In her debut novel, Veronica Roth creates an engrossing coming-of-age story set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, recognizable only by the former Sears Tower and Hancock Building. Narrator Beatrice Prior has grown up in the Abnegation faction, where her father serves as a council member. Now that she is 16, Beatrice, along with her peers, must choose one of five factions to make their home. The teens first submit to an aptitude test, which demonstrates to them the faction best suited to their character traits. At a Choosing ceremony, they ultimately pick for themselves the faction in which they wish to serve.
The factions were established "to eradicate those qualities... believed responsible for the world's disarray." Each faction performs a different role: Abnegation, with its emphasis on selflessness, provides political leaders and distributes food to the factionless; Amity attracts the counselors and caretakers; Candor upholds the law; Erudite supplies the teachers and researchers; and Dauntless guards the boundaries of society. During the aptitude test, the teens take a "simulation serum" and experience lifelike situations in which they have to act quickly. Beatrice's test results are inconclusive; she could go with any of three factions. Tori, who administered her test, tells Beatrice she is "Divergent.... Being a Divergent is extremely dangerous," she says. She warns Beatrice not to confide her test results to anyone.
Roth shows glimmers of Beatrice's fascination with Dauntless from the first pages, their reckless leaps from a moving train, their black attire and tattoos as compared with her own plain haircut and gray uniform. So the heroine's decision to leave her family, while difficult, is not a surprise. Instead, the surprises come from the new trappings "Tris" takes on in Dauntless and her process of figuring out which parts of her old self she wishes to keep and what she wants to shed. No neatly contained compartments or factions can guide her in the journey. As she puts it, "At least [in the Dauntless compound], I know exactly where I stand, which is on unstable ground." As the guards of society's borders, the Dauntless initiation is violent and sometimes mentally abusive. Tris finds unexpected stores of physical strength as well as mental stamina. She also discovers that compassion comes from unexpected corners--as does cruelty.
Early on, Tris's father hints at a growing rift between the factions. "Valuing knowledge above all else results in a lust for power," he says. As tension escalates between Erudite--to which Tris's brother, Caleb, defected--and Abnegation, where their father is still a leader, Tris's mother gives her a cryptic message to convey to Caleb: "Tell him to research the simulation serum." This leads Tris to uncover a plot that could derail their society's underpinnings and end in death for many. At the same time, she develops feelings for a fellow Dauntless. In a faction that values facing down one's fears, intimacy may be her greatest fear of all: "I never thought I would need bravery in the small moments of my life. I do." Like Katniss in The Hunger Games, Tris must find her own moral compass. To her astonishment, Tris discovers that bravery and selflessness are "often... the same thing." This taut, thought-provoking novel asks teens to consider what they value most about their own society--and themselves.--Jennifer M. Brown