Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth is the story of a girl in the midst of a dystopian society named Beatrice Prior.  In this futuristic setting, the city is divided into five factions.  The Amity, who live for peace and love.  The Candor, who value honesty.  The Erudite, who above all value knowledge.  The Abnegation, Beatrice's home faction, who believe in selflessness.  And the Dauntless, who live to conquer their fear.

In this divided city, when children reach the age of sixteen, they are give a choice: remain in the faction they grew up in or leave their family to join a new one.  However, if you fail initiation into your chosen faction, you become factionless.  You live as an outsider from society, doing the jobs no one wants to do.  You become nothing, unable to remain in your new faction nor return to your old one. 

In order to see which faction a person would best be suited for, each teenager takes an aptitude test.  Beatrice's test is inconclusive.  She has an aptitude for three of the factions and is declared Divergent.  This is not a safe thing to be, however, and she is warned against ever sharing it.  If those in power of the city knew, she would be killed. 

On Choosing Day, Beatrice stands before her friends and family.  And chooses to leave them. 

Enter the world of the Dauntless.  As Beatrice literally takes a blind leap into her new life and her new faction, she adopts the name of Tris and discovers new secrets about herself, including the depth of her feelings for one of her instructors, Tobias, who goes by the nickname of Four.

Yet everything is not as it seems.  With the leaders of the Dauntless faction searching for and killing the Divergent and a city-wide hostile takeover on the horizon, Tris finds herself fighting not only to get through initiation, but for her life.

By the time I read this book, there was so much hype that I was prepared to be disappointed.  I was not.  I devoured this book, inhaled the words like they were my life's blood, like I needed them to survive.  Roth weaves a world so rich in action and the deeper issues of humanity that it was near impossible to put down.  The story is about identity, trust and standing up for what you believe in.  It instantly jumped to the top of my favorites list, and I, for one, cannot wait to see the movie.

My rating system: 10 out of 10.