Chicago, in a not so distant future, is a shell of its former glory. Navy Pier is home to a run-down ferris wheel, and Millennium Park’s beloved “Bean” is rusted over. Author Veronica Roth creates this barren world in her novel “Divergent.”

The idea of a dystopian future has been popular in many novels teens are reading, and I love it.

Dystopian themed books,    such as the “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, are what teens want to read these days. Writers from Collins to James Dashner, author of the “Maze Runner” trilogy, have struck proverbial gold pursuing these topics.

But from the sea of authors trying to appeal to the teenage mind, Roth’s debut novel sticks out from the rest.

Authors that are able to connect with young readers often find success, and Roth did just this with “Divergent.” This novel fits right in with the angsty teens and societal changes found in books that young readers have been drawn to lately. According to librarian Ana Peso, all four copies of the novel and five copies of the sequel, “Insurgent,” have been checked out all at once from the school library. The widely-anticipated third book comes out in Oct. 2013.

Part of the reason I love “Divergent” is because it has something for everyone. Those diehard romantics can find something in budding relationships between characters, and those looking for an action-packed book find their fair share of hand-to-hand combat and machine guns.

The novel’s main character, Beatrice Prior, finds herself in a world divided into five “factions” to keep the peace, much like the districts in “Hunger Games.” Each faction is associated with one trait to maintain the balance in the world. The traits represented are peace, intelligence, honesty, bravery and selflessness.

Beatrice questions her “selfless” upbringing and chooses to desert her faction for another. Through this process, Beatrice learns a secret about her life that puts her in danger when the balance between factions is upset.

Students anywhere from freshmen to seniors can enjoy the plot twists and identify with the 16-year-old main character. The book covers a broad spectrum of emotion from heartwarming to heart-wrenching and portrays a grim future for the Windy City that hits close to home.

According to Roth’s blog, the movie adaptation of “Divergent” is in the process of casting, and the directors plan to shoot some scenes in Chicago. Before the movie premieres, though, I recommend that everyone picks up “Divergent,” settles down in a comfortable chair and experiences the dystopian world Roth created on paper before it appears on the big screen.