Divergent by Veronica Roth

After reading the blog by Pixie @The Bookaholic on her favourite books of 2011 so far, I found several of them to be exciting sounding, and right up my street. I got three of them on Kindle and 1 not on kindle is winging its way to me.

I started on this book yesterday, feeling quite excited, however when I started reading I felt a bit disappointed and was tempted to put it aside. Firstly because it felt a bit too much science fantasy and the main characters too young. However, feeling confident in Pixie’s recommendation I persevered.

It is set in a future Chicago where society is divided into 5 factions. Our heroine belongs to the faction, Abnegation, and has reached her 16^th. At this stage the young adults, all on the same day, have to undergo some testing to see which faction they have the strongest tendencies for, and based on that knowledge and their own thoughts, they decide where they will go to spend the rest of their lives.

Our heroine, Beatrice, makes her choice, which entails leaving her peaceful faction for a much livelier one know for its bravery. She has to leave her family behind and set out on the road to a new life, knowing she may never see them again. Her new life is as different to her previous one as could be imagined, and she has a lot of adjustments to make, initiations to get through, new skills to learn, and new people to meet. She meets great new friends, nasty enemies, and even a touch of romance.

The book is fast and exciting and kept me guessing at every stage as I tried to work out what was happening and why, who was genuine and who was not, and most of all where it was all headed. I was sucked right in and found myself picking up my Kindle at every opportunity to just read a bit more………..

I really enjoyed this book, it was one of those books that made you think before you realised you were, it could be accepted as simply a great story or a bit deeper. I loved it, and I will be in the queue for the next book in the series which is out next year.

Thanks Pixie, if I hadn’t read your review I might never have read this book!