As far as YA Dystopian novels go, I thought this one was in the higher rankings. Not quite as gripping as Hunger Games, but the character building was satisfactory and the story line solid. Beatrice (Tris) is a well-developed heroine with all the makings of a good YA character; breaking away from a lack-luster upbringing, something that makes her different than her peers, and the inner strength to stand up to it all and come out the other side victorious. The male lead, Four, is equal parts swoon-worthy and badass. Together these two characters suck you in to their unusual world and sweep you away. I started reading this one and couldn't stop. The premise behind the story is that in a post-apocalyptic world, humans decide that there are five distinct reasons that the world crumbled; selfishness, cowardice, deceit, ignorance, and individualism. In order to combat these traits each person must decide, on/after their sixteenth birthday, which trait they believe to be THE ONE that caused the downfall. They then join the faction that devotes their lives to eradicating that bad trait by training in the anti-trait. This gives rise to Abnegation, the faction devoted to serving others and forgetting oneself; Dauntless, the faction devoted to bravery; Candor, devoted to telling and seeking out the truth; Erudite, devoted to gaining knowledge; and Amity, devoted to peacefulness and the common good. People who are able to see and live outside of the factions/ideologies are known as Divergent. My only gripe in this book is that there were several characters introduced in the beginning of the book that were not fully "fleshed out". As a result, I had a hard time following a lot of the inner-workings and movements of the characters and factions. But this smoothed out some as the story picked up and the characters became familiar. Overall a quick and easy read that left me wanting to run off and buy the next book in the series. I am on the edge of my seat to see what will happen next to Tris and Four.