Published by Katherine Tegen Books in February 2012, the book and its editions are available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats, at local libraries, and through the Libby app.

Roth brings her readers into a war-torn world broken into factions: Abnegation are selfless, Amity are peaceful, Candor value honesty, Dauntless are brave and a bit crazy, and Erudite value intelligence. And then there are the Factionless, who live in the society because they’ve been ousted from their faction or failed initiation into their faction of choice.

At sixteen, citizens must choose a faction. Before deciding, they take a test and, based on the results, choose to stay in their original faction or switch to a new one. Beatrice Prior faces this choice, but her test results are inconclusive. Her test administrator calls it divergent and makes Beatrice swear never to tell anyone.

Beatrice doesn’t feel selfless enough to stay in her faction. Helping others doesn’t come naturally. She isn’t peaceful or harmonious enough for Amity. The grudge her father instilled against the Erudite rules them out, and her ability to lie without remorse makes her a poor candidate for Candor. She has always admired the courage and intensity of the Dauntless students. Choosing this faction feels like freedom until initiation begins and she becomes Tris.

There are fights until one opponent can no longer stand, mental exhaustion from fear simulations, constant real fear of elimination, and the threat of becoming factionless. Tris quickly learns how different she is from other initiates during the second phase, when she faces fear simulations she can manipulate thanks to her divergence. Then her life is in danger, friends turn into enemies, and trust becomes harder to give.

She doesn’t know what to do about Four, the boy who both threatens and protects her. He’s a mystery she wants to unravel. Four and Tris’s meet-cute is original, but Roth’s romance between them doesn’t deliver the gut-punch, heart contact that’s both sweet and painful in the best ways. Their romance is tepid amid bravery, self-sufficiency, friendship forged in fire, and girl empowerment.

Final verdict: it’s a book to rival Suzanne Collins, James Dashner or Lois Lowry. Engaging storytelling, strong characters, and plot-driving action that hook readers in and keep them enthralled from beginning to end, making this a 3.5-star read.