In this first book in the 'Divergent ' series, we learn about a dystopian society where the population is divided into five distinct groups.
*****
The dystopian society in this book has five factions, and when a person reaches the age of 16 he/she is tested to see where they fit in. A small number of people are "divergent" and don't belong anywhere. They are considered dangerous and must hide their identity. Tris is one of these people.
The premise of the book is that there is growing tension between some of the factions and this seems likely to lead to conflict. The book contains many of the tropes of dystopian YA fiction, but has some flaws.
The society that contains these factions is not well-defined or explained and the reason for the sadistic training regimen of the Dauntless recruits (the faction our heroine Tris joins) was never made clear. I wanted to know how this compared with the training regimens of the other factions. In any case, a romance springs up between Tris and a Dauntless leader called Four, who's hunky and good-looking.
There are a minimal number of adults in the book, and kids seem to be in charge of everything in the Dauntless faction. The book mostly (and rather repetitively) trots along describing the training of the Dauntless recruits until, towards the end, the pace picks up and events propel the story forward - toward the second book in the series.
Some Young Adult books hold just as much interest for adults as young readers. To me this one doesn't, both because of the writing and the story line. I will go on to the second book though, out of curiosity to see what happens.
*****
The dystopian society in this book has five factions, and when a person reaches the age of 16 he/she is tested to see where they fit in. A small number of people are "divergent" and don't belong anywhere. They are considered dangerous and must hide their identity. Tris is one of these people.
The premise of the book is that there is growing tension between some of the factions and this seems likely to lead to conflict. The book contains many of the tropes of dystopian YA fiction, but has some flaws.
The society that contains these factions is not well-defined or explained and the reason for the sadistic training regimen of the Dauntless recruits (the faction our heroine Tris joins) was never made clear. I wanted to know how this compared with the training regimens of the other factions. In any case, a romance springs up between Tris and a Dauntless leader called Four, who's hunky and good-looking.
There are a minimal number of adults in the book, and kids seem to be in charge of everything in the Dauntless faction. The book mostly (and rather repetitively) trots along describing the training of the Dauntless recruits until, towards the end, the pace picks up and events propel the story forward - toward the second book in the series.
Some Young Adult books hold just as much interest for adults as young readers. To me this one doesn't, both because of the writing and the story line. I will go on to the second book though, out of curiosity to see what happens.
Rating: 3 stars
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more. I preferred The Hunger Games, but still thought this a pretty good series. The second book is better, the third created a lot of uproar because of the ending. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree madbooklove, that the second book is better. :)
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