Divergent - Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent; Insurgent; Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Published: 2012 / 2012 / 2013
Pages: 487 / 525 / 526

Since I read these books in such quick succession, one after the other, I'm going to cheat a little and review the trilogy as a whole inside of individual books. This was another series that I read on the insistence of students (it is so lovely to have kids so excited about books that they want to discuss the with you so try to read those books as soon as I can).

These books are rather popular at present, so no doubt you've heard of them or seen them (or the new movie) about, but just in case you haven't, here's the run down. The series takes place in a not-to-distant future Chicago. In this world, communities are few and rather closed in. When children reach the age of sixteen they undergo a testing procedure which determines their dominant traits and attributes and indicates which of five 'factions' they would be best suited.

Unlike a lot of other dystopian fiction that employs this trope, however, the choice is ultimately theirs, children can choose which faction, and which trait they which to guide their life - Abnegation (self-sacrifice), Erudite (knowledge), Candor (truth),  Amity (friendship), or Dauntless (daring). Children can choose to align their life with their families, or with what their testing indicates.

For those like Tris, however, testing reveals a shocking secret - she is Divergent. Equally skilled or suited to more than one faction. This way, history has shown, leads to great upheaval and chaos, not only within the individual them self, but for society as a whole. And so people like Tris are feared. And hunted out.

In choosing Dauntless, Tris takes a bold step away from her family and into a new life, but all is not entirely what it seems - and not just at the Dauntless compound, everywhere.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series - not as much as, say, The Hunger Games, but I would definitely recommend it to any fans as a similar read. The last book, however, I found disjointed and off putting as Roth employed an alternating chapter perspective change between Tris and, another main character, Four. This had not occurred in the first two books and I would often get a ways into the chapter before I realised it had shifted.

As an example of YA dystopian fiction it checks all the boxes - a young lead character with a skill above her peers, a love interest with a complication, separation from the parents, and a corrupt government. Through in some crumbling buildings and a cool zip line manned by some under-20s and you're all set to go. Not a bad read, by any stretch, just not anything out of the ordinary. 3/5

Read if you enjoyed:

• Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• City of Ember - Jeanne Duprau
• The Giver - Lois Lowry
• Legend - Marie Lu (recommended by Lisa)
• Delirium - Lauren Oliver

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The Only Light in the Dark

The City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau
267 pages; published 2004


"So the first Mayor of Ember was given the box, told to guard it carefully, and solemnly sworn to secrecy. When she grew old, and her time as mayor was up, she explained about the box to her successor, who also kept the secret carefully, as did the next mayor. Things went as planned for many years. But the seventh mayor of Ember was less honorable than the ones who'd come before him, and more desperate. He was ill - he had the coughing sickness that was common in the city then - and the thoughts the box might hold a secret that would save his life. He took it from its hiding place in the basement of the Gathering Hall and brought home with him, where he attacked it with a hammer...." (4)


Lina is twelve years old, which is a very exciting age for those who live in the city of Ember, for it is at twelve that children leave school and receive their first job. Lina is hoping to be assigned the job of messenger: she loves to explore and none of her peers can run as fast as her. But, horror of horrors, Lina is not assigned the coveted role of messenger, but of that of a pipe worker; the worst of all assignments.

When her ever-serious classmate Doon approaches her after school, wanting to swap his messenger job for her position at the underground Pipeworks, she’s too relieved to really question it. But then things start to happen: there are strange messages to deliver, blackouts that last longer and longer, and a sudden increase in the rationing of every item.

And then Lina finds a set of secret instructions, destroyed by her baby sister’s gummy chewing. What are they instructions for? Are these secret instructions related to the sudden silent panic and whispering of the mayor, or the determined investigating of Doon? What is happening in Ember?

Stories of the post-apocalyptic genre are one of my favourites, especially ones like these in the vein of Lowry’s The Giver. I’ll admit that I picked up The City of Ember from the library because I knew they were making it into a movie and wanted to beat it to the theatre. Because I knew little more about the book than that, I was surprised to see how young an audience it was aimed at. Because of this, I found it a little predictable in places, but this may not be the case for a younger reader newer to the genre. I liked the characters of Doon and Lina, but can’t help but think they would have been afforded a little more development if they were older. 3.5/5

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The Declaration

Gemma Malley

301 pages; published 2007

… journals and writing were forbidden at Grange Hall. Surpluses were not there to read and write; they were there to learn and work, Mrs Pincent told them regularly. She said that things would be much easier if they didn’t have to teach them to read and write in the first place, because reading and writing were a dangerous business; they made you think, and Surpluses who thought too much were useless and difficult. (16)

Science has made the leap to curing heart disease, it has cured aids, it has cured cancer. And now it has cured death. With the invention of a new drug called ‘Longevity’ people can literally life forever.

With such drastic advancements, however, come equally drastic restrictions. With no people leaving the planet, there is no room for any new ones and so the Declaration is formed: a legal document that outlaws the birth of any child from parents taking Longevity. Any such child is an illegal “surplus”, a drain on the planets resources, thieving of a life they were not allotted.

Anna is one such surplus. A prefect at Grange Hall, part orphanage-part drilling facility, Anna is everything a surplus should be: she works hard, accepts any and all punishment (no matter how harsh), hates her criminal parents, and desires above all else to be a Valuable Asset. All she wants to do is prove useful, to remove some small degree of the shame and sin her parents had lumped her with. She “Knows Her Place.”

When the Catchers apprehend Peter, a sixteen year old surplus, and deliver him to Grange Hall, Anna’s orderly life meets an unexpected turn. Illegals aren’t normally caught so late in life and Peter has known too much of freedom to give it up so willingly.

But there are other things Peter knows, too. Like that Anna’s parents never wanted to give her up. That her name isn’t “Surplus Anna” but Anna Covey. And, most dangerous of all, that there’s a way to escape from Grange Hall…

The Declaration, Malley’s first novel (her second, The Resistance, a sequel to Declaration was published in September) was an intriguing read, questioning life and who has the right to it. Anna’s voice, so heavily indoctrinated in the dogma of this dystopian society, so believing of her own worthlessness was painfully touching in parts. An interesting exploration of a world in which the rights to a child, not to mention of the child, are virtually non-existent. Definitely recommended. 4.5/5

Purchase The Declaration here.

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