Divergent Summary
In Beatrice Prior’s Dystopian Chicago, society is divided
into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular
virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave),
Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). ON an appointed day of
every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will
devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the Decision is between staying
with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a
choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows,
Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really
are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes
infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret,
one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean
death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her
seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save
those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
- Number of pages: 487
Insurgent
Summary
One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But
every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around
her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while
grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity, and
loyalty, politics and love.
Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration
and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable
horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies
grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and
choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed
by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guild, radical new
discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her
Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
- Number of pages: 525
Joint Review
Completely different from what you would expect from a
dystopian series about to be made into a movie with enough buzz to almost catch
up to the Hunger Game Movies. Completely different in a good way, that is. I
read Divergent and became instantly entranced in this new societal world where
the best virtues are separated into different societies within a society, and
how each virtue standing alone could corrupt the very system they were trying
to protect. The way this system of factions was set up was absolutely
incredible with the amount of detail and surprisingly believability. The
characters only served to cement that world into reality with the profoundness
of the characters, their depth.
Before I get carried away with the admiration of the
characters and their stories, I was to distinguish the assets of this series as
a whole because this is a joint review after all. I am writing a joint review
because I loved the first book so much that I barely left enough time to drive
to Barnes & Noble to get book 2, Insurgent, and start reading. By the time
I finished I slowed down enough to realize that the best parts of both books
became mashed together in my mind and I ended up seeing it as one really big
book. Probably not my best idea for blogging purposes, but it had its perks. In
conclusion, this series captured me enough to feel it was absolutely necessary
to read it continuously. That’s got to be saying something, right?
Tris is a rock star. I am not even exaggerating that. She
was everything a protagonist should be: BELIEVABLE. I think that’s why I liked
this book so much. Although completely improbable and we all know that this
will never happen in real life, there was reality interwoven between all
aspects of it. A huge part of that were Tris and the other characters. They
were not too strong, nor were they too weak but miraculously reached their
goals or whatever. That kind of stuff happens too often in Young Adult fiction,
unfortunately. Tri, for instance, was strong willed but not untouchable. And
she was not the weepy-damsel-in-distress-heroine, yet real enough to show
emotions, tears, fears, and etc. Very admirable, yet very relatable.
Personally, if I had to say which book was my favorite so
far, I would have to say Insurgent (book 2). Which I think is great, my reason
being that many times in series like this one sequel sometimes do not live up
to the original installment and can leave fans unsatisfied. Insurgent totally
satisfies and does much more. Both books alone were great and had great
aspects, but Insurgent just seemed to have more depth. Book one, to me, was very much a set up
of everything to come. This world is so complex that I think it needed a whole book to break out the
characters and situation, which is clearly does with the amount of information
on the initiation and different ways of the factions. Book two really seemed to
break the shell set up in the first book and bring the true conflict. There was
more variety in scenes and situation, and I was always left on the edge of my
seat. Yeah, it was one of those. Amazing.
As I looked up the summary for Divergent for my post, I came
across the information for the Divergent movie premiering March of next year. I
can definitely say I got chills from the trailers. If those are any indication
then I believe that this will fortunately be one of those book adaption movies
that stay true to the book’s plot. I CAN’T WAIT. This series was honestly
great, and comes highly recommended from me. From 1-10 as a whole? Divergent
series (Divergent and Insurgent) gets a 9.
