Author Veronica Roth
Genre Young Adult, Dystopia, Urban Fantasy
Pages 487
Stand alone or series Divergend (3-part series)
My Average 22 pages a day
Reading Difficulty 2
(on a scale of 1-5 5 = dictionary vernacular)
Faction Before Blood
Note: Sorry for the delay, I read this book out loud to my husband.
Beatrice is the child of Abnegation – the selfless, but at her choosing ceremony, she is faced with a huge decision. She must choose one of five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating 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 a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
“I open my eyes and thrust my arm out. My blood drips onto the carpet, I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals. I am selfish. I am brave.”
Hit The Mark:
In the beginning, the book moved a little slow, but once I got used to all of the different factions, and Tris got past choosing day, things picked up. The strongest emotions I felt for this character where when she was fighting for her place with the Dauntless. It has been made clear what happens if she fails – factionless, but Tris is a fighter, and she’s determined to avoid that fate.
The different tests the characters go threw were full of intense determination and a few surprises. I imagined the Dauntless initiation to be something similar to initiation into a fraternity (a daredevil fraternity). My husband and I found ourselves on the edge of our seat at each test, unable to put the book down.
The different tests the characters go threw were full of intense determination and a few surprises. I imagined the Dauntless initiation to be something similar to initiation into a fraternity (a daredevil fraternity). My husband and I found ourselves on the edge of our seat at each test, unable to put the book down.
Needs Improvement:
I felt like the book could have been split into three (unequal) parts. Book one is all about Abnegation. Book two is all about Divergent initiation and Book three… well I won't spoil that. The sections of the book did not flow well within each other. It was like stopping at a four-way stop and choosing a new direction. The love interest made me a little squirmy. I felt like I was watching a student/teacher relationship blooming in all the wrong ways. I also didn’t really see what attracted the two characters to each other.
Lastly, the one thing (especially when reading the book out loud to someone else) that really annoyed me was the amount of repetition. The main character would be struggling with some inner or outer turmoil and as she’s thinking things threw she would repeat herself at least 3 times: “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t notice the repetition almost every time Tris was struggling with something.
My Rating: C
Andy's Rating: C
If you like The Hunger Games, Legend, Wither, & Ashes you might like this novel.
About the Author
Veronica Roth is a twenty-two-year-old debut author and a recent graduate of Northwestern University's creative writing program. While a student, she often chose to work on the story that would become Divergent instead of doing her homework. Now a full-time writer, she lives near Chicago.
I absolutely loved this book and it easily made it into the Top 10 of my books. What I liked the most is that it was one of the most original books I'd read in a long time.
ReplyDeleteNice review! Straight to the point, and nicely put :)
I loved the idea. Especially the whole daredevil part, and initiation. That was so fun to read. I just couldn't get into the romance part. It didn't make me feel all mushy inside.
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