#19 Divergent By Veronica Roth

#19- Divergent

Rating- 8.5/10

In a society where instead of all types of personalities of people living together, they live in their own factions. There are 5 different factions

1. Candor- The Honest

2. Erudite- The Intelligent

3. Dauntless- The Daring

4. Abnegation- The Selfless 

5. Amity- The Peaceful 

At the age of 16 all teens take an aptitude test, going through several different simulated situations where each decision will help throw-out one of the options. At the end of the test they go back to their parents in their growing up faction and wait for the ceremony where they have the choice to either stay with their current faction, or go to a different one that was chosen for them during the aptitude test.

Each faction has different traits, different clothes, different living situations, and different jobs throughout the city.

Beatrice Prior has grown up in the Abnegation faction with her mother, father, and brother. At the age of 16 she has rarely seen her own reflection in the mirror, has gotten used to doing things for others instead of her self and has worn modest covering clothes for her entire life. When it comes time to get her aptitude test without even getting the results she knows that she is ready for a change. She just doesnt know how big of a change she is getting herself into.

During the test she is conflicted on answering things even in the heat of the moment, when the test is over her test administrator seems nervous and tells her to go home immediately without telling her any indication of her results. During the ceremony they announce out-loud that she has tested for the Dauntless faction and in that moment she makes the decision to leave everything that she has known and transfer to a faction where she must be brave and daring. Changing her name to Tris, she takes on a new identity and works on becoming a new person.

Once she gets there, adults are treating her differently, she is passing tests better than anywhere there and seems to be able to bend the experiences in the simulator. In a secret moment with one of the officials she finds out what everyone had been starting to realize but her, that she is Divergent, meaning that she can belong to more than one faction by nature. Being adept to more than one faction is a dangerous thing and its now her responsibility to keep this a secret.

Throughout twists and turns, and little bit of romance, Tris realizes that the city has bigger plans than factions and its up to her to find out just what that is.

I found this book to be quite exciting and interesting enough that I wanted to go out and pick up the sequel immediately. At the same time, having read it a few months ago a lot of the details were fuzzy and I found myself having to go back and re-read part of it in order to remember the outcome. When I have a book that really sticks with me that isnt an issue, for those reasons I gave it a 8.5. Very good, but not a book that holds on to your attention for the weeks following.

“People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.”