Book Review: Divergent

Although I am eager to read Stephen King's "Dr. Sleep", I decided to read that as the second of my two books this month. I want to really be able to concentrate on and get into the book, which will be easier to do now that the show I'm in ends tonight and I won't be going to rehearsals every day.

Instead, I read "Divergent" as my first book of the month. It came recommended by my sister, who really enjoyed it and said that I should read it before the movie comes out. She gave it, among several other books, a brief write-up in her blog, here.

Unfortunately, she seems to have enjoyed the book a lot more than I did. I was not bored by the book and I did not dislike it, but I never found it truly compelling.

The biggest issue I have with the book is that it doesn't stand on its own. I knew going in that it was the first book in a trilogy, but I hoped that it would tell its own complete story as well as setting the stage for sequels. Instead, the whole book feels like a prologue. It starts off quickly enough, maybe even a bit too quickly--the main character's initial situation is barely established before it is changed. Then, however, the book moves into an extended section based on her training to be accepted into a new place. I was expecting this section to last maybe 100-150 pages, but instead it lasted almost the entire book.

Having a book solely about this training process would have been fine, but for the repeated hints about the "real story" being dropped. Knowing that something bigger was coming made me want the book to just get to it already, especially after having gone through several hundred pages. When the book finally gets there, it does so very suddenly and the last few chapters almost feel tacked on, as if they are only there to jump start the sequels.

The original "Star Wars" movie sets up its trilogy very well. It creates a new universe and establishes protagonists and antagonists that are still alive at the end of the film, ready to do battle again in future installments. It also tells its own complete story. We find out about the Death Star at the very beginning of the film, and the rising action throughout the story all leads up to the triumphant victory where it is destroyed at the end. The door is open for sequels, but the movie was clearly about its own events. "Divergent" creates its own universe and establishes some ongoing characters, but instead of being about its own story, it seems more concerned with setting up its sequels. I'm sure I'll get around to reading them eventually, and I hope they're good enough to warrant this protracted setup.