Insurgent (Divergent, 2)

Description

A #1 New York Times Bestseller Book 2 in the Divergent Triology One choice can destroy you. 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. Review: Great Follow-up to Strong Dystopia - When any group of people are divided, they lose the strength their numbers could have afforded. As divided groups, they have less power, they are easier to manipulate, and most importantly, they find it harder to fight back against adversity. In Veronica Roth's Insurgent, we see a city divided into factions that is finally realizing the hazards of living separate lives. Tris experienced one of the worst things a child could encounter. She watched her mother sacrifice herself in order to save Tris's life. Add that guilt to the fact that Tris's faction, Dauntless, were the ones killing her parents' faction, and you have a young girl who no longer knows where she belongs. Now that the Abnegation (her parents' faction) survivors have scattered and Dauntless (Tris's faction) has divided, the plans of the Erudite faction are coming to light. The faction knows how to control people's minds through simulations (used to place kids in their factions and train them), which gives Erudite a load of mindless, obedient drones to control. For a faction with its sights set on controlling everything, this is a very dangerous scenario. But the loyal Dauntless who aren't under the Erudite's control refuse to give up (because, after all, they are Dauntless). With the discovery that the Divergent (a rare person who qualifies for more than one Faction) are immune to the simulations, Erudite is becoming more ruthless than ever, and they know Tris and Tobais are behind the insurgency. What they didn't expect is that the factionless, people ejected from the factions for one reason or another and forced to fend for themselves on the streets, are joining forces with the other factions to stop Erudite. But are a bunch of half-starved stragglers enough to take on the most powerful faction? They just might be! I loved Divergent. Loved it. Obsessed about it a little bit. So Insurgent had a lot to live up to. While I still love Divergent the best so far, I have to say Insurgent was pretty darned good! I was a little worried at first, but the book hooked me quickly and kept me turning the pages. I loved the depth into Tris's story and her true qualities, the same ones that make her Divergent, poking out. Her relationship with Tobias was really strained throughout this book, and I was glad to see a relationship that mirrored the climate and setting of the book. I hate when you have the crazy, can't see anything but you, obsessive love forming in the wake of a murderous revolution (or zombie plague, or any high anxiety situation for that matter). Who is going to be giving moon-eyes over the table when you watched your family slaughtered by your own community?! So I appreciated that Roth kept that in mind with the relationship. I also like that Tris was a little impetuous and had trouble keeping herself out of trouble. We can't all be calculating and spot-on, so it was humanizing to see her react to each situation. This is a great dystopian series for both lovers of the sub-genre and those who just liked one particular dystopia (that which shall not be named out of respect for not comparing every bloody book in the same genre to one particular series despite the glaring lack of similarities solely because that series is the new craze). The books look big and intimidating, but they read so fast that a number of types of kids could enjoy them. The story gets a little complicated at times with so many characters, but you can sort them out relatively easily. And oh boy. You will want MORE!! Review: Good, But Not As Great - After finishing the first book, Divergent, I was left with a drive for more. The book enticed me with a thrilling craving for this sequel that I just had to have. Although Insurgent definitely satisfied the desire I needed, I felt like there could of been a bit more. With Divergent, I felt like there really was an absolute perfect amount of everything, from Action, Romance, and plot development. Insurgent, although it definitely kept my interest the whole way, something in my gut keeps telling me that there was just too much there at parts. Without spoiling too much, here we go. There may be minor spoilers for those who haven't read the first book, but I really tried to keep them at a minimum. I felt like, at times, Divergent had too many of the random love moments, where the main character would randomly start throwing herself all over the male lead. For me, with so many of these moments along with so many times where these two were fighting, it just really took away from the book for me. The book also kept up with its name of being a fast paced book. However, unlike the first book, where everything is primarily in one place, this book jumps, literally, all over the place. It seems like every 4 chapters or so, the main character was in a completely different place on a completely different side of the city. When I did finally put this book down for a break, I found myself backtracking a little bit to remember what part of the city the main character is actually in. Don't get me wrong, coming from a male perspective, action is almost always a good thing, but as they say, too much of a good thing can start to become a bad thing. With that being said, I felt like the author really pushed the action and love, and really should of made a little bit more development in some of the characters. There were so many character that were involved and introduced that I had a tough time keeping track of them all. When some of the people died, I felt like I had no attachment to them and really felt like it wasn't a huge loss to the book. I had a small feeling of sorrow for the characters who were affected by the deaths, but that was only because they were introduced in the first book. The deaths themselves seemed to not do a whole lot for me. Don't get me wrong, this book has plenty of good too! This book keeps up with its fast paced nature from the first, which isn't entirely a bad thing in its way! It definitely was still enough to keep me hooked for an interesting read. The book plays on the different emotions of characters, and keeps the plot well-driven through each and every page. On top of the great plot and storyline, the book has quite a few plot twists and side notes that completely caught me offguard. The book picks up, literally, right where the first book ends, which was a huge plus for me that I didn't see too much in too many books. There was zero time gap at all. The books overall plot is just as good as the first. With this, and its amazing twists and turns, the author definitely takes the reader through a roller-coaster of a book. The overall verdict I have to put on this book is, maybe not perfect, and not as good as the first book, but still definitely a good read for the thrill seeking reader. This book still has me enticed enough to jump pages and pre-order book 3, which comes out this october. I would definitely recommend grabbing Divergent before the movie comes out, and it will, definitely, bring you to buying this book, with this book letting that trend continue. Still, through its weak points, definitely pick this up if you can.