Book and Movie Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent 

Book 1

by Veronica Roth

Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; 1st edition (May 3, 2011)
Amazon Hardcover Link

Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; Reprint edition (September 30, 2014)

File Size: 1836 KB
Print Length: 501 pages

Audible Listening Length: 11 hours and 15 minutes
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Audible.com Release Date: December 6, 2012

Paperback  / Kindle / Audible 

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ 

My thoughts:

Friends told me Divergent's story is similar to Hunger Games. I didn't like HG, can't stand the violence, brutally killing teens for fun. So told them, why would I watch this one. According to their reviews, this was better. Although the story is similar to HG, this was less brutal. So I went and watched the movie last year. Surprisingly, I liked the movie, book? Not much. 

I liked Four but I haven't decided yet if I liked Tris (up until book 2). She seems like a nice person, may be a best friend material, it's just that her 'divergent' attitude and decisions annoys me. She is so unpredictable. Sometimes I compare her to Bella, a weakling and then she would be like a very smart likeable hero. If it's okay with other readers, I am not happy with that kind of character. As for Four, he is definitely a very realistic and memorable character which I think the reason why I continued reading the series up to book 2 (got free book 3 - thanks to Audible!) Other characters are fine. Villain? I much hate Eric than Jeanine. I see Jeanine as Rose Dawson, so not possible to hate her LOLs... 

Plot and writing style are both okay except I initially got confused with all the factions. Took me a lot of back reading to understand how it works. What I still don't understand is why factionless peeps are all homeless? They are the largest faction so why don't they all work together and build houses for everyone? I know it was explained in the book but really, are they all stupid to just roam around the city streets and never realized the need to have a place to live in? Romance part as you guessed is not good enough for me since I have mixed feelings about Tris. Hmm, overall, it was an okay book. 

PS
Not sure if I'm going to post my review about the second book. . . .  felt like I have nothing good to say about that book.... 

About the book:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her. 

About the author:

Veronica Roth was born in a Chicago suburb, and studied creative writing at Northwestern University. She and her husband currently live in the city that inspired the setting of the Divergent Trilogy.