'm not fit for Candor nor Abnegation.  Neither am I Dauntless or Amity.

Aside from the way the story is set, I like its pacing.  It's unlike other novels which takes forever to reveal something important or the readers wait until the last book of the series before everything is revealed.  There are revelations as early as this book so one doesn't have to wait for the next installment to have his or her questions answered.

I love Four!  I enjoy reading about him.  I like his character, I find him smart, mysterious, sweet.  As a trainer of the Dauntless initiates, he has a good mixture of being strict and firm in teaching the skills that they need to learn in order to prepare themselves physically and psychologically to the faction.  But at the same time when the other trainers are becoming too ruthless he is not afraid to step up and defend the initiates.

I am not much a fan of Beatrice or Tris but I like that she is a fighter, she won't go down without putting up a fight.  She is strong and tough even if she doesn't seem that way on the outside.  She knows how to defend herself from those that bully her.  However, I don't like that she has this tendency of wanting to save those that she loves even at the expense of her life.  There is nothing wrong in saving the people that you care about.  It's just that how can someone want to save others but feels that her life is not worth saving?  You value the lives of other people but you don't value yours?  What does that say about you?  When it comes to saving herself or that of her loved ones, she would choose the latter without second thoughts, makes her a bit suicidal for my taste.

The book made me think if the woes of the world can be traced to one specific reason, can it be solved if we become the opposite of it?  Such as if selfishness is the root of all our problems, can eliminate them if we all become selfless?  It also tackles sacrifice and how much are you willing to give up for your family, for those that you love and for what you believe in.

every man has the right to choose his own way in this world. - Marcus

Rating: 5 of 5 STARS