Divergent by Veronica Roth

Sometimes it really annoys me when a young author gets published (and to such success). Of course it's pure jealousy, I'll admit that, but dang it shouldn't everybody have to pay the years and years of dues? And then when you read the book and it's SO. STINKIN'. GOOD.

Sigh.

So yes, as a huge fan of THE HUNGER GAMES, I tend to like dystopian thrillers. In Roth's futuristic Chicago, the city has fallen, the Great Lakes have apparently turned to marshland and society combats its evils by dividing the populace into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a virtue: honesty, bravery, peace, intelligence and selflessness.

Beatrice was raised Abnegation (the selfless) but never really felt like she fit in. Luckily, when she turns sixteen, she can make a choice to stay or go ... into another faction, that is, because to be factionless is something no one will ever choose to be.

But Beatrice is not only surprised about choosing to leave her family and join the Dauntless (who are dedicated to bravery in dangerous and adrenaline-pumping ways), but that she doesn't really fit in completely with her chosen faction either.

After renaming herself Tris, struggling to survive through the vicious and cruel Dauntless initiation, make new friends, and follow her heart, not fitting in just might be the thing that saves her and the utopian society  crumbling around her.

First in the trilogy (second book INSURGENT comes out May 1st, CAN'T WAIT!!) DIVERGENT doesn't have the same intensity as THG (sometimes a good thing) but Roth does a wonderful job of keeping the pages turning. Not for the squeamish or under 12.