What would happen if the world were to end over a war? For one, the survivors of the “apocalypse” would have different reasons as to why the catastrophe occurred. Similarly, in the book Divergent , by Veronica Roth, the reader is presented with five reasons as to why the world ended: selfishness, ignorance, cowardice, dishonesty, and chaos. These different point of views caused the survivors to split up into five groups, or factions, based on their beliefs. The five factions are Abnegation(the selfless), Amity(the peaceful), Erudite(the intelligent), Dauntless(the brave), and Candor(the honest).

In Divergent, the main character is Beatrice Prior. Beatrice hails from Abnegation, and she lives with her mother, father, and brother Caleb. The story starts off with Beatrice expressing how nervous she is for the upcoming event on the following day. Each year, on an appointed day, every sixteen-year old from all the factions come together for a ceremony in which they decide their future factions. In the ceremony, each teenager is called up by their name, in alphabetical order, and must make a cut in their hand with a knife. They are then to put a drop of blood in a bowl which signifies their future faction. The Erudite bowl contains water, the Amity bowl contains soil, the Abnegation bowl contains grey stones, the Candor bowl contains glass, and the Dauntless bowl contains burning coals. Caleb goes before Beatrice and shockingly, chooses Erudite. Beatrice goes next and to everybody’s surprise, including her own, chooses Dauntless.

Next, all of the Dauntless initiates are taken on a train to Dauntless headquarters. It is a large black building with a chasm in it. This area is known as The Pit and the chasm is a raging river with jagged rocks. After getting there, Beatrice, now known as Tris, meets Christina and Will, whom she becomes best friends with. During the Dauntless initiation, all of the Dauntless born initiates and transfers alike must go through three stages: combat training, facing their fears, and entering the fear landscape. In the first stage, the Dauntless born initiates and the transfers are split into two separate groups. During this time, the initiates enter hand to hand combat with the others and are ranked at the end. The leader of this stage is a Dauntless leader by the name of Four. Tris is matched up against a girl from Candor named Molly. Tris keeps her cool and technique throughout the fight, which is the reason she emerged victorious. As the book continues, Tris grows feelings for Four and finds out that Four feels the same way about her.

During the second stage, the initiates are injected with a serum which triggers their fears in a sleeping state. This test helps them understand what their fears are and how to get over them. The only way the initiates can regain consciousness is by keeping a steady heart rate, showing that they are able to stay calm and brave. Tris's fears include being devoured by crows, drowning in a tank, being kidnapped in her Abnegation bedroom, killing her family, the ocean and rocks, and being burned at the stake. Tris was able to get past all her fears in record breaking time, which Four was impressed by. Additionally, a normal person has ten to twelve fears, while Tris only has six. It is later revealed that the least amount of fears someone has ever had is four, hence the nickname Four. Four reveals that his real name is Tobias and he is the son of Marcus, one of the leaders for Abnegation. Four’s fears include claustrophobia, getting hit by a belt by his father, guns, and heights. Talking about Fours fears strengthens the bond between him and Tris. As Tris and Four walk back to Tris dorm room, they overhear one of the other Dauntless leaders, Eric, talking to a woman about going to war with Abnegation. Abnegation and Erudite have always been in a conflict, but there is no reason for Dauntless to intervene. This entire situation perplexes both Four and Tris, and Tris was able to conclude that the Dauntless are helping the Erudite to get revenge on Abnegation, and that the woman speaking to Eric is no other than the Erudite representative, Jeanine Matthews. Both Tris and Four conclude that they must warn the Dauntless about the upcoming events, and the next day, Tris takes a train to Erudite headquarters to see her brother and to ask if he is aware about the situation. When Tris gets there, all of the Erudite citizens look at peculiarly due to the fact that the Dauntless are tattooed and dressed in black while the Erudite are not tattooed and are dressed in blue. When Caleb and Tris meet, she asks him if he knows anything about the plan to revolt and Caleb denies it. Tris goes back to the Dauntless compound, thinking about ways to inform the Abnegation citizens, and encounters Eric. He is very disappointed in her for leaving the Dauntless compound to travel to another faction. He injects her with a serum that is included with a tracking transmitter. Tris goes back to bed that night and is suddenly awoken at midnight by the sound of shuffling feet. She notices that Christina and all of the other initiates are putting on their shoes, as if they are about to go somewhere. Tris asks Christina what she is doing and sees that her eyes are blank, meaning that she, and the others, are sleepwalking. She follows the crowd, mimicking their every move to not stand out, and end up at the front of the compound. All of the Dauntless are under control except her, due to the fact that she is Divergent . She encounters Four in the crowd on the way to a train and she notices that he is not under Dauntless control either, meaning that Four is Divergent as well. In the train, both Four and Tris were able to conclude that the Dauntless leaders are controlling the rest of the Dauntless by the transmitters they injected in them, and that they are using the innocent individuals as soldiers to wreak havoc on Abnegation. When they get to the city, Four and Tris have to go back to imitating the others so they can fit in. As they aremarching, Eric, who is not under the control since he is one of the leaders, points a gun at Four and intends to shoot him because he is jealous that Four only has four fears and was ranked higher than him back when they were training together. Tris saves Four by shooting Eric in the foot and Four hits Eric in the nose with the end of his gun, proving that both Four and Tris were unaffected by the serum because they are Divergent . The two are quickly captured by Dauntless guards and are taken to Jeanine. Jeanine decided that she is going to mind-control Four and kill Tris by drowning her in a tank. Tris is handcuffed to a railing and is put in tank which slowly fills up with water, similar to what she encountered in her fear landscape. Luckily, Tris is saved by her mother who breaks a glass wall to save her daughter. The two go through the streets to a place where Caleb, the dad, and a few other Abnegation are taking refuge. On the way there, Tris’s mom gets shot and dies, but Tris knows she has to keep going to survive. She gets to the refuge and she and the rest of her family decide to go back to the Dauntless headquarters to destroy the system that is controlling the Dauntless initiates. Once at the compound, Tris takes out a few guards and gets to the eighth floor, where Four, under control, tries to kill Tris for infiltrating the building. Tris convinces Four that he is better than that and that he can snap out of his dilemma. Four eventually goes back to normal and destroys the system. That is where the book ends.

In my opinion, Divergent is a very good book to read if you like fictional science. I would give the book a 5/5 stars. I definitely recommend it for anyone trying to find a very unique, yet interesting book.