Review of Divergent (2014) by Aminul H — 19 Mar 2016

An adaptation of a bestseller by Veronica Ruth, Divergent is a dystopian YA novel where the population is split into factions based on their attributes. The five factions are: Abnegation, the pious; Erudite, the smart ones; Amity, the peace lovers; Candor, the honest, and Dauntless, the brave ones who are in essence the city's police.

Our heroine is Tris, who joins Dauntless after the being brought up by her parents in Abnegation. This is after tests are conducted (think Hogwarts Sorting Hat) to determine which faction candidates would be best suited to, and hers are revealed to be- as you can work out from the title- Divergent i.e. having attributes from multiple factions. The factions have been set up to retain order in the city and thus, Divergents undermine the system and must be eliminated. I can't fully get on-board with this idea though as I find it puzzling that the vast majority of the population can have just one attribute. What's stopping one from being- God forbid- smart *and* peace-loving? Dauntless also spend a lot of the time jumping around and being a parody of parkour enthusiasts.

The social commentary is weak in comparison to the Hunger Games and it borrows narrative elements from the superior Ender's Game. However it leaves just enough intrigue to make me want to return for the next in the series.