by Veronica Roth
Jan & Diane's pick
Summary:
Beatrice is a 16-year-old in a post-apocalyptic society formed in what used to be Chicago. To keep the peace, the society is divided into 5 factions based on personality traits: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Dauntless. Beatrice and her brother come from Abnegation and must choose, along with all the other adolescents, which faction they will join for the rest of their lives. There is an aptitude test which indicates the suitable choice. Beatrice's results, however, are inconclusive--she is Divergent, a group targeted as traitors to the system.Unsatisfied with Abnegation, Beatrice joins the Dauntless faction, changing her name to Tris, and participating in a dangerous and rigorous initiation. There she meets Four--an instructor with whom she strikes up a romance. Tris and Four uncover an Erudite plan to control the Dauntless with a hallucinatory serum and use them to overthrow (via massacre) the ruling Abnegation faction. The serum fails to control the two of them because they are Divergent. Together, they manage to stop the program and escape with other survivors of Abnegation.
