This review is posted on www.taleswithtea.com :) 
 You must be living under a rock, in a cave, in a land far far away if you haven't heard of Divergent yet. And if you haven't read Divergent, especially with its sequel Insurgent hitting stores today, then you really don't know what you're missing out on, and you're more to be pitied than blamed. 
 I will start off by saying that I refuse to compare Divergent to another series. Why? Because: Divergent is brilliantly unique and stands strongly apart from the crowd on its own two feet. Some stories just pull you in from the start and hold you close the whole way through, until there are no more pages left to turn and no more phrases left to read. This is one of those stories. I found myself captivated by Divergent from the start. I couldn't put it down. Veronica Roth's words are carefully chosen and every bit entrancing. She creates a world and a society as believable as our own, with beautifully complex characters to match. 
 The story takes place in a futuristic Chicago with society broken down into five factions: the Erudite, the Dauntless, the Amity, the Candor, and the Abnegation. If you aren't a member of a faction, you are factionless. Some people, such as our protagonist Beatrice/Tris, would consider this a fate worse than death. We follow Tris in a first person point-of-view as she struggles to live in a world so set in stone. Being 16, she must choose which faction to be a member of for the rest of her life. If she fails her chosen faction's initiation, she will become factionless. There's no going back to the faction you left once you leave them behind. 
 While reading Divergent, I had to ask myself which faction I thought I would be born into, and which one I would choose to live by. I could easily see myself being born into Abnegation like Tris, and choosing Dauntless as well. There is something truly alluring and magnetic about the Dauntless. I think their manifesto says it all: "We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another." Tris is nothing short of a determined, independent, strong-willed, and unforgettably human female lead. You will not soon forget her, or her male counterpart, Four/Tobias. I actually questioned Christina's eyesight every time she said something negative about him. I mean sure he seems moody and fierce and strong and dreamy... Wait, what? Yeah, I just wasn't following Christina's arguments at all! ;) Although, I also enjoyed the wonderful characters Uriah and Will - other initiates training to be a part of the Dauntless faction. Tobias, Uriah, and Will give us three genuinely good guys, each with their own unique personalities that set them apart from each other. Then you have the Peters and Erics of the world... both evil, but also different in their own way. Each of these characters has their own story to tell, their own individuality, their own struggles. These are just amazingly written and beautifully crafted, flawed characters. There is nothing perfect about them or their actions, but that makes them all the more believable. 
 If nothing else, you will at least take away from this story the fact that nothing is ever what it seems. Divergent proves that nothing is ever black and white, not the world we live in, not the society we are a part of, not even ourselves (sorry, Candor!). Everyone makes mistakes, but these mistakes only help us find ourselves, and without them we wouldn't be who we are today. 
 What I really like about Divergent is its take-no-prisoners pace from start to end. I was never bored reading this novel. There is nothing wishy-washy about Divergent. It is an unbelievably strong opening to a series that promises to deliver and leaves you begging for more. It's a good thing Insurgent is available now! 
 Optioned for a movie? If they don't make this into a movie, I will seriously question someone's life choices. (What were you THINKING?) 
 I think it's safe to say that I was just blown away by Veronica's debut novel, and you will be too, I promise! 
 An instant favourite!