Veronica Roth is an up-and-coming young adult author and Divergent is her first dystopian world novel in the Divergent trilogy. She writes her own blog and also writes at YA Highway.

Beatrice “Tris” Prior is the trilogy’s main female protagonist. She is Abnegation-born and divergent. Tobias “Four” Eaton is Tris’s friend and love interest and goes through more or less the same struggles as her. He is also Abnegation-born and Divergent. Caleb Prior is Tris’s brother is Abnegation-born but selected the Erudite. Jeanine Matthews is the female antagonist of the book, she is cold-hearted and cruel, and expects order and control within the factions and thirsts for something more. Marcus Eaton, Tobias’s father and Abnegation leader, is the male antagonist of the book (though not consistently mentioned throughout it).

Beatrice Prior’s world is divided into five factions that cultivate a particular virtue- Candor the honest, Abnegation the selfless, Dauntless the brave, Amity the peaceful, and Erudite the intelligent. On an appointed day of each year, all 16-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. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. She also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

The aspect that I liked most about the book as a whole was that it gave “dystopian world” a fresh new twist. Never thought I would see a book about a girl trying to discover herself in a world full of order, control and factions.

A weak area of the book was that it didn’t really provide more details about what was happening throughout the book and it sort of left a confused, cool mess. I say a cool mess because it’s not jumbled up like some wannabe book. It’s more “mature” but it didn’t leave the story nicely paved for the next installment. Other than that, it’s pretty well-written and the plot is great.

In all approbation, I’d give this book a 4 (see what I did there?) for numerous reasons. The book’s plot is a good twist to dystopian world settings, it’s a fast-paced thriller read, it’s a well-written book, but it leaves a little bit of a stereotypical hype when it comes to Tris and Four’s budding mystique.

You can buy the book at Barnes & Noble, amazon.com, or wherever books are sold for only $10. Divergent is a good read for sci-fi lovers.

Not a book lover? The book will also be made into a movie to be released this coming Friday. See you there!