Rating: 
I have to admit that I wasn’t that keen on reading this books, I don’t really know why, but they were on my reading list for months.
So last month I decided since the movie is coming out soon, I might as well give it a go before watching the movie.
To anyone out there that is having second thoughts on reading this books, please don’t! It was quite a good reading, with quite a few disappointments, but still, worth the time.
The series is set in a dystopian version of Chicago, where the population is divided into factions, kind of like in The Hunger Games where the world is divided into 13 districts (or 12 if you don’t count District 13) or even in Harry Potter where they are divided into different houses. Divergent is set after a terrible war, everyone lives by one of five principles: the selfless Abnegation, the brave Dauntless, the intelligent Erudite, the peaceful Amity, the honest Candor. At sixteen a person takes a test to see which principle they best emulate, and then they must choose to either stay in the faction they were born, or choose to leave their family to emulate a different principle and live with a different faction.
The young adult series has firmly landed Veronica Roth on the top of the best-seller list, but I have to say I wasn’t terribly impressed with the trilogy as whole. Maybe because I don’t really agree with finale and the third book seemed I little rushed to me. The first book – Divergent – was probably my favorite. It tells us all about this new fascinating world, and the main character, Tris, was compelling and engaging in a not obnoxious and whiny way like some of the YA protagonists out there. All three books are narrated from Tris perspective (except the last book of the series, which is alternated from Tris to Four). Tris is a Divergent – someone who doesn’t categorize in just one faction – and the series revolve mostly around that fact.
I’m a big fan of the romance in this books. Tris becomes romantically involve with Four – also called Tobias – who she first meets because he is her tutor/teacher. I know that some people didn’t quite agree with the idea of the heroine being involve with a Teacher, but I just don’t see what’s the problem. It’s a completely different world, he is only two years older than her and there is no rule against it. So I say why not? I would love to be romantically involve with Four. 😛
Unfortunately, the things I liked about Divergent didn’t get carried through the series very well and Insurgent and Allegiant developed far more problems as the series went on.
I could argue that Insurgent is the worst of all three books simply because it features far too much of Tris and Four bickering and arguing, with a lot of sexual tension in between. Now, I get that Veronica is apparently deeply uncomfortable in writing love scenes, but that doesn’t mean that you can make the rest of us feel frustrated about it. I think that with so much bigger problems to be discussed, Veronica, decided to focused on the problems of their relationship and to not resolve them until the end of the book.
The plot of Allegiant revolves around human nature and requires an explanation of genetics. Most portions of this explanation are straight up wrong, and genetics isn’t exactly complicated science either. So yeah, a “science fiction” series which is anti-science is probably not the best thing for me to be reading, and may have biased my opinion. Still I more than happy to discover that Tris and Four overcome their relationship issues to establish a bond of mutual trust and respect.
That said, I think there are several fundamental problems with the series on the writing front. Veronica seemed to eager to finish the series and didn’t really took time to think the second and the third book through. The majority of the characters are not very well-developed. The protagonist, Tris, and several of the major villains have their motives extensively detailed, and Tris in particular fights an interesting psychological battle with herself over the course of the series. But most of the minor characters are woefully underdeveloped, and large portions of the population tend to act as the plot tells them too, and not in a natural or convincing manner. The author seems to have particular issues with portraying male characters realistically, and I felt the most prominent male characters, Tobias, Marcus, Perter and David were all forced to act against the characters established for them in order to provide resolution for the series.
With this in mind, I liked the first book, and thought it showed promise, but the second two books really fell flat for me. Still I recommend this series, at least the first book.
One last note, and this may be a little spoilery so if you haven’t read the series and plan to you may want to skip this last paragraph. Love also becomes a central theme, true selfless, sacrificial love. While many readers were angry with the conclusion to the final book (I have to say that, I was one of those angry people in the beginning, because I couldn’t understand why would the author, after making the characters go through so much pain, would not give them a happy ending), keeping these themes in mind, the book concludes exactly as it should, and is ultimately beautiful, true and poetic.
Ana
Books, I Love you. 