Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegan

Pages: 496

Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 4/5




Beatrice Prior lives in a world divided by factions. Each of the four factions have like-minded citizens with similar mentalities and virtues. Beatrice is sixteen and getting ready for her mandatory aptitude test, a test that will determine which faction she will enter. Will she remain an Abnegation, and stay with her parents and brother or will her heart take her somewhere else? Abnegations are devoted, selfless people and Beatrice doesn’t feel that her instincts always point to Abnegation. At times she looks at her brother and wonders why one situation can be looked at so differently from both their perspectives. When Beatrice enters the simulation, her test results prove to be inconclusive. She is told that she is Divergent, and must keep it a secret, as this can be deadly if exposed to others. Afraid, shocked, confused and alone Beatrice goes home. The test results are kept undisclosed even with family members. The day of the choosing ceremony, Beatrice must choose her destiny. She decides to either choose Abnegation, and stay with her family or Dauntless, a faction consisting of courageous and brave members. She risks losing her family forever but it might be something she has to do for herself, a selfish decision.

Divergent is an amazing dystopian novel. I wanted to read page after page, but I knew once it was done it was done-bitter-sweet. Choosing Dauntless was a huge leap of faith, but now Beatrice must live up to the expectations or be factionless forever. There is no going back, no running home. The look in her father’s eyes said a thousand words, but the smile on her mother’s face was perplexing. Beatrice is a character readers will immediately feel a connection with, she’s a young girl lost in her own world, forced to make her own decisions. She is one of the many likable characters. Beatrice is strong, independent and at the same times small and afraid. The Dauntless training camp is intense and fiercely competitive. As political tensions rise amongst the factions, Beatrice struggles to choose faction before blood.


Veronica Roth has weaved a complicated dystopian tale, one filled with twists that will leave readers captivated and ardent. I was skeptical at first, having read Divergent was similar to The Hunger Games. I really wouldn’t compare the two, the dystopian characteristics are similar but that’s as far as I would go in comparing the two. Divergent was just as entrancing as The Hunger Games however, Veronica Roth has created a story all her own.

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