Review: Insurgent

Insurgent
by Veronica Roth

Plot Summary

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.

Expectations

Having really enjoyed the first installment - Divergent - I was looking forward to more action, answers and healing after those devastating final chapters of Divergent.

Review

Well, there were parts that I really loved, but also parts that really frustrated me.  I don't think I quite realized how the people in this world are different from us before - it seemed like it was dystopian future (just us in the future), but there is a lot more to why this society came to be.  And those answers only came towards the end of this book, making me wonder why certain characters can act so illogically sometimes.  Tris and Tobias are the main protagonists, but I was getting fed up with their actions many times, and wished we could follow someone else.  But as the story progressed, I found it interesting how the author shows that characters who are allied with certain factions, don't have or use the attributes that are normally associated with a faction they are not a part of.  So while it seemed odd and annoying that characters can't think through a problem and come up with, what seemed to me, the obvious solution, it works for the story and especially when the revelations are made in the end.  I just had to get through characters I liked in the first book, become a little annoying in this one.

This book delves much more into the politics of the factions and has Tris and Tobias navigating through many of them, and the main problem of this book is how to combat the power of the Erudite.  There is a lot of action and suspense in this story, and further character development, so as the middle book of a trilogy, I think it is a great set-up for the last book.