Another ARC. And I kept hearing great things online about it, how picking it up and not being able to put it down. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the coverwork, it doesn't really draw me in. It's cool looking, don't get me wrong, just wouldn't have grabbed me or made me think what it was about.
Well, the things I read going on and on about how great this book was? They weren't exaggerating. When I picked it up, I could barely put it down. I finished it in 2 days, while teaching and having to work at the bookstore one of those nights. As I read it, I thought in my head that this reminded me of the Hunger Games. Anyway, it's great, awesome, I even recommended it to one of my students as I was reading it, and it's not even published till May! So, let's get on with the summary of the story.
In this future society, the people decided that if people only chose one way/society of approved areas to be a part of, that would keep there from being war. Abegnation is the one our main character Beatrice is from. Now, I've never heard the word abegnation, so wasn't sure exactly what this group did until they explained. The other factions were easy to understand, Candor - honest, Dauntless - bravery, Erudite - knowledge, and Amity - happiness. Anyways, Beatrice is the age where she must choose which faction to spend the rest of her life in. There is a mental simulation game that determines which area they would be best in, but they can choose whatever they want. Beatrice gets unexpected results, she is something called a Divergent, but must keep it a secret, in fact, the test examiner changes the results to hide this. Beatrice doesn't choose her own faction, even though it means leaving her family, because the motto is Faction before family. She goes to Dauntless. Her brother Caleb also stuns her by choosing Erudite instead of Abegnation. So we follow Beatrice, who becomes Tris, into Dauntless. This is an extreme life. Jumping on and off trains to travel places. Jumpingn off buildings, fighting other new members to determine just who will actually get to join and who will be sent away to live factionless.
A great dystopian story. Not sure if it left off in a way that could be a sequel, but I'd go back to this world to see how things work out. Can't wait to make it a staff rec at the bookstore I work at!
