Kindle Book: Divergent

 Divergent

by Veronica Roth

Length: 487 pages

Format: Kindle book
Price: $8.99

Author Website: http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/

Basic Premise: In this future society, all 16-year-olds choose to which "faction," or societal group, they would like to belong - the one they were born into, or one for which they must qualify.  When Beatrice Prior's amplitude test shows that she is divergent, she is confused, and no one will tell her what it means.  As she selects her faction and goes through training to qualify, the dangerous meaning of divergent begins to become clear...

My Take: 6.5 out of 10 (scale here)
(Can I take another moment to say how much I love my Kindle?  I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!)

I found this premise to be very interesting indeed.  There are five factions, each with a dominant value - Dauntless, which values bravery, Erudite, which values intelligence, Amity, which values peaceful relationships, Candor, which values honesty, and Abegnation, which values selflessness.  Abegnation, the faction from which our heroine hails, is home to the selfless, and as they are the most selfless, they are the government.  When Beatrice's aptitude tests shows that she is divergent, she is told to tell no one, but no one will explain why.  She chooses to transfer into another faction, which reminded me of the Amish when children choose to leave.  It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a big deal.  I liked the protagonist, but nearly all the decisions she made, particularly at the beginning of the book, were the exact opposite of what I would have chosen.  Made for interesting reading. 

Overall, I was not a fan of the writing style.  It seemed like the author took the characters a little too seriously - everything was so dramatic, which was fine, but often the drama didn't extend to the circumstance.  It also felt choppy to me, but to be fair, I read it in choppy bits over an extended period of time, so that could be why.  I will probably rent the movie when it comes out - or maybe go see it if I have a gift card or a pass, but I don't think I'll be reading book 2.