Divergent Series Book 1: Divergent

Hello everyone,

My next book in Challenge 2020 is the Divergent Trilogy.

Divergent is set in a dystopian Chicago, where society is divided up into five factions, each of which is dedicated to one virtue of human nature: Candor (honesty); Abnegation (selflessness); Dauntless (bravery); Amity (peace) and Erudite (intelligence).

“They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world’s disarray…Those who blamed aggression formed Amity…Those who blamed ignorance became Erudite…Those who blamed duplicity created Candor…Those who blamed selfishness formed Abnegation…And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless.”

Beatrice Prior is from Abnegation where she lives with her brother Caleb, and her mother and father. On an appointed day each year, sixteen year olds have a choice to make – what faction do they choose? This year it’s Caleb and Beatrice’s turn.

First they undergo an aptitude test – telling them which factions suit them best based on different simulated scenarios, essentially a very elaborate personality test. There is only one rule: don’t talk to anyone about your result.

“…the aptitude test will tell me – Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity or Dauntless?”

Secondly, the following day they take part in a choosing ceremony where they decide what faction they join and whether or not they leave their family and all they know behind.

Beatrice is different. Her result isn’t a simple answer. Her result is inconclusive – she is a divergent, someone with potentials for more than one faction. Someone who ticks more than one box. Someone who must remain hidden and secret, even after they have chosen a faction because being a Divergent is dangerous.

“It’s my choice now, no matter what the test says.
Abnegation. Dauntless. Erudite.
Divergent.”

At the choosing ceremony, Beatrice must choose to either stay with her family or leave everything she’s ever known and loved behind and be who she really is. She can’t have both. She makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

In her new faction, she is allowed to start over, a new beginning, a new life and so names herself Tris.

From a faction that believes in being selfless and choosing to forget yourself…

“The gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and the unassuming demanour of my faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too.”

…to a very different faction where she can be herself is a big change for Tris.

“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”

Once decisions have been made, the new initiates are forced to undergo a gruelling initiation process where they battle physically, mentally and emotionally. Fail the initiation then you become something worse than dying, factionless. Alone.

As the experience transforms them, Tris must figure out who her real friends are. She must also figure out if the brooding male instructor, known only as Four, is on her side and if there really could be a romance on the cards.

“I am pure adrenaline…Peace is restrained; this is free.”

As her time in her new faction grows, she learns of a growing conflict that is threatening all of their factions and the society they live in as well as her own family. Her secret of being divergent may save everyone she loves or it might destroy her.

“…are both broken, their members scattered. We are like the factionless now…We are creatures of loss; we have left everything behind.”

And this my fellow bookworms, is where this story ends and the next story, Insurgent begins.

This book is gripping and thrilling with something happening in every chapter. I read the majority of this book in a day, I couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait to start Insurgent and see what happens next.

This is a book about conforming, about power, about trust and loyalty, about friendship, family and love. This book is also about being you and making choices for the right reasons. I loved this book more than I expected too!

Find Divergent on Amazon now.

Stay tuned for Insurgent,

Stay safe and until next time,

Keep reading,

D x