Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Just a warning. Don't read this if you haven't read Divergent, please. It'll make it a lot easier, I promise.

 

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Series?: Divergent

Synopsis:

One choice can transform you, or destroy you. Every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves, and herself, while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

 

Why I read this: I fell in love with Tris and everyone else in the world of Divergent the first time around, so I wanted to pick up this book as soon as I heard about it!

 

My thoughts/Review:

This book picks up right where Divergent left off, starting with Tris's extreme guilt about Will and struggle with the loss of her parents. Tris's respite in Amity is short, however, and she soon finds out that Amity will not involve itself in the war. Soon after, Tris and the others head back to the city to seek the help of Candor and meet up with some unexpected friends. After that, everything goes to hell and we're even worse off than when we started. Get ready for the ride of your life. Relationships are tested, secrets are unveiled, friends turn enemy, and no one knows what the truth is anymore.

 

So, I loved Insurgent. Maybe it wasn't quite as awesome as Divergent, but it was only a smidge away. Action, conflict, just a sprinkle of romance, adventure, something new at every turn, and twists that I was honestly shocked about. I love how the book started off exactly where Divergent stopped. Most series skip a while in between books, and I'm glad this one didn't.

 

**

 

Tris- I love how she's so bold, and stubborn, and resilient, etc. She has to be one of my favorite heroines ever. She doesn't take crap. However, she's so secretive (i.e. not telling anyone about killing Will) that it destroys her from the inside out, and it destroys all her relationships, too. She gets to where she starts recklessly risking her life instead of really thinking it through like she used to. I mean, at least before she knew what she was doing when she risked her life. She's amazing and all, but still. That was unspeakably stupid of her to risk her life so many times without thinking it through--really thinking it through--and it's not really surprising that it's hurting the people around her. She thinks that they won't miss her a ton, that she's less important, but SHE'S WRONG. Argh! Why can't heroines ever get that through their heads?! I am glad that she seems to grow throughout the book, though, just as she did in Divergent.

 

Four/Tobias- So, by now I hope we all know that Four's name is Tobias, or else I know that you didn't actually read the first book. Four is as stubborn as always, but we start to see a softer side to him. He's willing to do anything for Tris--well, anything except putting up with her stupidly endangering her life, which I get. He doesn't wanna get hurt like that. He doesn't want her to get hurt like that. Four is so convinced that he's right, though, and his pride really hurts him. He starts becoming too naive, so much so that he can't tell when someone's trying to dupe him or not. And I don't know where he gets off lecturing Tris about secrets because he has secrets of his own. I'm glad that Tris points that out, too. And he's so misunderstanding of everything! Yes, Tris should've been more forthcoming, but she had her reasons, and the least he can do is respect her decisions and trust that she had reasons (no matter how stupid they were). Even through all of that, I still loved him. He's still really smart and stuff, just not smart enough sometimes.

 

Is anyone else even worth mentioning? I mean, yes, we have Marcus and Jeanine and Christina (who ends up being okay again at the end) and everyone else, but they're all secondary characters. I do feel like they're all real people though, not just flat characters. Veronica Roth has a way with her characters that I love.

 

**

 

I liked the role that being Divergent played in this book, and that we're finally kind of getting a little bit of what it means to be Divergent. There are twists and turns everywhere, and several of them I would've never suspected, especially the one at the end, but it was still pretty awesome all together.

 

I cannot wait for the next book to come out! I will be anxiously waiting until it comes out this October!

 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

 

~Jessicah