In this edgy debut (definitely not for the fainthearted), first in a trilogy, promising author Roth tells the riveting and complex story of a teenage girl forced to choose, at age 16, between her routinized, selfless family and the adventurous, unrestrained future she longs for. Beatrice "Tris" Prior lives in crumbling dystopian Chicago, where citizens are divided into five factions¿Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite¿depending on their beliefs, passions, and loyalties. When Tris forsakes her Abnegation family to become one of the wild, fearless Dauntless, she must confront her deepest fears, learn to trust her fellow initiates, and guard the ominous secret that she is actually a Divergent, with the strengths of multiple factions, and is therefore a target of dangerously controlling leaders. Roth's descriptions of Tris's initiation process are as spellbinding as they are violent, while the tremulous romance between Tris and her protective and demanding instructor, Four, unfurls with heart-stopping tenderness. For those who loved The Hunger Games and are willing to brave the sometimes sadistic tests of strength and courage Tris must endure, the reward is a memorable, unpredictable journey from which it is nearly impossible to turn away. Ages 14¿up. (May).

In future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice should have discovered which of her society's five factions--Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, Erudite--she belongs to after taking a sorting test. However, her results are inconclusive, which could get her killed; or she might just save the world. The story's fast-paced action; romance; and strong, intelligent characters facing difficult choices will appeal to Hunger Games fans. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Veronica Roth's first novel, an urban dystopia is divided into five factions, each guided by a particular virtue. IMAGINE the publishing world as it might look in a dystopian universe in the distant future. In this world, college English majors - call them "Englies" - aspire to write only one kind of book: the dystopian young adult novel set in the distant future. (Englies of a certain status are permitted to write about dystopias populated by vampires.) Another subset of the population - ''the Fans" - provides a kind of slave labor, posting endlessly to dedicated blogs and recording podcasts, providing free marketing for an unceasing succession of aspiring best-seller trilogies. I couldn't help imagining this world as I read "Divergent," the first in a planned trilogy of young adult novels set in a dystopian future and written by Veronica Roth, who sold the book in a major preemptive bid before she even graduated from Northwestern last year. With "Divergent," Roth adds to a genre that has crossed over from having a vague cultural moment to being a full-bore trend, much of it driven by the wild success of Suzanne Collins's "Hunger Games" trilogy. "Divergent" holds its own in the genre, with brisk pacing, lavish flights of imagination and writing that occasionally startles with fine detail. As the mother of Beatrice, the main character, cuts her daughter's hair, the young narrator notices "the strands fall on the floor in a dull, blond ring." Beatrice sees her reflection only when her hair is cut - the second day of every third month - because she has been born into Abnegation, one of five factions that make up the population. Those who belong to Abnegation believe selflessness begets world harmony; those who choose Candor see honesty as the path to the same goal. The other groups are Amity, Erudite and Dauntless, and it is this last group that calls out to Beatrice when she is given the opportunity either to stay with her family's group or to choose another allegiance. As part of the initiation process for Dauntless, Tris (a nickname Beatrice adopts to reflect her new self) must prove her mettle with adolescent feats of bravado, like jumping off a moving train onto a rooftop. She endures simulated death traps and jacks up her adrenaline with breathtaking leaps into the unknown. "Divergent" clearly has thrills, but it also movingly explores a more common adolescent anxiety - the painful realization that coming into one's own sometimes means leaving family behind, both ideologically and physically. It is not a coincidence that Tris falls in love while undergoing initiation into her new tribe. It is precisely the moment when young people discover romance that family life all but evaporates, at least in terms of its emotional significance. Terrible things happen to the people Tris loves, yet the characters absorb these events with disquieting ease. Here, somehow, the novel's flights from reality distance the reader from the emotional impact that might come in a more affecting realistic (or even fantasy) novel. In this way, though Roth's "Divergent" is rich in plot and imaginative details, it suffers by comparison with Collins's opus. The shortcoming would not be so noticeable were there less blatant overlap between the two. Both "Divergent" and "The Hunger Games" feature appealing, but not conventionally pretty, young women with toughness to spare. Both start out with public sorting rituals that determine the characters' futures. And both put the narrators in contrived, bloody battles that are in fact competitions witnessed by an audience. Even the language sounds familiar: the Hob is a central geographic point in "The Hunger Games"; in "Divergent," it's the Hub in the remnants of what was once the Sears Tower. For a book that explores themes about the right to be individual and the importance of breaking away from the pack. "Divergent" does not exactly distinguish itself. "Now isn't the time for debates about ethics," Tris tells her father at one point, when she feels compelled to hurt someone for the greater good. Billboarding of this sort can interrupt the moment by announcing its own significance: now actually is the time for such a debate. In a novel that takes on the problem of conformity and questions the certainty of narrow-minded ideologues, such circuit-breaking is nonetheless useful, forcing the reader to pause and think in the middle of that dauntless break for the plot's conclusion. Susan Dominus is a staff writer at The Times Magazine.

Gr 9 Up-In a futuristic Chicago, the populace is divided into distinct factions, each devoted to a particular virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. At 16, Beatrice parts ways with her family and chooses her own path, only to find that the highly structured society isn't as perfect she's been led to believe. A dystopian thriller filled with secrets, suspense, and romance. (June) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Cliques writ large take over in the first of a projected dystopian trilogy.The remnant population of post-apocalyptic Chicago intended to cure civilization's failures by structuring society into five "factions," each dedicated to inculcating a specific virtue.When Tris, secretly a forbidden "Divergent," has to choose her official faction in her 16th year, she rejects her selfless Abnegation upbringing for the Dauntless, admiring their reckless bravery. But the vicious initiation process reveals that her new tribe has fallen from its original ideals, and that same rot seems to be spreading... Aside from the preposterous premise, this gritty, paranoid world is built with careful details and intriguing scope. The plot clips along at an addictive pace, with steady jolts of brutal violence and swoony romance. Despite the constant assurance that Tris is courageous, clever and kind, her own first-person narration displays a blank personality. No matter; all the "good" characters adore her and the "bad" are spiteful and jealous. Fans snared by the ratcheting suspense will be unable to resist speculating on their own factional allegiance; a few may go on to ponder the questions of loyalty and identity beneath the faade of thrilling adventure.Guaranteed to fly off the shelves. (Science fiction. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In the future, you are born into one of five factions, each of which has its strength and focus: Abnegation (service), Candor (truth), Erudite (intellect), Amity (friendship), or Dauntless (fearlessness). But on your sixteenth birthday, you can choose a new faction if you are so compelled, and that's what happens to Tris, who shocks everyone by exchanging the drab gray robes of Abnegation for the piercing and tattoo stylings of Dauntless. What follows is a contest, where only the top 10 initiates are accepted into the final group. This framework of elimination provides the book with a built-in tension, as Tris and her new friends and new enemies go through a series of emotional and physical challenges akin to joining the marines. Roth is wisely merciless with her characters, though her larger world building is left fuzzy. (Is there a world beyond this dystopian version of Chicago?) The simplistic, color-coded world stretches credibility on occasion, but there is no doubt readers will respond to the gutsy action and romance of this umpteenth spin on Brave New World.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist