Veronica Roth, you rock my world. There were many times that I thought while reading it this is just like The Hunger Games or I hope this isn't going to be like Matched. And every single time I began to think that, the story shifted and my theories were disproved. In a time when dystopian scifi is all the rage, it is really hard to find a book that is purely original. This is that book.

One of the things that makes this book so unique is how the society isn't noticably dystopian from the beginning. At first, the idea of factions based solely on personality, as opposed to skill or region, appealed to me. I found myself thinking This might actually work as a system! In many, MANY dystopian scifi books, you know straight off that the way of doing things is horrible and cruel, the leadership is tyrannical and/or misguided, etc. I have no problems with those books, in any way. However, it is nice to have something different. And I think in the end, it isn't the system as a whole that is corrupt. Just a few power-hungry people is enough to turn any society on its head.

The romance was perfect. Tris and Four (should I call him that?) did not find instalove. They were not perfect. They had their share of human fears (well, maybe a little fewer than their share, but still), and they were certainly flawed people. But I knew from the beginning of the book that they would end up together, from the very first time that Four's real name (which bothers me because it makes me think of David Cross' character from Arrested Development- who I love, don't get me wrong- but he isn't exactly the hottest guy ever) was mentioned, and this was one prediction that I was very happy to be proven right about.

All of the other friendships/relationships in this book were beautifully realistic as well. Tris and Christina have such a great friendship, and Christina and Will were super cute together.

I again want to congratulate Veronica Roth on her unbelievable originality. Keep up the great work for the other two books! I can't wait for more!