Divergent (Divergent, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jul 15, 2013 Hannah added it

Shelves: ya, dystopia-post-apocalyptic

OKAY FINE I read it WHATEVER.

So the beginning: the setup is written to make Tris sound like a four-year-old. I can see how some of that is to make it seem like to grow up Abnegation is to grow up ignorant, maybe, but also, it goes away way too fast to be realistic, and also, she sounds like an idiot when she's supposed to be smart. She has such juvenile, concrete ways of describing things for the first 70 pages or so, and then it's like Roth finally got good at writing but forgot to go back and ...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Christina, Join Me on Storygraph! rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-recommend, 2011

It's amazing how I can dislike the genre of Science Fiction so much when it's meant for adults, but yet when it's meant for teenagers, I enjoy it immensely.
Divergent is the first in a series, so there's a lot of exposition, but it's EXCITING information you're learning--there's danger, young love, thrills, and the enduring question of nurture vs nature. I found this book highly engaging, and can't wait to see where the story takes us next. ...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

Okay then. This was an entertaining book with a generally appealing heroine and an interesting setup (following in a long line of fantasy and sci-fi stories, not all of them specifically YA, in which people are divided in a rigid way). The faction system was kind of cool and we got to see what happened when an idea that might have been okay in the first place (but really, it never could have been. I guess people don't think too clearly after the apocalypse, and who can blame them?) was taken to Okay then. This was an entertaining book with a generally appealing heroine and an interesting setup (following in a long line of fantasy and sci-fi stories, not all of them specifically YA, in which people are divided in a rigid way). The faction system was kind of cool and we got to see what happened when an idea that might have been okay in the first place (but really, it never could have been. I guess people don't think too clearly after the apocalypse, and who can blame them?) was taken to extremes.
I did, however, think it was hilarious that all the "bonus material" in the back of my book included a "what faction are YOU" quiz, when it was pretty obvious from the story that the faction system was a terrible idea in the first place and people should aim to be all five things.
This was a quick, easy read with a lot of familiar elements. Although "The Hunger Games" and "Harry Potter" are obvious influences, I'd have to go farther back and point out another small girl with a secret learning combat and collecting plenty of bruises along the way: Tamora Pierce's "Alanna: The First Adventure." Seriously, when are we getting a movie of THAT one (apparently "Divergent" is coming to theaters in 2014)? But I did enjoy Tris's development as a character and I thought the author did a terrific job capturing the rush that comes with physical daring: hands up, who else wanted to try the zip line off the 100-story tower? I also nearly cheered aloud when Tris did something I feel too few YA fantasy heroines have done: when dealing with an older, more worldly (in this case, only by 2 years, which in YA fantasy terms *coughTwilightcough* is nothing) love interest who keeps hinting at mysterious things, she actually calls him on it. When he says "why do you think I'm going to answer your questions?" she asks "Why do you keep hinting at things if you don't want to be asked?" YES. THAT. THAT EXACTLY. I think it seriously undermines your hero's mystique once the reader realizes he's actually acting like an angsty teenage girl with a LiveJournal ("I thought someone was my friend...then I found out I was wrong.").
I did have one sort of major beef with the story, though. I don't know if it was a major beef, actually, just more of a "sigh and look resigned" beef. Can you please tell me why (view spoiler)
Anyway, overall I enjoyed it, and I look forward to the next one.
...more

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Aug 29, 2013 martha rated it it was ok

Shelves: kindle, year-2014, speculative-fiction, apocalypses-dystopi

What happens when you leave Hufflepuff to become a Gryffindor but Ravenclaw is out to get you: dun dun dun!

Obvs the premise is hilariously ridiculous, but I've suspended my disbelief for crazier. Unfortunately this was just an unpleasant series of miserable trials and violence. So much violence. Manages to be both boring and unpleasant at once. And the last quarter of the book was RIDICULOUS in terms of body count and Horrible Emotional Trauma. If you're going to have a book this bleak, there'd ...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Heather Wescott rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm really surprised by all of the glowing reviews for this book. I didn't think it was very good, the main character is so ridiculously slow and stupid, it's not very believable that she would survive the events that take place (yet people are constantly saying how smart she is, which is laughable). The world is not explained well at all, it's not clear how these factions came to be and how/why it was decided that the Abnegation would be in control of the government. Of course, reasonable peopl ...more

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Nov 13, 2012 stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: dystopian, series, 2012, kindle

review to come.

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Jan 20, 2012 Kate McCartney rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-fiction, dystopia

My favorite book since the Hunger Games! Finally a female character that has back bone. Keeping my fingers crossed that the squeal avoids a love triangle, I am so over those in teen dystopias.

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May 04, 2011 Melanie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011, ya, sbc

This was such an interesting read. I'm hovering between giving it 4 and 5 stars and am rounding up. Roth takes such a unique concept and creates a totally different world. Fascinating! ...more

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