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Let's talk about Veronica Roth's 'Divergent' series, now popular for it's big screen, live action adaptations. Unlike most other good series, Divergent wins us, not by its characters (of which only 2 or 3 are remarkable), but by its incredible plot twists and the sense of mystery that permeates the entire series. It explores numerous themes at once, most notably the theme of Choice, of facing your fears, the themes of segregation, discrimination, and abuse of power, and at last, of the perfection in mankind as we are. It does this in post-apocalyptic, dystopian, science fiction settings --a city in ruins, and then a world ravaged by war.
SYNOPSIS: In a city where people are known and segregated according to their primary attribute and aptitude towards one of five factions, Beatrice Prior discovers she is Divergent --having multiple attributes and aptitude towards more than one faction, therefore fitting nowhere. Still, when the time comes, she chooses the faction Dauntless over her family's Abnegation, shortens her name to Tris, and tries as hard as possible to hide her divergence, a word which carries with it unknown dangers and horrors. Together with Four, her new boyfriend and dauntless mentor, she must find out what makes her divergence so dangerous --a journey which leads them to discoveries that shake the foundations of everything they thought they knew about themselves, their city, and the world.
The Characters
Although there are many, most characters presented in the series are quite unilateral and unremarkable. This isn't an error --in fact, the entire premise, as revealed in the third and final book 'Allegiant' is based on precisely that. The only really colorful characters are the divergent, and Tris, having the most divergence, is the most colorful of all.
The story is told from her perspective, and the mysteries unfold through her --the 16-year old abnegation turned dauntless. We follow Tris as she discovers herself and the reasons for her choices. She is relatable because, in that world of one-sided humans, she is us, and the uncertainties that plague her are those that plague us --who she is, her place in the world, her ability to succeed, her family, her love, her friends, and the question of being able to show courage when times call.
Tobias Eaton, aka Four, is at first enigmatic. However, many of the series themes are presented through him, through his family and life choices. Other characters like Tris' brother Caleb, her friend Christina, and the ever betraying Peter show us the view from the low end of the divergence pole, and the leaders of the city, in many ways the villains of the series, bring in the conflict in a political landscape like no other.
A Sense of Mystery...
The Divergent series thrives on a sense of mystery. From the very beginning, the questions 'What's going on?' and 'What happened here?' are formed in the reader's mind and they are never really answered until the very end. This is heightened by the way Tris narrates --for her everything is normal and needs no much explanations. For us, it's not. And many questions go unanswered because she doesn't know the answers either. Still, amidst all these, the story ploughs on, luring us into a false sense that the mysteries are just a part of setting --until they are brought back, usually with a jaw dropping twist.
This sense of mystery is permeated into the story in many ways. For instance, the series begins with Tris (still Beatrice at the time) thinking of how she is only allowed to look into a mirror once in three months, which is an absurd rule for any normal person. But we are not given an adequate explanation... yet. And then nothing is said about what caused the city of Chicago to be in ruins until the end of book two 'Insurgent'.
The very fact of Tris' divergence alone makes us wonder --by all descriptions and by her thought processes which we read, she is, in fact, normal, and everyone else isn't. But the reason for that isn't given either. Instead, the question is swallowed up in her trying to fit in at Dauntless, hiding her divergence, and trying to defeat first Jeanine, then Four's mother, Evelyn.
Incredible Plot Twists
The answers to most of the mysteries in the series bring with them jaw-dropping twists that change the plot and sometimes, the very premise completely.
The twists begin from Book 1 when both Tris and Caleb leave their parents' faction, to finding out their mother, the perfect model of abnegation, was born a Dauntless. Bigger plot twists come up in Tobias' mother, Evelyn, who was long thought dead, the not-so-disarrayed factionless, and the biggest of all, in the message from Edith Prior that reveals the whole thing to be an experiment.
The very story ends on a twist --Tris' death, which was perhaps one too many.
Relation to the Movies
Shockingly, the Divergent movies are actually way better than the books, giving a better feel for the technology of both the city and the Genetics Bureau. The final part of the movies, based on the concluding half of Allegiant is currently in production and will be titled 'Ascendant'
The 'Four' Books
In addition to the three main books, Veronica Roth wrote five more, all of which are accounts of some of the samehappenings from Four's point of view.
What did you think on the Divergent Series? Awesome, enjoyable, merely passable, or just stupid?
