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"Divergent" (2011) by Veronica Roth REVIEW


In a post-apocalyptic world, Chicago, Illinois is fenced off from the rest of the world. inside the fence, a society is made. By keeping order in a system, children at the age of 16 take a test to see which faction they are made for and they must choose one faction to live in the rest of their life (think the houses of Hogwarts from Harry Potter and the sorting hat). However, on rare occasions, the test doesn't work for someone, the results inconclusive to tell where the 16 would go in life. This is called "divergent". Beatrice Prior is a divergent and she must keep that secret or else the government would execute her, marking her as a threat to the system.

 Honestly, Divergent is far from a great book. The serious problem the book suffers from is basic writing and plot pacing. It was not until chapter 12 (around page 115, already more than a quarter of the book) where the writing and pacing found consistency, but drags for so long to get to a point that's relevant or to the anti-climatic five-page final fight. As for before chapter 12, the writing and pacing were too choppy for my taste.

 However, Divergent does carry a few good moments of philosophy about bravery and selflessness. I also rather enjoyed a few scenes such as the ferris wheel scene and the ziplining scene. Overall, Divergent is a rather passive read, but can be enjoyable (I like it, but no more than that).

2/5 Stars

 As for comparing the book to the movie, it bounces back and forth as to which one is better. I feel the book is slightly better, but the movie had a much better climax.

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