Divergent - book review

 Spoiler free

Back in January, two of our readers recommended that we check out Divergent, a young adult book by Veronica Roth. We eventually DO get around to almost all recommendations, it just takes us a while. We have school and lots of TV to watch. One of the recommendations said, “Have you read 'Divergent' by Veronica Roth? It has all of the following elements to guarantee its awesomeness: kick a** teenage heroine (if she and Katniss were in a fight, they would probably just punch each other in the face over and over until someone punked out), extended training montages, fun with personality types, swoon-worthy male lead, and a completely unrealistic dystopian Chicago. It's all kinds of great.”

We agree with all of that. The other reader who recommended it said, “I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” The same here. We roared with rage when we realized that the sequel isn’t out until May. We think the Veronica Roth has some depth to her, since she said this in an interview: “We can make even something as well-intentioned as virtue into an idol, or an evil thing. And that virtue as an end unto itself is worthless to us. I did spend a large portion of my adolescence trying to be as ‘good’ as possible so that I could prove my worth to the people around me, to myself, to God, to everyone. It’s only now that I’m a little older that I realize I am unable to be truly ‘good’ and that it’s my reasons for striving after virtue that need adjustment more than my behavior.” We like that.

But onto the book. It’s thoroughly entertaining, it has great characters, it’s well-written, it’s thought provoking, and it is just screaming to be made into a movie (or a really good video game). Fortunately, a studio has picked up the rights. If it’s done well, it will be a good movie and possibly the next big thing. It should appeal to fans of The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. There is something similar to the sorting ceremony in this book, only more awesome. We don't want to tell you too much about it. If you’ve read the book and are wondering what our factions would be, we’ll tell you. Ern would want to be a Dauntless (the Pottermore sorting hat rightly put her in Gryffindor), but she is absolutely a Candor. A Candor who grew up in an Amity family…so…yeah, that was fun. Leeard would be an Erudite. (She has no idea what that means, but she has a feeling that she should be offended.) <-- Paranoia strikes again. Erudites are basically Ravenclaws, only more ambitious. Check the book out. Recommended.

Grade: A