Divergent by Veronica Roth

Okay, I am so sorry that this has taken so long but, we have a very busy month. A new baby granddaughter, a son graduating from High School and a wedding at the end of May. But, now I am ready to post the first book on this blog.
It is:
Divergent by Veronica Roth



Divergent (Divergent Series #1)

If you read Hunger Games and really who hasn't you will love this book. It is part of the current crop of Young Adult titles that have been hitting the shelves with mixed results ever since the remarkable Harry Potter came on the scene.

 Similar to Hunger Games but different. Divergent is a dystopian view of a future Chicago where most people belong to one five factions. Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, Erudite and Candor. Each contribute something different to society and are crucial to the whole.

Upon your 16th birthday, after an assessment,  you choose which faction you will devote your life to. In doing this, you will in some cases leave the family and faction that you have grown up in to completely change your life and in essence become another person with a whole different life. You leave all friends, family and beliefs behind. Unless, you choose to stay in your current faction. As you will notice, I said most. Because there are also the factionless which are portrayed as outcasts and lost souls.
The story revolves around Beatrice Prior, turning sixteen and having to make the life changing choice of  leaving her family and the tenets of the Abnegation way of life or embark on a new path.
Like Hunger Games, this book has strong female characters and themes that make us step back an evaluate ourselves if put in a similar situations. Roth's writing is strong and pure. This reads very fast, you have a hard time putting down this tale of things that seem familiar but really aren't. There are surprises, cruelty, and excitement along the way as well as mysteries about just what is really going on in this society.

 I would recommend that those 12 and up read this. There are some normal teenage, coming of age feelings involving the opposite sex, violence/death and jealousy, but nothing that is done in poor taste. In fact I am amazed at the skill that Roth shows in this her first book. It makes me green with envy.

 I strongly recommend this book. It will be a big title in the coming months as will the follow up, Insurgent, which is now and available and which I am currently devouring and there will be a third volume probably in 2013.

This is a 5 bookmark read!