Divergent by Veronica Roth Review

I admit, I was holding onto this one for awhile and it took me a little while to get into, but once I did...WHOA!!!

Goodreads says, "One choice. One choice decides your friends, defines your beliefs, and determines your loyalties . . . forever. Or, one choice can transform you. In Veronica Roth's debut novel, Divergent, a perfect society unfolds into a dystopian world of electrifying decisions, stunning consequences, heartbreaking betrayals, and unexpected romance."

Here are the top 10 reasons I was blown away by Divergent

1. Four!  Ok, I had to start here--with the hot boy--and his name is Four. Well his nickname is Four. You have to read to learn his real name, but trust me, you want to! The romance in Divergent was just perfect--not too much, not too little. Just enough to keep you wanting more without overpowering the plot. Trust me, after you read this, you'll be wanting more....of Four!

2. Hard Choices! Tris makes some SERIOUSLY tough decisions. Her choices were often unpredictable and often just barely the lesser of two evils and sometimes not. It really left me wondering what I might do if placed in ANY of the situations she faces.

3. Awesome Action! The main premise for Divergent is on Tris's 16th birthday she has to choose one of 5 factions to belong to--for the rest of her life. Her choice will define everything about her. And she chooses Dauntless--the brave. The moment she makes her choice, the book literally runs away with itself and you have to run behind to keep up. And maybe jump off a building or two in the process...

4. Romance! Ok, so I kind of covered this in number one with Four. But this is Four and I LOVED Four! There is a little bit of a student/mentor thing happening here and let's just say I'm a bit partial to that. It was sooooo well done. Probably my favorite aspect was the respect that existed between these two and the fact that they strengthened each other rather than trying to control or protect. And though Four had the upper hand in a lot of ways, there was a wonderful sense of equality between them.

5. Emotion! Tris really runs the gamut here. She goes through a lot, she sees a lot, she grows a lot. It's incredibly taxing on her and on the reader. But its all handled really well.

6. Insecurities! Ok, this is kind of a weird one, but I love it when a character has little insecurities--non epic insecurities, just normal ones that slow them down, make them real and relatable. Tris was very easy to relate to even if she was doing all kinds of crazy things that I don't think I'd ever do!

7. Kick-Butt Heroine! Nuff said. She kicks butt. Literally. I like that.

8. Un-put-down-ability! Trust me on this, once you pass the choosing ceremony you will not be able to stop reading. The suspense is out of this world!

9. I would have never thought of that! There were so many situations and tests that Veronica put Tris in that just made me pause and go--WOW! Really? The creativity level here is intense. I was seriously impressed with just the ideas presented in the tests. Everything felt so fresh and so original there.

10. Sympathetic Characters! Veronica created a tough world. One where you never really felt like any character was safe, and one where you kind of wanted everyone to be safe, even the liminal characters who you weren't so sure you could trust. There was a lot of gray here, which partly led to Tris's tough choices and the un-put-downable factor.

So there you have it! I didn't want to get overly specific and spoil any of the plot for you guys. But I hope this is enough to convince you.