A review by azileotulp
Divergent by Veronica Roth

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book is a very strange one for me. I really feel like I shouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. It completely fails as a dystopian for me. I find it very hard to believe that so many people actually fit into exactly one faction and only a few people are Divergent. I'm hoping that will be discussed in the other books, because I can't accept the premise that almost everyone in this world has one personality trait. I also feel like I don't know anything about why the world is the way it is, and that's so important in dystopians.

Even with those issues though, I actually really loved this book. It truly baffles me. I found the plot really engaging, as nonsensical as it was at times.
I feel like the ending with the sleepwalking was a little strange, but I'll let it slide.


The book does struggle a bit in the characters department. Throughout the book, the only characters I found myself loving were Four,
Al, and Will. Of course, Will (my actual favorite character) and Al (the traitor) are dead, so less to look forward to now. I will say, that betrayal absolutely wrecked me. I haven't felt this betrayed by a book since a certain popular fantasy that I won't name in order to avoid spoilers for it.
I did like some other characters like Uriah and Tris' mom, but they weren't present often enough in this book.

I feel like one of the characters really holding this book back is Tris herself. She's just so... mean?? Not outwardly, but so many of her thoughts are unpleasant. It was realistic, I suppose, but so hard to read. I'm also not a fan of Christina, but I feel like she's going to be a main character throughout the series, so I'll just put up with her. Maybe she'll get more interesting.

Overall, I really liked this book even though everything was working against it. The story was just wild enough to make it interesting and fun to read. I've heard that the common opinion is that the books in this series only get worse after this one. I'll try to keep an open mind, but based on the ending of this book, I have a feeling I'll end up agreeing.
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