Review of Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I recently read two books by Veronica Roth. The first is Divergent, the sequel of which is called Insurgent. I thoroughly enjoyed both these books and a third is planned for release in late 2013. They are fast-paced, full of dilemnas and decisions under pressure and feature twists and turns at almost every page while making sure the reader remains gripped. Reminiscent of The Hunger Games trilogy, this collection is surely also due to be a modern classic.


Divergent is set in a  future where everyone grows up as a member of one of five "factions" or communities:
Amity - where people value friendliness
Dauntless - where people value courage
Erudite - where people value knowledge
Candor - where people value honesty
Abnegation - where people value selflessness

Together, the senior members of these factions govern the whole society and viewed by its members as balancing each other out perfectly.

When teenagers finish school, they take an aptitude test to determine which faction most suits them and they then have to choose whether to stay in the faction where their parents are and where they have spent their whole life so far, or whether to move to a new faction, about which they know only stereotypes and generalisations.

The story follows Beatrice Prior, whose aptitude test reveals that she is actually a sixth "type" known as Divergent. This means that she has more than dominant trait and would fit in well in a number of factions. However, Divergents are feared because they could upset the natural balance of this faction-ed society, and are thrown outside the city walls when they are found. She is able to conceal her divergence and chooses to move from Abnegation to Dauntless, to the shock of her family, and changes her name to Triss.

The Dauntless initiation tests are harsh and push her to her mental and physical limits. Anyone who fails is out and becomes factionless, which is seen as a fate worse than death.

She also falls in love with Four, another Dauntless member with a mysterious past...

Just as she's starting to settle in to her new life, one of the factions stages a coup to take over the government of the whole society in the most horrific way, throwing Triss' personal loyalties and feelings into question as she struggles to work out who she can trust and what she should do.

Insurgent picks up the story where Divergent left off - literally - so I have to stress that you need to read these in order or I don't think you will be able to follow. A lot of the situational detail is provided in the first book, and the second assumes that you already know some of the terminology and does not explain it again. For this reason, I also recommend that you read them both in quick succession, so that the information is all fresh in your mind.

Key Questions

Utopian or Dystopian?

I am still struggling with the question of whether these books are intended to describe a dystopian or utopian future. On the one hand, a society where everyone has and knows their place may be a wonderful thing. There would - theoretically - be a perfect balance of inputs and outputs based on aptitude, ability and needs. On the other hand, that's almost a communist ideal and we have seen in real life that that doesn't work. I think the author's perspective is that this is dystopian because such a balance between different factions cannot be maintained - initially it seems that one egomaniacal faction leader has gone insane and that this is the cause of the war, but at the end of Insurgent (the second book) we learn that there may have been good reason.

Does the means justify the end?

During the course of these books, our heroine - and she is clearly a heroine, albeit a troubled one (but doesn't that just make her more interesting?!) - has to act in ways that she sometimes questions: she lies, she kills people, she hurts those who love her. But she always justifies it to herself and therefore, to us, the readers. Whether we accept her explanation or not is another matter.

What would I be?

As a fun aside, I gave a little thought to which faction I would likely end up in. I think I'd probably be Erudite - and I mean that in the best possible way. You'll have to read the books to know what means!

Which faction do you think you would be?