Divergent

Roth, Veronica. Divergent. 2011. 487p. ISBN 9780062024022. Available on the library shelves at  FIC ROT and as an eBook on Overdrive.

Five factions control Chicago: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite. Each faction represents an ideal that their members are supposed to represented. At age sixteen, every teenager gets to pick which faction he or she will belong. Most teens remain with the faction that raised them, but once in a while a teen switches from one faction to another.

Beatrice has been raised in Abnegation, the faction concerned with being selfless and providing for others. Her mother and fathers are important members of the faction, with her mother in charge of providing food and shelter to the factionless, while her father sits on the Council that rules the city. But she feels she’s never fit in.

When given the chance at the choosing ceremony, Beatrice makes a bold decision. She chooses to join Dauntless, the faction that represents braveness and that protects the city. Her brother, Caleb, ten months older, also leaves Abnegation and joins Erudite, the faction driven by knowledge. Her actions cause gasps within the assembled crowd. Two Abnegation children leaving their faction is unheard of.

Beatrice rides the train with the Dauntless and changes her name to Tris. Life with the Dauntless is hard and violent, and Triss must quickly adapt to a lifestyle opposite the one she left behind.

In the initiation trials, Tris realizes that she is not alone, and others are cheering for her. However, she holds a terrible secret: She is not really Dauntless, but Divergent. A Divergent is someone who doesn’t conform to the ideals of one faction but rather embodies the values of two or more factions. This secret, she’s been warned, could cost Tris her life. Enigmatic Four, her trainer, also appears to have an affinity for Divergent, but holds secrets of his own.

And when Tris stumbles upon a conspiracy by Erudite and Dauntless to eliminate Abnegation, she must decide which side she will stand on, but this choice could very well be deadly!

Fans of the Hunger Games will like this book, and might also enjoy the following dystopian novels: Arena 1, Starters, Maze Runner, Ship Breaker, Reboot, Not a Drop to Drink, and Birthmarked. The story continues in Insurgent.