Divergent is an exciting, dystopian take on self-discovery. The novel describes a future society divided into factions that are dedicated to representing different characteristics: Bravery, honesty, selflessness, kindness, and being knowledgeable. People are categorized into these factions, determining how they should act and carry out their lives. Often this lifestyle can be constricting, and this is evident immediately when the teenage main character Beatrice feels like she has to conform with what others in her faction are doing so that she can fit in with her faction. This future society has gone to extremes to “perfectly” maintain the factions. They test the teenagers Beatrice’s age to see what faction they belong to, leading to a ceremony announcing what faction each person wants to be a part of based on their test results and their opinions. The dystopian aspects of the novel come later on when the teenagers are initiated into the factions they choose. The main character Beatrice fights and goes through psychological torture to be initiated into a faction, discovering horrifying things about what the leaders of certain factions are planning to do.

I liked how this novel teaches that people can’t be categorized similarly to objects based on their qualities. The future society the novel talked about was organized to an extreme extent where people’s personalities had to be controlled, and I think of this as the novel’s way of showing that people shouldn’t suppress their harmless characteristics and individuality just to try to have no conflicts in a society. In addition, the way the novel balanced the elements of action and thrill, showing the flaws of society, and romance, was impressive. When I was reading the novel, I never felt like there needed to be more of a particular element or that there was an overwhelming amount of another element. Divergent was also enjoyable to read because of the humor in it. There was lots of humor subtly sprinkled throughout the novel, and it helped to relieve tension in the generally stressful situation the novel was describing. The one thing that slightly disappointed me in this novel was how it ended (skip to the next paragraph if wanting to avoid a spoiler). Most of the people important to Beatrice die at the end of the novel. I see how the dramatic ending could make people more curious to read the other books in the series, but I don’t think it was the most innovative way to end the book. I enjoyed the novel for the depth it had, but killing lots of characters off at the end didn’t seem to have a deeper meaning or purpose other than to make readers intrigued about how Beatrice would cope.

I would recommend Divergent for teen readers who like books about societies taking away from individuality in order to try and ensure any conflict from occurring. It could even be a fun read for readers that like the genre of romance but want interesting adventure and action in the story as well.

Check out Divergent from NBPL!