Happy Friday everyone.  I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to the weekend.  I’m longing for a morning where I don’t have to get up and go anywhere. I’m also really looking forward to diving into some new books.  Speaking of books, this weeks review is the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth.  I haven’t yet reviewed a whole trilogy but since I read them pretty much back to back I thought I would give it a whirl.

Characters

The story centers around Beatrice (Tris) Prior, and is told (for the most part) from her point of view.  Given the nature of this story and the plotline it would be almost impossible for this character not to grow and change throughout the story.  I found all the characters in this trilogy to be well thought out and fairly well-developed.  Some were better than others, but that’s sort of a given in any story.

I didn’t always like the characters, even Tris, though I don’t think this is a bad thing.  Veronica Roth did a great job at capturing the good and the bad in her characters.  I really liked that I didn’t always like the characters.  They are living in a world that is starting to fall apart, and they are placed in positions where there are no good choices, and I like that we got to see the darker side of many of them.

Plot

Here is where my review gets tricky.  I can’t really share all my thoughts of each of the three books without giving something away, so I’m going to share my general thoughts, please forgive me for being vague.  The concepts in this trilogy were fascinating, if you stop and really think about them.  The story is set in Chicago some time in the future.  The city is isolated from the rest of the world, and the people living there are divided into factions.  Each faction fulfills a unique roll in the society and the people in those factions live according to their faction rules.  The idea behind this society is that everyone has a place and a purpose, and this creates harmony.  At 16, each teen is put through evaluations and given the option of choosing the faction they feel is the best fit for them.  This is where the story really takes off, as Beatrices evaluation shows that she doesn’t really, truly, belong in only one.

From there we are swept away Beatrice’s journey to figure out who she is and how she fits into the world.  As the story progresses things in the city start to change.  Civil unrest increases, and there is treachery within the factions.  Long story short, action, adventure and intrigue start to take center stage, and Tris and her friends find themselves in a position of trying to stop a tragedy.

The story is paced fast enough to keep you turning pages, but not fast that you can’t ponder the twists and turns as you read.  I thoroughly enjoyed a few of the twists and applaud the author for keeping us guessing; for giving us time to form our own ideas of what is really happening, and then surprising us by going a different direction, I love that in a book!

All in all, I love the story lines in this.  My only complaint was that I wish it had been four books instead of three.  The final climax of the storyline felt little rushed and was a little too brief, and I felt like there were some crucial questions left unanswered in the end, but all of those could have been done on purpose for effect.

Final Thoughts

I loved that this trilogy gave me something to think about.  The concept of the factions, the roles they played, how they lived, were truly intriguing.  As was the history of how the factions came to be.  A book that makes you think is a great book in my opinion.  In the end, I highly recommend the trilogy.  There seems to be a little bit in it for everyone; coming of age, dystopian future, action, intrigue, romance, suspense; it’s all there.

Next week I’m heading back into the world of paranormal with the new book from one of my favourite vampire authors.

I hope you’ll tune in for my review of Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan.

What have you been reading lately?  Have you read Divergent yet?  What did you think?

Happy Reading!