In the aftermath of the Erudite’s co-option of the
Dauntless and attack on Abnegation, Tris and Four leave the city and try to
rally their forces against the Erudite’s brutal campaign. But what can Candor
and Amity do against the Erudite’s technology and the Dauntless training? What
can the Dauntless do when split against itself and at risk from the Erudite’s
mind control?
Forces have to be rallied in the most unlikely of places,
all the while dealing with the fallout of so much loss – and the terrible
things Tris has had to do. And under it all is a creeping worry of what they
will do – is it right to destroy the Erudite? Can society survive without them?
Can it survive if the Erudite win? How can they win a war that seems to have no
good outcomes?
In some ways this book continues and confirms my opinion
of the world building from Divergent.
The faction system is broken, it doesn’t make much sense, it’s not workable,
not a useful tool for creating peace let alone one for creating a society that
works. That’s not bad world building on the part of the author, that’s what we’re
supposed to be seeing – this whole book, even more than Divergent is about showing the flaws of the system, the flaws of
each faction and it inevitably breaking down.
Like we see the Amity faction which looks so peaceful and
beautiful – and then realise it achieves this by constantly drugging everyone (which
is actually an ongoing habit of the whole world – these ridiculous factions are
held together with regular doping to avoid any common sense) and, of course,
the flaw of Amity being so conflict averse is that their response to evil abuse
is to put their hands over their ears and pretend it’s not happening. We see
Candor’s honesty is truly merciless with no accounting for people’s pain or
experiences – it’s also deeply and utterly impractical in any meaningful away. We see the factionless in their great numbers –
there simply because of the deeply unjust system they operate on; not just the
choosing. We’ve seen the Dauntless cruelty, but now see their ableism in
discarding anyone who doesn’t fit their physical ideals – and the Erudite in
their treatment of anyone who doesn’t match up to their intellectual standards
The factions only last because of constant drugging and a
developed knee jerk hatred about every other faction so they constantly support
their own without question for fear of being seen as disloyal or “unpatriotic.”
Any attempt at thinking clearly and sensibly is clearly Erudite sympathies, any
attempt to seek peace is cowardly Amity-ness etc etc. This system designed for
peace only lasts because of the created conflict within each faction. Yet this
conflict will inevitably lead to the war.
