What is more important to you? Honesty, happiness, intelligence, bravery or selflessness? If you had to choose just one trait to dictate the events of your life and that of the world, which would you choose? I love how great dystopian novels allow us to envision how different choices and events could change our world and how the course of the story can help us to view what is really important and how realistic these fantasy novels actually are.

“In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.”

Divergent by Veronica Roth has been one of the new It Books circulating the blogosphere, especially amongst readers and lovers of dystopian young adult novels. They say if you liked The Hunger Games, The Uglies trilogy or Matched that this series is right up your alley. So it’s unsurprising that I’ve been itching to read this one since I first heard about it, and truthfully since I first laid eyes on the cover art.

I really liked this story – the plot and the dystopian setting were fascinating and the main character was very likable even in her most naive moments. While her love story occasionally irritated me, overall I found Beatrice to be a pretty kick ass main character and the society that she lives in was so compelling – definitely a case of “I could SO see that happening in our society!” for better or worse in a lot of ways. I think that’s what I liked the most about this book is that in a lot of ways, their society really does sound idyllic – like it could almost work if it weren’t for corruption and, well, humanity.

I found the book to be well paced and gripping, the turns of events were just predictable enough and exciting to watch unfold. I’d definitely recommend it to any fans of dystopian young adult novels and as a mom, I give this my Teen Readable seal of approval. I think most teens can handle this one and I think the subject matter and love story was well aimed for it’s audience.

Have you read this story? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!