Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent, #2
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Distopia
Age: Young Adult
Length: 525 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Description (from back of book): One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But 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.
Vicky’s Review
I’m honestly not really sure what even happened in Insurgent. It all happened so quickly, but yet very slowly.
I was super pumped to start reading Insurgent the day it came out, May 2nd. I started it that night, and I was super into it, but when I hit the 6th chapter or so, I was getting really disappointed. It took me exactly ONE MONTH to read. I started May 2nd and finished it June 2nd. Because it took me so long, I actually think it ruined parts of the book for me that probably would have been excellent if I hadn’t taken so long to read it. Insurgent was very disappointing compared to all the excitement that occurred in Divergent.
Despite the disappointing parts of Insurgent, there were definitely parts of the book that I loved.
I’m going to start off by saying that I did not like Tris or Tobias at all in Insurgent. Tris was whiney, emotional, and annoying, and Tobias was controlling and rude. I was not very happy with the two of them. The other characters though, I loved.
Veronica Roth does not try to create a flawless world – characters die, and I love that. Yes, some of the people that were killed I really did enjoy, but it made the plot of Insurgent all the more real. It’s chaotic where they live at this time, and obviously, some people are not going to be able to live through it.
I also really enjoyed hearing and learning a lot of information about the other factions and the factionless. Tris ends up visiting all the factions in Insurgent, which really made me feel like the book was all the more real – learning about their life, surroundings, and families.
The biggest thing that I was the most happy about in Insurgent was most definitely the ending. I have no words to describe the ending. It was amazing, and it left on a pretty big cliffhanger. The ending of Insurgent made the book so much better.
To be honest with you, I was really not liking the book, and I was pretty much having to force myself to read it, but I’m glad I did, because the last 50 pages or so were fantastic. That is probably one of the only reasons that I’m saying I liked the book – because of the ending.
Like I said, the ending of Insurgent left us with a huge cliffhanger, having to wait till 2013, ANOTHER YEAR, to finish our journey through this futuristic Chicago society.
All in all, Insurgent was a good book, but ultimately it suffered from “second book syndrome”. The only thing that made it really good was its ending, which is really unfortunate because, well, it got good at the end.
It definitely did not compare to Divergent, but I am glad I read Insurgent because I really do enjoy this trilogy so far.
I give Insurgent 3.5 stars, and recommend it if you want to know what happens after Divergent.
Let me know in the comments what you thought of Insurgent, and how it compared to Divergent for you. Do you think Insurgent suffers from “second/middle book syndrome”?
My Rating: 
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