Divergent

This has to be a new record for me. I don't think I've ever disliked the first hundred pages of a book so much and then loved the rest.

As this is my first foray into the current YA lit world (I've read Harry Potter and Twilight, but those are both so mainstream and kind of five years ago, it doesn't count to me), I had a lot to get used to. And I'm also not quite buying this “dystopia” trend. This world, while oppressive in some ways, doesn't really seem dystopian, but rather another way of doing things. You might as well call any other major modern city a dystopia, which you could probably make an argument for. I'll have to read more of these books do see how I feel about this genre.

The obvious flaw here is the world building. That anyone could think that separating a society by virtues they wish to uphold will somehow cure the world of conflict is ludicrous. Not to mention as the focus of the story shifted from Abnegation to Dauntless, the characterization of the so-called faction of bravery and action was absurd. Of course, this turns out to be a plot point, but it did not change the fact that it was extremely unsettling that unchecked aggression and competition was masquerading as courage. The Dauntless faction would have had to deal with uprisings left and right with the way they treated young people - feeding their hostility but not teaching them any discipline. That's a point-by-point checklist for a nuclear-level disaster. The implosion of this set-up was inevitable.

What got me though was the characters. I adore Tris. She's almost like a teenage Ellen Ripley, and that is not a name I throw around lightly, Ripley is my freaking hero. Tris' approach to the world is freakishly focused, she possesses a fiery stoicism that makes it riveting to read through her voice. It seems to me that she wasn't really attracted to the Dauntless faction because she's a thrill seeker who wants to spend her days jumping off buildings and freight trains; she joined Dauntless because she is a freight train, barreling forward blindly and in desperate need of direction. Dauntless doesn't give it to her, as said they don't give anyone anything other than a lot of emotional scars. She finds it within the situation, her status as Divergent, and her relationships with the people around her.

Speaking of which, the romance was pretty well done, though it did feel a little excessive after a while. I should mention that when it comes to romance I am somewhere between a sociopath and a 12-year-old. When I read about people kissing I want to run away flailing and screeching “Ewww.” So my view is slanted, obviously (Though the last book I reviewed had plenty of sex and human contact, and I was more than fine with it. It probably had to do with the fact that it involved adults). But Four and Tris' relationship does progress quite nicely, they have chemistry and a connection, but I do feel that it was a little weird that two people that are so incredibly guarded would become so intimate so quickly (emotionally intimate, of course, god get your head of the gutter). I even gushed a little bit at their first kiss, even though I was watching Se7en (Ha, seven fears) at the time and thus found myself saying “Awww” just as Kevin Spacey was getting shot in the head. It was oddly poetic.

Then, of course, there's the action and plot, which while predictable was very enjoyable. I figured out Four's identity and the big bad's plan pretty far off, so I did get a little impatient that Tris wasn't keeping up. And the villains are not particularly complex, they're ugly and maniacal and might as well be twirling their mustaches. But it was a lot of fun, there were moments where I got nervous, one point I even gasped out loud. I don't really know if Roth is very good at writing action sequences (you do not learn how to aim a gun that fast, I'm sorry), but she does know how to ratchet up suspense and keep you interested.

So I'm looking forward to the next book, though mostly for the characters (I really want to see more of Caleb, and possibly if Peter had more to him than evil), as I don't know where Roth is going to take this world that is already paper thin.