What is it about? In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are–and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

-Summary courtesy of Goodreads

What did you think of it & why did you pick it up? For some odd reason I have an obsession with dystopian literature. It could be because I’ve always speculated about what would happen in the case of an Apocalypse or maybe its the danger and fear sprinkled with romance here and there that excites me. It certainly gives me an excuse to live vicariously through the characters and pretend I’m in another one of my old childhood games of survivor that my brother and I were fascinated by. Either way, I love it. I do, however, believe that authors get a little (a lotta) leeway in the actual writing department because of their excellent plot lines. But just because the average person (me) could never think of something that crazy doesn’t mean you get to slack off with your writing. I know I already wrote a bunch of reviews ranting about this (*cough* Immortal Rules and The Selection *cough*) but it continues to bug me. My life goal has become all about finding the perfect dystopian novel that has the best of both worlds (yes, I did just quote Hannah Montana).

As for the book itself, well, I loved it. There is no doubt that Veronica Roth is a talented author. This book lives up to all of the hype and then some. In fact, I might have even liked it more than the Hunger Games. Whoa. Calm down you die-hard Katniss Everdeen fanatics. I can hear your outrage over the internet. There is no need to bring out the pitchforks, it’s just a books guys. Alright, that’s a lie. It’s never just a book. It’s an entire world that you get thrown into. You fight the bad guys, you kiss the sexy love interest. Real book-lovers know this and use it to their advantage. This basically means we have no lives and enjoy sitting at home reading instead of hanging out with humans.

Anyway, the characters were wonderful as well. I totally fell for Four. SPOILER ALERT! (it’s not very large though.) At first I didn’t know that Roth was intending for Tris and Four to get together but once I did and they started to be all romantic I basically melted into a puddle. Although I did feel horribly empathetic and embarrassed for Tris when she went into the fear landscape and Four was there sort of…um, propositioning her. END OF SPOILER. I would die if that happened to me and people actually saw it was one of my fears.

The end was slightly expected. I knew something like that was going to happen. Also, there wasn’t as much build-up to it as I would have liked but it was still sufficient and I have a feeling that Insurgent will be even BETTER! Even though my friend told me that Four and Tris were mega mushballs in the second one.

Other little things that I liked: The idea that bravery can be present in everyday acts, the names of the factions, and going to school and thinking only of finishing the book.

The one thing I did NOT like was the setting. That was badly phrased. I loved the setting, Chicago is great, I went there over the summer, but I did not enjoy hearing them talk about Lake Michigan being a marshland and the city being destroyed without giving any information as to how it became that way. It didn’t even give you any hints or clues. Hopefully in the next book it will because otherwise it’s getting some major points taken off in my book.

Bottom line: Where can I get my hands on a copy of book two?!

Star Rating:  It was really good. I’ve already told my friends about it.

I would suggest this for: Dystopian and Sci-Fi fanatics

Reviewed by: Lauren

Thanks for the awesome review Lauren!

And the winners are…

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Read this review by Satori G to find out more!

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Read a review by (former) reference librarian William to find out more!

3. Legend by Marie Lu

In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

4. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.

Check out a review by Amanda Lynn from circulation!

5. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Following her parents’ bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs.

6. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Teenaged Amy, a cryogenically frozen passenger on the spaceship Godspeed, wakes up to discover that someone may have tried to murder her.

Read a review submitted by Megan!

7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story.

Read Molly’s review of this sci-fi fairy tale!

8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Read more about Maggie Stiefvater in this post!

9. Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Adam, now a rising rock star, and Mia, a successful cellist, reunite in New York and reconnect after the horrific events that tore them apart when Mia almost died in a car accident three years earlier.

Read Molly’s review of Where She Went and it’s companion, If I Stay!

10. Abandon by Meg Cabot

A near-death experience, a horrible incident at school, and a move from Connecticut to Florida have turned seventeen-year-old Pierce’s life upside-down, but when she needs him most John Hayden is always there, helping but reminding her of her visit to the Underworld.

Celebrate Teen Read Week by checking out one of these books and don’t forget to come to our “It Came from the Library” party this Friday at 7 pm!

Ashes by Ilsa Bick

Abandon by Meg Cabot

Tempest by Julie Cross

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Wither by Lauren Destafano

Where She Went by Gayle Foreman

Scarlet by A. C. Goodman

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Legend by Marie Lu

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Shine by Lauren Myracle

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

The Top Ten will be announced in October during Teen Read Week! Don’t forget to vote before September 15th!