Best Book of 2013!

As a young teen living safely with my family in a developed society, it is not often at all that I make life-changing decisions. In fact, before I picked up Divergent by Veronica Roth, I hadn’t imagined being put in such a dilemma. Divergent was the best book I read in 2013 because I learned about power, and making decisions that seem like they will change everything.

            The Divergent trilogy are sci-fi books that take place somewhere where the population has been divided up into 5 factions, each honoring specific principles. Until the main character, Tris, has to make a decision to stay or transfer out of her faction, she is an ordinary girl from the strictest section of the population. One of the things I loved about Tris when I read this book was that although it was unloyal and disgraceful for anyone to transfer out of their faction to another one, she realized that it was unfair to confine someone to one faction if they were meant to be someone else. This was just the beginning of Tris’ adventure as she fought against the unfair domination of one of the sections. Tris had a bravery that empowered me to take giant leaps in my life, even if I don’t have to choose between my life and the life of my best friend’s boyfriend every day.

            I have read many inspiring books in my life, but none quite so galvanizing as Divergent. I don’t consider myself a brave person, unfortunately, and I don’t have an extraordinary amount of power in my society like Tris, but I did see a bit of myself in Tris. Tris didn’t usually look before she leaped, and although that is not necessarily a good trait, many teenagers my age can say the same for themselves. Maybe this is why I was drawn to Divergent so much, because Tris is just like so many people like me. I do know that Veronica Roth’s trilogy kept me on the tip of my toes in each of her books, and they were some of the best ones I read all year.