Divergent: The New Hunger Games?

For those of you who read my post on Wednesday, you’ll know that my chosen book of the 10 Books of Summer is Divergent, a Science-Fiction novel by Veronica Roth. As I am the most curious person to ever walk this earth, I did some research on it before actually reading it, and there was one question that kept popping up: Is Divergent the new Hunger Games? Now I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like it when books have too many similarities, so naturally, I was a little hesitant before reading Divergent.

And so after reading the novel myself, is Divergent the new Hunger games? Nah.

While there are similarities between the two novels (female protagonist, apocalyptic setting, corrupt governments e.t.c.), I think both are unique in their own rights. While Divergent is an entertaining book with interesting characters, and a unique plot, I also think that there are some really important lessons and messages throughout the novel.

As I mentioned in Wednesday’s post, this novel faces the reality that we as people are all too often scared to stray away from what we’re used to. This is shown through Tris’ bravery to leave her faction compared to others who wouldn’t have even dared, and the way in which the members of each faction think their way of life is the right way. That ties in with the theme of ignorance as well.

I personally think this novel has a lot of focus on ignorance, and the way in which people only believe what they want to believe. Its people’s ignorance that has led them to physically separate themselves from others who think differently to them by living in different factions. As the novel goes on, I think it becomes evident that balance is key. An equality of honesty, selfishness, knowledge, bravery, and peacefulness is ideal, and an element of this is shown with Tris being divergent.

While I did enjoy this novel a lot overall, the critic in me couldn’t help coming out to play. Just a warning: there are spoilers in the next paragraph!

I would like to have seen more of Tris’ home life before she left Abnegation. It’s just that when her parents were killed, I didn’t really feel much for her, or them for that matter. If I’d had the opportunity to get to know their characters better, I think the impact would have been greater. Plus I would have just generally liked to see life in Abnegation in more detail because we saw a lot of Dauntless, but not much of Abnegation considering Tris had lived there all her life. Other than that though, I don’t really have any qualms (although I did find Tobias/Four kind of creepy at first, but hey, that’s just me.)

I think that’s it! I’m a little rushed for time right now, so I’ll leave with a few questions for y’all to ponder over.

1) Do you think The Hunger Games and Divergent are similar? If so, are they too similar?
2) What themes stand out to you in the novel? Do you agree with the themes I brought up?
3) Did the critic in you spot anything you weren’t so impressed with?
4) If you could pick any faction to live in, which one would it be?
5) Who was your favourite character, and which character do you think had the greatest impact on the novel overall?

This novel really is worth a read so if you haven’t already, go read it, like, right now. Before I train a load of badgers to eat you while you sleep.