English Title:
Divergent (Divergent, #1)
Turkish Title: Uyumsuz (Uyumsuz, #1)
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 447
My Rating: 5/5
WHY THIS BOOK?
For a long time I wanted to read this book because,
1. I loved The Hunger Games series and this was said to be another YA dystopian novel similar to The Hunger Games.
2. The publicity was so good and I almost always fall for good publicity.
3. There were hundreds of bloggers out there counting down Insurgent (Divergent, #2) ever since I found about this book.
4. I love anything related with sci-fi so I just couldn’t avoid.
THE STORY:
It is the story of a 16-year-old girl called Tris in future Chicago. In the society Tris lives in, all 16-year-olds have to pick the faction they want to live in for the remaining part of their lives. The factions are Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity and Erudite. Each faction values a characteristic which they believe the opposite of was responsible for the “warring world” of the past. Abnegation, the selfless faction, was formed by those who blamed selfishness. Dauntless, the brave, was formed by people who blamed cowardice. Those who blamed aggression formed Amity, the peaceful. Erudite, the intelligent, was formed by those in society who thought ignorance was responsible. And the remaining faction, Candor, the honest, was formed by people who blamed duplicity.
Tris has to decide if she wants to live in her old faction, Abnegation or Dauntless. As the story progresses and Tris chooses her path, it’s suddenly clear that she doesn’t quite fit in just one faction and that proves threatening for those controlling this perfect society because as a Divergent, she can’t easily be manipulated.
MY COMMENTS:
Since from the very beginning, I knew I would love this book and I was not wrong. I loved the setting, the characters (not only Tris and Four, all of them), the plot turns and twist and the end. It is not easy to write a novel that thousands will find original, popular and enjoyable at the age of 23. Well, Veronica Roth managed to do that elegantly.
During the first few chapters, I caught myself trying to find similarities between Divergent and The Hunger Games or between Tris and Katniss. Then this somehow diasappeared because this was a totally different world. Yes, it was again dystopian but totally different. I loved the desciptions and character development (just a bit annoyed by the name change of Four along the book). I loved the limited taste of romance and lack of a love triangle. I loved the insecurities of Tris. Her weaknesses and her spirit were so easy to relate to. I especially liked the evolution of her character. It was like she didn’t know herself at first so everything was new to her as they were to the reader.
The world Veronica Roth created forces you to think. I was a bit confused at the beginning about the factions. I had to go back to remember what all the different factions consisted of. Maybe because I read the book in English and I am not a native speaker but once I managed to keep in mind everything, I was dragged away.
The pacing of the book was well done and throughout the book my curiosity was never totally disappeared. I was compelled to keep reading from start to end and once I was done, I wanted more. I think that was the reason for my quick read (Please note that I’m Turkish so it takes time for me to read books written in English).
As Divergent is planned to be a trilogy, I have some expectations. I want to learn about,
- Why has the world changed?
- How did humanity decide to live in factions predicated on character traits?
- How is the world outside Chicago?
Lastly, I was lucky enough to read this book as Turkish copy is still not available in the market. I think it is mainly because a good majority of Turkish readers discover The Hunger Games trilogy right after the movie so publishers don’t want to distract people. I wonder how the translation will be?
APPLICABLE CHALLENGES:
It is a debut novel and of course, my first book by Veronica Roth so I can include it New Author Challenge.
I read it in spring so I can count it for Spring Reading Thing 2012.
It was a dystopian novel so it can be counted for 2012 Science Fiction Reader Challenge and The Dystopia 2012 Challenge.
Lastly, not Chicago in specific but USA in general is a place I have never visited but would love to visit so I can include it to Semi-Charmed Book Challenge.
WHY THIS BOOK?
For a long time I wanted to read this book because,
1. I loved The Hunger Games series and this was said to be another YA dystopian novel similar to The Hunger Games.
2. The publicity was so good and I almost always fall for good publicity.
3. There were hundreds of bloggers out there counting down Insurgent (Divergent, #2) ever since I found about this book.
4. I love anything related with sci-fi so I just couldn’t avoid.
THE STORY:
It is the story of a 16-year-old girl called Tris in future Chicago. In the society Tris lives in, all 16-year-olds have to pick the faction they want to live in for the remaining part of their lives. The factions are Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity and Erudite. Each faction values a characteristic which they believe the opposite of was responsible for the “warring world” of the past. Abnegation, the selfless faction, was formed by those who blamed selfishness. Dauntless, the brave, was formed by people who blamed cowardice. Those who blamed aggression formed Amity, the peaceful. Erudite, the intelligent, was formed by those in society who thought ignorance was responsible. And the remaining faction, Candor, the honest, was formed by people who blamed duplicity.
Tris has to decide if she wants to live in her old faction, Abnegation or Dauntless. As the story progresses and Tris chooses her path, it’s suddenly clear that she doesn’t quite fit in just one faction and that proves threatening for those controlling this perfect society because as a Divergent, she can’t easily be manipulated.
MY COMMENTS:
Since from the very beginning, I knew I would love this book and I was not wrong. I loved the setting, the characters (not only Tris and Four, all of them), the plot turns and twist and the end. It is not easy to write a novel that thousands will find original, popular and enjoyable at the age of 23. Well, Veronica Roth managed to do that elegantly.
During the first few chapters, I caught myself trying to find similarities between Divergent and The Hunger Games or between Tris and Katniss. Then this somehow diasappeared because this was a totally different world. Yes, it was again dystopian but totally different. I loved the desciptions and character development (just a bit annoyed by the name change of Four along the book). I loved the limited taste of romance and lack of a love triangle. I loved the insecurities of Tris. Her weaknesses and her spirit were so easy to relate to. I especially liked the evolution of her character. It was like she didn’t know herself at first so everything was new to her as they were to the reader.
The world Veronica Roth created forces you to think. I was a bit confused at the beginning about the factions. I had to go back to remember what all the different factions consisted of. Maybe because I read the book in English and I am not a native speaker but once I managed to keep in mind everything, I was dragged away.
The pacing of the book was well done and throughout the book my curiosity was never totally disappeared. I was compelled to keep reading from start to end and once I was done, I wanted more. I think that was the reason for my quick read (Please note that I’m Turkish so it takes time for me to read books written in English).
As Divergent is planned to be a trilogy, I have some expectations. I want to learn about,
- Why has the world changed?
- How did humanity decide to live in factions predicated on character traits?
- How is the world outside Chicago?
Lastly, I was lucky enough to read this book as Turkish copy is still not available in the market. I think it is mainly because a good majority of Turkish readers discover The Hunger Games trilogy right after the movie so publishers don’t want to distract people. I wonder how the translation will be?
APPLICABLE CHALLENGES:
It is a debut novel and of course, my first book by Veronica Roth so I can include it New Author Challenge.
I read it in spring so I can count it for Spring Reading Thing 2012.
It was a dystopian novel so it can be counted for 2012 Science Fiction Reader Challenge and The Dystopia 2012 Challenge.
Lastly, not Chicago in specific but USA in general is a place I have never visited but would love to visit so I can include it to Semi-Charmed Book Challenge.
I really wanted to read this for the trilogy category of my challenge, but all three books aren't out yet. Darn! I will definitely be giving it a try eventually.
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