THE BOOK FEVER: Divergent

In a world where everything fits perfectly, one girl finds that standing out is a death sentence

Photograph via Divergent Fandom

Set in a futuristic Chicago where society is controlled by five very different factions, Divergent author Veronica Roth paints a picture of a world that is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Enter Beatrice “Tris” Prior: a courageous, headstrong girl who lived her whole life as a benign, charitable Abnegation. At the age of 16, Tris is about to participate in the city's annual Choosing Ceremony, where teenagers from every faction go through a series of “aptitude tests” to decide which faction they will live in for the rest of their lives and, in a way, assume their new identity.

However, after her aptitude test results come back inconclusive, Tris proves to be the square peg of society.

From the beginning of the novel, Roth makes it blatantly clear that Tris is no Bella Swan. She is no common-place teenager who swoons at any boy who looks at her. She is thoughtful, indomitable and sometimes cynical character. Told through Tris’s point of view, Roth’s Young Adult debut stands out from the sea of science-fiction novels that have surfaced since the success of The Hunger Games.

Nonetheless, Roth’s writing style is by no means analytical. Rather than having a double-meaning for every action and every word, Roth develops a strong plot with twists and turns that make reads devour Tris’s intriguing story.

Roth’s well-established characters and plot are what compelled Summit Entertainment to snatch up Divergent’s movie rights weeks before the story even hit shelves.

- Megan Janetsky, Finance Manager