Book of the Month - October 2011: Divergent by Veronica Roth

This months chosen Book of the Month is Divergent, by Veronica Roth!

Genre: Dystopian/Adventure/Romance

Released: May 3rd 2011

PLOT: Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances.


Polls are now open for our November book of the month, so get voting! And don't forget to comment on your view of this book!

Rapunzels Opinion: 

I can not even begin to tell you how much i like this book but i can start with saying that i goes right up there in my favourite 5 books of all time, heck it probably sits in the top 3. And this means alot seeing how many great books i have read. 

This book has everything and i do mean EVERYTHING. Romance, Angst, coming of age, Adventure, action. You name it this book OWNS it. Now I am very picky about my main characters. An Author can write a totally amazing book and that means nothing if the lead character bugs me. But Tris did not, at every turn she was brave and confident. She never chickened out or made silly decisions. That being said she did make mistakes but all of them where understandable and played perfectly into the book. The main guy was perfectly swoon worthy. Take Jace's wit (from TMI), Fangs dark demenour (from Maximum Ride), a wounded hero and a sprinkle of perfect and there you have Four. 


I tell no lies. 

The whole story is based around this wonderful idea that when you turn 16 you have to chose a group to join for the rest of your life. I loved this premise (as I do for anything similar in other books). The twisted and brilliant idea that you can choose i virtue that sums you up and makes you whole more than anything else. I kinda wish that our life was like this and the moment i heard the list of faction i knew exactly where i would want to go. 


Dauntless. 


Now, i just read Alice's blurb and i pretty much agree with everything she said (even i was surprised). I understand her thing on Four but for my i just love him so much i am willing to look past it. Yeah thats probably the very definition of blind love. I also totally get that thing about Tris i just interpreted it as 'Inner Turmoil'.

So people of the reading community please either go and pick up this book to read or if you have already read it give yourself some time to bask in the awesomeness and think about this...WHICH FACTION ARE YOU???

Alice's Opinion:

I'm really glad that this book is our Book of the Month! I'm a huge fan of Dystopian books at the moment, and this is right up with the Hunger Games. 

One thing in particular that I loved was the clever names used by the author. Amity, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor and Abnegation are all super cool words that perfectly suit the factions (Abnegation even sounds like a humble word!).

However, as much as it killed me with it's awesomeness, looking back there were a few parts that don't quite work for me. I'm going to be the Devil's Advocate, Here are the issues.

Rapunzel is going to come and strangle me but it must be said! Four is a bit cliche and Tris is somewhat shallow. I mean, come on, she loves a guy who she hardly knows and who treats her terribly in public because apparently it's for her own good. 
But wait! He just so happens to have a tragic past & a wounded heart (surprise, surprise) so he's tough but then sweet and sensitive around Tris. Then there is Tris who seems to be bi-polar, beating people up one second and getting all emotional the next. I still love them both very much though.
Ok, now thats out of my system I can get back to bowing down to this book and offering it my humble devoted service.
The thing wit this book is that even if I hated all the characters, I would still love the book. Why? Because Veronica Roth can WRITE. She creates tension, believable fights and comes up with some fabulous scenes!
So despite some character flaws and a few other un-loved parts (including the somewhat fuzzy definition for a Divergent, and the fact that Four acts more divergent than Tris, but then isn't), I still thoroughly recommend this book and am super duper excited for the upcoming sequel - Insurgent. I hope that we get to see some more of Peter in this book and (I know it's sick and twisted), maybe he might have something for Tris? Maybe.
If you visit this link (LINK) you can see that the author shares my love-hate-you're-cool-but-seriously-have-mental-issues-wahh feelings for Peter (which she sums up perfectly with the line "WHAT is wrong with this kid?")
I completely understand Rapunzel's total blind love, and share her love of the world of Divergent.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to re-read this masterpiece.