'Divergent' by Veronica Roth
'Divergent' by Veronica Roth

3.5 stars.

The good

  • Somewhat interesting premise around a dystopian future where the survivors in post-apocalyptic Chicago have organized society into 5 factions: dauntless, abnegation, amity, candor, and erudite. Each faction plays some role in society: e.g., the dauntless are the army and abnegation run the government. You join a faction based on your personality type; and if your personality type doesn’t go with exactly 1 of these factions, you are “divergent.”

  • The larger mystery of how society got this way and what lies beyond Chicago is intriguing.

  • The initiation process into the dauntless process, which includes training, fighting, being daring, and so on, is pretty entertaining.

The not so good

  • The 5 factions and the personality types that go with each feel like a vast simplification of humanity. It’s a central theme of the book, but to be honest, it doesn’t work very well.

  • The coming of age story and romance didn’t work for me.

  • Most of the characters feel pretty flat.

In short, if you want a young adult book about a dystopian future, stick with The Hunger Games.

Rating: 3 stars