Thursday 24 April 2014

Divergent – A Critique

Divergent is a book starring 16 year old, Tris Prior. She belongs to faction Abnegation, one of the five facions. Each faction has a meaning – Erudite – Knowledge, Dauntless – Bravery, Amity – Passive, Candor – Brutally and Abnegation – Selflessness. The blurb on the back of the book provides no clues about the storyline so does not peak interest in readers.

16 year old Tris Prior and her brother are old enough to take the aptitude test to decide which faction they will join. But these choices aren’t easy, as it sets your future. During her test something goes wrong and Tris is determined a Divergent. She is not allowed to tell anyone about this and she isn’t allowed to ask anyone either. Divergent is a dangerous thing to be, yet 90% of Abnegation’s 16 year olds are Divergent. Her decision to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless, put her life in danger.

Readers searching for action, violence, mystery and betrayals should read this book. The Hunger Games and Divergent are so alike in this sense. The girls are both fighters and are willing to give up everything for their people. But without a doubt, Veronica Roth is an amazing author and deserves credit for a cliff hanger.
Divergent kids should have their own faction and should be equally respected as other factions. They should represent Difference. I think Veronica should have explained why Divergence occurs and how people who resist Divergent kids, should be stopped.

The politics in the book was unnecessary because Veronica talked about it rarely and then dropped the topic. In the book, it makes no mention that this is the future of Chicago.

Also too many character names was a problem. For example, Beatrice Prior changes her name to Tris when she moves factions and then in Insurgent she goes by Six. Names should stay the same and not change, so we don’t totally forget who the character is.


Divergent is a great book, meant for teenagers and up. I give the book 8.5 out of 10.