Divergent

This book popped up as a recommendation when I was looking into Keira Cass's Selection novels. The promise that it would be similar to The Hunger Games, the promise of a 2014 movie release of the book and a series of books to follow this one meant I was intrigued enough to give it a try.

The story is based in a Dystopian society where people are split into 5 ‘factions', Erudite are those who love knowledge and learning, Candor those who seek truth and honesty, Amity are those who seek peace, Abnigation those who value selflessness and Dauntless who value bravery. On their 16th birthday children take a test to establish to which faction they will belong and choose either that in which they were raised or they can transfer to another which a test shows they are more suited to.

The heroine of this novel Beatrice is found to be one of a special few who are classed as ‘Divergent' and therefore not suited to just one faction but could fit many. She has to choose whether to stay with her Abnigation family or leave them behind for a new life. It is a fantastic concept and once I'd got to grips with what each faction stood for and the language of the book I was utterly hooked.

Beatrice's choice leads us on an adventure where she has to fight for survival, all the time hiding her Divergent status as she is warned it can bring danger to her. She meets Four who helps her to learn more about her new life and she finds herself falling in love.

I was utterly gripped by this book, it was easily able to hold it's own against The Hunger Games and should translate really well to the big screen. It had excitement, emotion and lots of action and a great cliff hanger ending to lead us forward to book 2 & 3. I fully expect this book to shoot back into the book charts upon release of the movie so why not jump the crowd and read it ahead of the movie as it is absolutely awesome.