“One choice decides your friends; One choice defines your beliefs; One choice determines your loyalties- forever; One choice can transform you. Beatrice Prior’s society is divided into five factions—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice must choose between staying with her Abnegation family and transferring factions. Her choice will shock her community and herself. But the newly christened Tris also has a secret, one she’s determined to keep hidden, because in this world, what makes you different makes you dangerous.”

~ From the back cover of “Divergent”

“Divergent” is about self discovery, which Tris (originally called Beatrice), the main character, is actively searching for in many different ways throughout the book. She’s trying to figure out what being Divergent actually means and why no-one will even let her say the word, let alone find out what’s so special about it. Tris has also developed her personality and found out her likes and dislikes, things she wasn’t allowed to do when she was in Abnegation (the home she was born to) as she was mostly seen as a shadow. In Dauntless (the home she chooses) she is seen as a person and someone worth value. She’s slowly finding out who she is, what it means to be a person, and how she would like to be.

Most people spend their lives figuring out who they are and what they like, so much so that if they don’t have that opportunity, they can’t grow and change. That’s the problem with faction in “Divergent,” which is that they’re all focused on one thing: What their factions stand for (selflessness, kindness, truthfulness, bravery, and intelligence). To show any other traits is frowned upon, and almost always, is dangerous. For the most part, one’s aptitude tests, the tests that show what factions they’d be in, eliminates most options, leaving one or two for the kids to choose from. For the rest, though, whose aptitude tests leave three or more, they are considered divergent, meaning that they could be in most factions and can be dangerous. Because of this, it’s difficult for people to learn, grow, and develop many of the traits that are needed for social skills and personality.

This book was written really well with wonderfully developed characters, themes, and symbolism seen all over. I highly recommend this book because, while at points it seems like a “Hunger Games” rip-off, most of the time it explores a ton of different themes and touches on difficult subjects, such as abuse and the differences between acting without fear and acting in spite of it. Veronica Roth, the author, also uses things that are able to be used in real life, such as exposure therapy, how to get over bullies, the idea of cowardice, and how most of the time, that can be seen as bravery. This trilogy explores our world in the scenario of experimentation and different governments and how long that works for, which is explored more in the third book. “Divergent” ties up loose ends while making you ask questions that keep you engaged and wanting to read the next book. The author has a way of sucking you into this small, but wonderful, world she made.