Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 496 (ARC copy)
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: May 3, 2011

One choice

One choice decides your friends, defines your beliefs, and determines your loyalties...forever.

Or, one choice can transform you.

In Veronica Roth's debut novel, Divergent, a perfect society unfolds into a dystopian world of electrifying decisions, stunning consequences, heartbreaking betrayals, and unexpected romance.

My Thoughts: Divergent was my most anticipated book for 2011. I had high expectations and thought it would be a definite favorite of mine, with me giving it 6 stars and forcing everyone to read it. Now that I've actually read it... Did I love it? I liked it. Did it live up to my expectations? No, not quite.

Divergent sounded like it had everything I wanted. Action, romance, and memorable characters. I really liked the romance; it was enough for me. It's great not having to worry about a love-triangle. Beatrice and Four were good characters. They stood out among the other characters in the book, and I loved that they could kick ass! The other characters, though, weren't as intriguing to me. I wanted to like them too, but by the end, I realized I didn't feel a connection with them. It's part of the reason why I don't believe the book lived up to my expectations.

As for the action, there was lots of it! I like action. With all that action and with Divergent being called a thriller, I was expecting heart-pounding, nail-biting moments that would leave me breathless and on the edge of my seat! I know some will disagree with me, but... I didn't find it to be that intense. Sure, I had no idea what would happen next, but any twist and turn that occurred didn't really shock or surprise me. If reading this book was a simulation (you'll read about simulations in the book), I would have owned! Because I felt pretty calm during most of the book. Even the death of certain characters didn't faze me. (Like I said, I didn't feel a connection with those characters, so that's probably the reason why I didn't have much of a reaction when they died.)

Maybe it's only me. Maybe I wasn't in the right state of mind when I read this book. Whatever it was, I just didn't get the intense, emotional feeling I wanted the most, out of everything else, from this book. It's the reason why I couldn't love it the way I wanted.

Overall, I enjoyed Divergent and would recommend it. This is a book I wouldn't mind reading again. It's really easy to get into. (I even want to reread it to see if I react differently.) Hopefully in the next book I find that feeling I missed because after what happened at the end of this book, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers UK for the ARC.