Let me start off by saying
that the Divergent book series is a
book series that I’ve really wanted to read and was really excited about for quite
a while. I went into reading Divergent
full of excitement and anticipation. Unfortunately, I ended up being very
disappointed by this book.
One of the biggest problems
that this book suffers from is a serious lack of world building. As I was
reading this book, I kept waiting and hoping for Roth to provide some backstory
for what happened that prompted their society to develop the social structure
that they have with the five different factions: Abnegation (The Selfless), Dauntless
(The Brave), Erudite (The Intelligent), Amity (The Peaceful), and Candor (The
Honest). Also, how was it decided what the core values of each faction would
be? There are some vague comments throughout the book about a war that happened
at some point in the past, but it’s never fully explored or explained.
As I said in my reviews for
Abigail Barnette’s books First Time (Ian’s Story) and First Time (Penny’s Story), it really bothered me that Barnette didn’t
really provide a truly good explanation for why Penny had been waiting to lose
her virginity in “Ian’s Story”. The explanation for that part of Penny’s
backstory that was given in “Penny’s Story” ended up being very stupid and
rather vague, which led to it also being incredibly frustrating and disappointing.
I mention that only because much like the lack of a good backstory and
explanation for something that played a huge role in the story hurt both
versions of First Time, the lack of
world building, backstory and depth behind each of the five factions really
hurts Divergent as a whole.
Unfortunately for Divergent, the writing suffers a lot
more due to its lack of backstory and world building since the book’s biggest
flaws have to do with the key aspects of the story rather than being things
that would be easier to forgive when it comes to any weaknesses that a story
may have. Personally, I think the existence of good world building and thoroughly
establishing backstory is especially important in books involving elements of
fantasy or societies that are very different from the society we live in today.
If an author neglects to give their characters and the plot a good and well
written backstory, then the book really faces an uphill battle when it comes to
being able to impress and entertain people, in my opinion.
