Book Review

I absolutely loved this book!  Everything was so detailed!  Veronica Roth gave me romance, action, and comedy (I thought some parts were pretty funny) in one book.  When I first heard this was a Distopian book, I didn't know what to expect.  I loved the Hunger Games but hated The Giver.  Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed, at all!  This is officially my new favorite book.  I can't wait to read Insurgent.  If the library ever gets it in that is.

The, let me make this very clear, one thing I didn't like about this book was Tris and Four's weird relationship.  Sometimes it was cute, but other times it was just plain weird.  They go from yelling at each other, to almost dying (multiple times, I might add), to making out on a train.  I don't get it.

Anyway, I would definately recommend this book to others.  Not only because of the story, but because it gets you thinking about how choices can affect you for the rest of your life. Props to Veronica Roth for a great book!

Chapter 39

The shot doesn't come.  He stares at me with same ferocity but doesn't move.  Why doesn't he shoot me?  He is Divergent  he can fight this simulation.  Any simulation.

Tris is luuucky.  Tobias finally snaps out of it and starts kissing her.  He even gets tears in his eyes!

"How did you do it?" I say.

"I don't know," he says.  "I just heard your voice."

Four shuts down the program and takes the hard drive out of the computer.  All of the Dauntless wake up, and there is chaos.  People are screaming, running around, and don't know what to do.  I would feel the same way.  I can't imagine waking up suddenly in a different part of town, surrounded by dead bodies, with a gun in my hand.  It's disturbing to think about.

On their way out of the compound, Tobias sees Marcus for the first time in two years.  He is stunned and doesn't know what to do.  Tris is furious when Marcus denies that the Erudite were right about him abusing his son.

"The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because he's the one who should get to do it," I say.  "Stay away from him or I'll decide I no longer care."

Go Tris!  They should just leave Marcus behind, no one would miss him. 

Tris, Tobias, Caleb, Marcus, and Peter all head to the Amity compound.  Tris doesn't feel safe with Peter and Marcus with them, especially when Marcus's eyes can't stop looking at the hard drive containing the data to make an army.  One good thing that happens in this chapter is Four tells Tris he loves her! 

Abnegation and Dauntless are both broken, their members scattered.  We are like the factionless now. 

Chapter 38

Tobias doesn't recognize Tris and even starts to fight her.  Tris knows she can't beat him in a fight.  She tries to get him to wake up.  Tris even has the chance to shoot him, but she isn't able to.

"Tobias, please."  I am begging.  I am pathetic.  Tears make my face hot.  "Please see me, Tobias, please!"

When that doesn't work Tris comes up with another idea.  One that she has used before in her fear landscape.  She gives him the gun back and allows him to put it to her head.

The bullet clicks into the chamber.  Maybe it will be as easy to let him shoot me as it was in the fear landscape, as it is in my dreams.

Tris is officially crazy.  If she dies no one will be able to shut down the program and save Chicago!  This idea better work, or Abnegation is screwed.

Chapter 37

It is decided that Tris, Caleb, Marcus, and Andrew (Tris's dad) will go to Dauntless.  The others try to make it to Amity.  When they are riding the train Marcus makes a statement.

"I assume you now regret choosing Dauntless," Marcus says.

I shake my head.

"Not even after your faction's leaders decided to join in a plot to overthrow the government?" Marcus spits. 

"There were some things I needed to learn."

They get into the compound with little problem.  It was interesting to read how Abnegation members handled getting into Dauntless.  Marcus almost falls off of the roof, and Tris hopes he does.  Unfortunately, he is pulled up by Caleb and Andrew.  When Tris tries to find the program she finds Peter.  He's awake.  Tris shoots him in the arm when he won't tell her where the program is.  That was my favorite part of the whole chapter.  Anyway, Peter will only tell Tris where the program is if she takes him with her so the Dauntless won't kill him.  She agrees because she has no other choice. 

Tris's dad is not happy that she shot Peter, but Tris knows that she has no other choice if she wants to stop the Erudite plan. 

On the way to the control room where the program is stored, they are ambushed by Dauntless guards.

My father jumps out of the elevator and sprints down the right hallway, drawing the Dauntless guards after him.  I clap my hand to my mouth to keep from screaming at him.  That hallway will end.

And just like that, Tris and Caleb become orphans.  I'm honestly surprised that Tris hasn't broken down yet.  She killed one of her best friends, her parents were murdered protecting her, and Tobias is a mindless zombie.  She is stronger than anyone gives her credit for. 

Finally, Tris reaches the control room.  The room is filled with monitors that show every part of the city.

In front of the screen is a chair and a desk.  Sitting in the chair is a Dauntless soldier.

"Tobias," I say.

Chapter 36

While Tris is running to get to the rest of her family a Dauntless guard stops her.  It's Will.  She kills him before he can kill her.

He smiles in my memories.  A curled lip.  Straight teeth.  Light in his eyes.  Laughing, teasing, more alive in memory than I am in reality.  It was him or me.  I chose me.  But I feel dead too.

I can't even imagine how painful that must be for Tris.  Her first kill ever, was one of her best friends. 

Tris makes it  to where her family is.  Caleb takes out the bullet in her shoulder and sews her up.  Tris breaks the news that their mother is dead.  Marcus Eaton is also in the building with them.  He suggests they try and escape to Amity.  Tris says they have to shut down the program that is controlling the Dauntless.

"If we wake the Dauntless up, they will probably revolt when they realize what's going on," I explain.  "The Erudite won't have an army.  The Abnegation will stop dying.  This will be over."

Tris is pretty sure the program controlling the Dauntless is in the Dauntless compound so she comes up with a plan to shut it down.  Tris's dad is the first to volunteer to help her. 

                                           

Tony Goldwyn plays Tris's dad in the movie Divergent.

Chapter 35

Tris wakes up in a tank that is filling with water.  She knows is isn't a simulation this time, she is going to die.  Tris accepts her fate and when is underwater about to pass out from lack of oxygen she sees her mother.

It really is her mother!  Natalie shoots the tank and frees Tris from it.  Her mom is so cool!

"Beatrice," she says.  "Beatrice, we have to run."

They flee the building and we find out something about Natalie.  She's also Divergent!  Tris is shocked and asks her why they are such a threat.

"We can't be confined to one way of thinking, and that terrifies our leaders.  It means we can't be controlled.  And it means that no matter what they do, we will always cause trouble for them."

I feel like someone has breathed new air into my lungs.  I am not Abnegation.  I am not Dauntless.  I am Divergent.  An I can't be controlled.

Tris's mom tells her how to find her father and Caleb.  Then, she distracts the guards while Tris runs away.  She is shot and killed.

              

Chapter 34

Tris and Tobias are taken to Jeanine, who is the mastermind behind this plan.  She knew that Tris was Divergent already but she didn't know Four was one.

"You, Tobias-or should I call you Four?-managed to elude me," she says quietly.  "Everything about you checked out: test results, initiation simulations, everything.  But here you are nonetheless."

Jeanine believes that Tobias really belongs in Abnegation so his Divergence is weak ,and therefore, didn't show up in the tests.  I find that hard to believe , because Tobias is so good at everything, and he only has four fears!  How could his Divergence be weak?

Jeanine reveals he motive behind her plan.  She wants to be in charge of the government and make it more prosperous.  But first she had to get rid of the Abnegation leaders. 

Jeanine also created a new serum that will work on Divergents and Tobias is the first test subject.  Before they can inject him though, he attacks Jeanine and chokes her.  Tobias is pulled off her though and is injected with the serum.  The serum works and Tobias becomes one of Jeanine's soldiers.  Tris is taken away.

                  

Chapter 33

Tris means to tell Four what the Erudite plan is but she falls asleep before she can tell him. She wakes up to all of the new members getting dressed, and realizes that the Erudite have put their plan into action.  Tris plays along so she doesn't get in trouble and sees that all of Dauntless are being given guns and loading the trains.  Luckily, Four is also awake and grabs Tris's hand to let her know that.

"Run."

"My family," I say.

The Dauntless end up in the Abnegation section of town and start shooting.  Tris sees Tori kill a council member, she almost starts crying.  I would not be as strong as Tris is right now, I would've started crying way earlier. 

As Tris watches helplessly as Abnegation members are killed she hears Eric talking about what is happening.

"They receive commands from out computers in the transmitters we injected into them with and carry them out seamlessly."

Then Eric walks up to Four, who he believes is in in the trance, and holds a gun to his head.  He had been jealous of Four for a long time and wants him dead.  Tris stops him by shooting him in the foot.  As they run away Tris is shot in the shoulder and they are caught.

"Divergent rebels," Eric says, standing on one foot.  His face is sickly white.  "Surrender your weapons."

Chapter 32

Tris and Four head to the banquet where the final rankings will be announced.  Tris sits with Christina and Will.  They talk about what kind of jobs they would like to choose.  Christina wants to be like Four, training initiates.  I think that training initiates would also be a fun job to have.  Tris wants to be an ambassador to the other factions.  Will wants to be a Dauntless leader, so does Peter.  Peter would be the WORST person to be in charge of people, it would be like another Eric! 

Christina and Will are so cute together.  When Tris asks Christina how her fear of moths went in her landscape Will teases her.  This cracked me up when I read it.

"Moths," repeats Will.  "You're afraid of moths?"

"Not just a cloud of mother," she says, "like...a swarm of them.  Everywhere.  All those wings and legs and..."  She shudders and shakes her head.

"Terrifying," Will says with mock seriousness.  "That's my girl.  Tough as cotton balls."

Anyway, Eric delivers a short speech congratulating the initiates on becoming members.  Then the final rankings appear.  Tris is ranked first, again!  Molly and Drew are the two initiates who are cut.  Which rocks!  They didn't deserve to be in Dauntless anyway.  Tris is ecstatic and even kisses Four in front of everyone. 

She also figures out how the Erudite will get them to fight in their war.  Out of the blue, she comes up with the idea that the injection all Dauntless received will brainwash them into fighting.

               

Chapter 31

Tris successfully finishes her final test!  Eric is waiting for her when she gets out and injects her with another serum that has a tracking device in it.  Bad news...the Erudite invented it.  Tris knows that she can't let herself be injected by anything the Erudite created, but she also can't refuse.  Eric gives her the shot.

"I heard a rumor that you only had seven obstacles to face," he says.  "Practically unheard of."

Four invites Tris back to his room to unwind before the banquet later that night.  Tris doesn't want to be afraid of him so she agrees.  While there Tris tells Four that he was in her fear landscape.  She explains her fear to him and Four confesses that he also has no experience with relationships either.  Tris also gets to see Four shirtless! Lucky girl.  On his back are all the faction tattoos in a line.

"I think we've made a mistake," he says softly.  "We've all started to put down the virtues of the other factions in the proves of bolstering our own.  I don't want to do that.  I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest."

I agree with Four. Think of how much better the factions would be if everyone tried to have all of those virtues. 

                                                   

Chapter 30

Tris enters her fear landscape.  The first fear she overcomes is being attacked by crows, but what she is really afraid of is loss of control.  Tris doesn't fight the birds, and manipulates the simulation into giving her a gun.  The gun gives her a sense of power and that calms her down, so she moves onto her next fear.  The next fear she faces is being drowned in a glass box, but she manipulates that simulation to make the glass thin so she can break it.  Her third fear she faces is drowning in the middle of the ocean, but she grabs onto a rock and pulls herself out.  The next fear is being burned alive at the stake by Peter, she manipulates this simulation into raining so the fire is put out before it can harm her.  Then, Tris is in a glass room and hundreds of zombie type people are trying to get into it and attack her.  She calms her heart rate down enough to move onto the next fear.  This fear is really funny.  Tris is afraid of intimacy.  She is in a room with Tobias and has to calm down enough to move on. 

I look Simulation Tobias in the eye and say sternly, "I am not going to sleep with you in a hallucination.  Okay?"

I press against him and kiss him, my hands wrapping around his arms.  He feels strong.  He feels...good.  And he's gone.

Tris's last fear is having to choose between shooting her family or dying herself.  She chooses to turn around and put her forehead against the barrel of the gun. 

Shoot me instead.

"One!"

I hear a click, and a bang.

This chapter was fun to read and see all of Tris's fears.  The intimacy simulation was the funniest, and all of the Dauntless leaders saw it! Including Eric!  That's awkward.  As for her last fear, simulation or not, it was really brave of Tris to sacrifice herself for her family. 

                  

Tris's fears.

Chapter 29

Today's the day of the final test!!! It will decide who becomes members and who leave as factionless.  In Dauntless, it's crazy!  People are everywhere drinking, one person even falls off of the Pit wall.

Before Tris goes into the fear landscape, she gets some food and heads back to the dormitory.  When she looks at what she got, she realizes that she picked out Abnegation food. 

I sigh.  Abnegation is what I am.  It is what I am when I'm not thinking about what I'm doing.  It is what I am when I am put to the test.  It is what I am even when I appear to be brave.  Am I in the wrong faction?

Tris is the last initiate to go through the fear landscape, because she is ranked first.    No one sees the actual fears but they see the initiates reaction to them.  While Tris is waiting for her turn she reminds herself that she can manipulate the simulations, and she's had practice doing it. 

When her name is called Eric gives the the simulation serum.

I imagine that the serum is liquid adrenaline rushing through my veins, making me strong.

"Ready?" he asks.



Simulation serum!

Chapter 28

Tris leaves the Dauntless compound to go see Caleb, she knows that she's not supposed to leave the compound unsupervised but she needs to get away.  When Tris gets to the Erudite compound she finds Caleb, and they talk about each others faction.  Tris asks what's wrong when she sees dark circles under his eyes.

"Something big is happening, Beatrice.  Something is wrong."  His eyes are wide and glassy.  "I don't know what it is, but people keep rushing around talking quietly and Jeanine gives speeches about how corrupt Abnegation is all the time, almost every day."

The visit doesn't end well when Tris calls the Erudite arrogant and greedy.  She tells him that their mom wants him to research the simulation serum, but is then taken away by security.  They take her to Jeanine Matthews office where she is asked about her aptitude test results and simulation records.  To get out of there Tris pretends to agree with Jeanine about agreeing with the articles that the Erudite have been publishing.  She also has to pretend to be a cocky Dauntless initiate.

Finally, she is let go.  When she returns to the Dauntless compound Eric is waiting for her.  He threatens to reconsider her ranking but Four is there to save her...again.  He says that Tris tried to kiss him but he rejected her and she ran off because she was embarrassed. Eric believes it and let's Tris go with a warning.  After Eric leaves Four asks if Tris is okay.  Of course she isn't!  She failed at the fear landscape, you embarrassed her, she came face to face with Jeanine, and your ignoring her.  Four explains that he can't show he cares or else people will think that her ranking is from his favoritism instead of her skill.

Later that night, Tris meets Four at the train station.  Four tells Tris that he came across files with war plans in them.  The Erudite are preparing for a war and somehow plan on getting the Dauntless to fight for them.

This is the place where Tris and Caleb talked.

Chapter 27

The next day Tris is in a really good mood, but that ends when Four doesn't even glance at her.  Jerk.  Later that day all the initiates go through one fear landscape.  Tris is assigned kidnapping.  When it is her turn to go into the simulation she starts to freak out, because the kidnapping reminds her of when Peter and Al attacked her. 

I knew they would come back for me; I knew they would try again.  The first time was not enough.  I scream again-not for help, because kn one will help me, but because that's what you do when you're about to die and you can't stop it.

Tris can't get her emotions under control so Four has to stop the simulation. 

"What the hell was that, Stiff?"

"I..."  My breath comes in a hiccup.  "I didn't-"

"Get yourself together!  This is pathetic."

Tris then proceeds to punch him in the face then walks out of the simulation room.  I don't blame her.  She just got humiliated in front of all the initiates and he comes in and start berating her.  Not cool.

                             

Chapter 26

"So...four fears."

"Four fears then; four fears now,"he says, nodding.  "They haven't changed, so I keep going in there, but...I still haven't made any progress."

It's crazy that Tobias only has four fears, I'm pretty sure I have at least twenty.  And I think it's breave of him to keep going into his fear landscape even though his fears don't change. 

Tris asks him about his aptitude test results, because she wants to know if he's Divergent or not.  He's not.  His results were Abnegation, but he had to get away from hid dad.  Tris tells him that she left Abnegation because she wasn't selfless enough.  Four tells her all the ways she has shown selflessness, like taking Al's place in front of the target and taking a lash from his dad in the fear landscape.  Tris knows that he's been watching her.

"I watched you because I like you."

Finally! It took 26 chapters but finally they admit their feelings to eachother. 

"I like how you look.  You're deadly smart.  You're brave.  And even though you found out about Marcus..."  His voice softens.  "You aren't giving me that look.  Like I'm a kicked puppy or something."

Then they kiss for the first time! And continue to kiss for some time.

                             

Chapter 25

Tris got her third tattoo, the Abnegation symbol on her other shoulder.  Christina, Will, and Tris also rip up Erudite reports on Abnegation and throw them in the chasm.  When they are about to go back to the dormitory, Tris spots Four and follows him.  She ends up going into his fear landscape with him. 

Four is called Four because he only has four fears.  Heights, eclosed spaces, hurting people, and his father beating him.  To beat the first fear they must jump off of a skyscraper, then they are trapped in a small wooden box, after that Four has to shoot a woman, and lastly he has to face his father whipping him.

Four's father is Marcus Eaton.  Four's real name is Tobias Eaton, the first ever Abnegation to transfer to Dauntless.  I would be estatic if I were Tris, she has someone who understands her old life.  When the simulation is over, Tobias hugs Tris.

"Hey, we got through it."

"You got me through it."

"Well." My throat is dry.  I try to ignore the nervous electricity that pulses through me every second he touches me.  "It's easy to be brave when they're not my fears."

I think it's really cool how Four trusted Tris to come into his fear landscape and let her know who he really is.  I think it would be fun to go into someone else's landscape, especially if their fears weren't your own.  Like what Tris did with Four's.

                  

Chapter 24

Al kills himself by jumping into the chasm.  Despite what he did to Tris, she still mourns his death. At Al's funeral Eric makes a big speech on how Al is courageous for being brave enough to explore where people go after death.  It's ridiculous and Tris thinks so too, she leaves the funeral.  Not surprisingly Four follows her.  They talk about paying respects to Al, but neither one of them feel the need to.

"This is ridiculous," I say, heat rushing into my cheeks.  "He throws himself off a ledge and Eric's calling it brave?  Eric, who tried to have you throw knives at Al's head?"

I can't agree more with Tris.  Al was not being brave by killing himself, and Eric is lying snake who manipulates people into thinking a certain way.

Tris has a small breakdown where she says Dauntless ruined Al.  Four stops her and tells her they are watching her, and that she needs to be careful.  He explains that Dauntless wants her to act a certain way so she doesn't pose a threat, but Tris's Abnegation may show and makes her act a different way.  Tris tells him she doesn't need his help, and she's not weak.  Four doesn't think she's weak, though. 

Tris thinks that it's her fault Al killed himself, because she didn't forgive him.  Four responds with a very Abnegationy answer.

"Maybe there's more we all could have done," he says, "but we just have to let the guilt remind us to do better next time."

Four ends up pressing his lips to her forehead and Tris ends up with her hands around his waist, they stay like that for a long time.

This was not one of my favorite chapters.  Even though I wasn't that big of an Al fan, I still didn't want him to die.  And the whole Tris and Four thing is getting weird.  I mean, his first instinct is to push her until she breaks?  That's romantic.

                                   



Chapter 23

Tris sleeps in Four's room that night and when she wakes up she is sore.  When she goes to breakfast she remembers to look weak, so that protects her.  Tris tells Will, Uriah, and Christina what happened last night.  As expected they're shocked that Al would do something like that.  At breakfast they also get to see how beat up Drew is.

Calling him "bruised" would be an understatement.  His face is swollen and purple.  He has a split lip and a cut running through his eyebrow.  I glance across the room at Four.  He wears the satisfied smile I wish I was wearing.

That day Four shows the initiates the fear landscape room.  In the fear landscape everyone faces the amount of fears they have in a simulation.  But unlike the simulations the initiates have been facing, in this one they will know that is it a simulation so they have their wits about them.  Four explains that next week they will all go through the fear landscape as their final test.  It will determine who becomes Dauntless and who becomes factionless. 

Peter expresses how unfair it seems that someone may only have seven fears while another may have twenty.  Four has an awesome response.

"I understand why you're worried, Peter.  The events of last night certainly proved that you are a miserable coward."

Peter stares back expressionless.

"So now we all know," Four says quietly, "that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation."

Hallelujah! Someone finally said it!  Peter should just quit now, because I'm pretty sure Four is going to do his best to make his life miserable.  At least, I hope so.

That night, when the Tris gets back to the dorm, Al is waiting for her.  He apologizes and his face is swollen from crying.  I don't know what I would do if I were Tris.  On one hand, he tried to kill me, but on the other I would feel bad just looking at him.  Tris is not conflicted at all and makes her choice.

"Never come near me again.  If you do, I swear to God I will kill you," I say.  "You coward."



The fear landscape room may look something like this.

Chapter 22

Tris wakes up in Four’s room while he is cleaning Drew’s blood off his hands.  Drew was the only one Four caught and beat up, but he’s in bad shape.  Anyway, Tris tries to make sense of the attack and how Al was a part of it.

“He wanted you to be the small, quiet girl from Abnegation,” Four says softly.  “He hurt you because your strength made him feel weak.  No other reason.”

Basically, Al is a coward and a baby, because he helped a sadist almost kill Tris.  All because he felt intimidated by her, that’s so messed up. 

Four tells Tris that she needs to go to breakfast and show that the attack had on effect on her and that she’s fine.  Tris doesn’t think that she can do it, because of what they did to her.  Four just tells her to ruin them if she has a chance.  Tris tells him he’s a little scary when he says stuff like that.

“Do me a favor,” he says, “and don’t call me that.”  (He means Four)

“What should I call you, then?”

“Nothing.”  He takes his hand from my face.  “Yet.”

What does that even mean!!!!! It doesn’t make sense! If I were Tris I would’ve given him the weirdest look and been like, okay then?

                          

Theo James is playing the confusing Four in Divergent.

Chapter 21

Tris has been through a lot in this chapter.  Two more articles slandering Abnegation came out, and she has to go through the same simulation where she shoots her own family.  A bright spot though is the rankings for stage two came out and Tris is ranked first!  Peter is ranked second but more than six minutes separate their best time in the simulation.  Peter is furious!  He slams her against the wall and demands to know how she did beat him.  Will saves her from him, but Peter has one more thing to say.

“Are you bling or just stupid?  She’s going to edge you out of the rankings and out of Dauntless, and you’re going to get nothing, all because she knows how to manipulate people and you don’t.  So when you realize that she’s out to ruin us all, you let me know.”

Just like that, all of her friends are now suspicious of her and Al breaks down.  He is not doing well and isn’t having an easy time in Dauntless.  I think it’s stupid how her friends think that Tris is manipulating them, and they’re going to let Peter put that idea in their head?  How stupid is that!

Tris winds up hanging out with Uriah, Marlene, and Lynne.  They meet up with Four and other members when they get caught in a training room shooting a gun.  On the way out Four and Tris hang back a bit and Four says something to Tris.

“You belong here, you know that?” he says.  “You belong with us.  It’ll be over soon, so just hold on , okay?”

If I were Tris I would be, so happy that Four thinks that I’m good enough for Dauntless.

That night, Tris can’t sleep so she starts to walk the halls.  She overhears a conversation between Eric and Jeanine Matthews (Erudite leader) about finding Divergents.  Before she can hear anymore Peter, Drew, and Al grab her and tie her up and hold her over the railing of the chasm.  They kick her, grope her, and Peter chokes her by holding her over the chasm.  Luckily, she is able to scream and Four comes to her rescue.  He also kicks the attackers butt! 

I wish Four would have just thrown Peter into the chasm, then Peter’s reign of terror would end, and honestly no one would miss him.  As for Tris, she can’t catch a break.  I would have been so scared and not being able to save myself would be the worst.  But one good thing that came out of being attacked was being saved by Four.  I also can’t believe that Al would do something like that!  I thought he was all about protecting people but he is really just as bad as Peter.

          

Kate Winslet is playing the Divergent hunting Jeanine Matthews in the movie Divergent.