I have my husband to thank that I picked this one up (Divergent). I had a gift card to spend on a few books for vacation. He saw this one by a Hunger Games display and suggested I get it. So I did. I'm glad I did. If you had told me a couple of years ago that I would be reading YA books about dystopian society and enjoying it, I would have laughed at you. It is so not like what I would normally read, but I'm really loving these kinds of books.
This trilogy centers on Beatrice Prior, a 16 year old girl, sometime in the future in what we know as Chicago. The society she lives in is divided into 5 factions, each separate from each other by the trait/value they hold high. She has grown up in Abnegation (selfless). Every year the 16 year olds must choose which faction they will become part of for the rest of their lives, even if it means separating from their families (faction before family). The other factions are: Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).
Beatrice's choice surprises even her, but it fits her too. The initiation she must undertake is daunting. The fear that everyone holds is not being accepted, becoming part of the factionless.
Even before I finished Divergent I went out to buy Insurgent, the second in the trilogy. I just had to see where this was going next. There is much more going on in these factions than appears on the surface, including individual members. It makes you wonder how much of ourselves we reveal to others and how true we are to ourselves. Can a single virtue define a society?
My biggest problem with these books is that the third one is not out yet - Never start a trilogy where you have to wait over a year for the last book to come out!
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