Not A Drop To Drink by Mindy McGinnis

So...it was good, just not as good as I expected.  If there is a 2nd installment (which I think there will be), I will read it but it's not one that I have listed in my calendar so that I'm in the bookstore the day it's released.  I liked the characters, but this reminded me a lot of the book Ashfall in that you get very detailed descriptions of daily routines...I actually feel like I can smoke my own meat if an apocalypse happens now.  Unlike Ashfall though, I didn't become very attached to the people in the book, and the love story was just horrible.  The plus side of the character writing is that this is one of the strongest female leads I have seen since Tris or Katniss.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Okay, I'm going to do this summary a bit different since there is such an information overload in this book.  Let's start with the factions and main characters:

There are five "factions" in the community where Beatrice lives.
1. Abnegation- the selfless, identified by their neutrally colored clothing, make up most of the government in the community since they are honest and trustworthy
2. Dauntless- the brave, have tattoos and wear dark clothing, protect the city. use simulation serum's to teach control of fear
3. Amity- the peaceful, wear colorful red and yellow clothing, do the farming for the community
4. Candor- the honest, dress in formal type wear such as suits, good with debates. use truth serum to get information
5. Erudite- the intelligent, high tech faction craving knowledge, also has a few leaders in the government

The characters:
Beatrice (known as Tris once she joins Dauntless)- the main character
Four (also known as Tobias)- Tris Dauntless instructor and love interest
Christina- Tris best friend
Caleb- Tris brother
Will- a Dauntless initiate in training with Tris, one of Tris's friends
Al- another of Tris's friends who ends up committing suicide
Tori- one of the leaders of Dauntless; a tattoo artist; first person to tell Tris she's Divergent
Eric- another leader of Dauntless; we find out he is working with Jeanine Matthews
Jeanine- leader of Erudite; using simulation serum to take over Dauntless and make an army against Abnegation
Peter- a Dauntless initiate who stabs Edward and tries to kill Tris
Edward- a Dauntless initiate who is stabbed in the eye by Peter due to Peter's jealousy that he is in 1st place among the rankings
Natalie and Andrew Prior- Tris parents; members of Abnegation
Marcus- Four's father; leader of Abnegation
Molly- Dauntless initiate with a grudge against Tris

So normally this would be where I put the plot summary, but Wikipedia has it about summed up so I will just put the link here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_(novel)