Book Review: Divergent & Insurgent

I like to think that I'm kinda nutty about reading. I get it from my dad. Lately I've wanted to read a lot of series. You've got the popular series: Narnia, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games; and then you have the ones that are catching on: The Maze Runner, Incarceron, and now this one...The Divergent series. Only two of the books have come out so far. Divergent is the first one. I downloaded it to my Nook awhile back for Eric to read but he never really got the chance. I decided to give it a whirl. About 24 hours later, I finished it. It's set in a dystopian world (like everything else these days) where the city is divided into five factions: Abnegation who value selflessness, Dauntless who value bravery, Candor who value truth, Erudite who value knowledge, and Amity who value peace. At 16, each person is required to choose one of the five factions to grow up in and learn from. If not, or if they don't pass initiation, they are considered factionless...a fate worse than death. This story follows Beatrice Prior, the faction she chooses, and the consequences of her decision. She learns how far she can push herself and how far others can push her before she fights back. It isn't until the end of the book that she discovers some of the factions have motives that could result in catastrophe for the rest of the civilization. Because she is divergent, she feels called to save the life she knows.

The second book, Insurgent, picks up right where Divergent leaves off...the same day and everything. This book has a lot more action, drama, secrets, and deception but less romance I think. Tris and her friends have devised a plan to overthrow the faction causing all the problems. The problem is that they might destroy everything they've ever known and believed in in the process. The theme of this book is decisions. Every decision Tris makes leads to another problem and another decision. Who will she choose? The faction she's come to associate with? Her friends? Her boyfriend? Her family? Or herself? The book ends with new information that could lead the whole population either to freedom or slavery.