Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent

by Veronica Roth

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian

Series: Divergent #2

Source: Purchased

Book 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.

Definitely better than the first book. Insurgent opens up the world and gives us a peek at the other factions, specifically Amity and Candor. Amity is my favorite faction, so I enjoyed getting to see them up-close, even if they too have major flaws.

But that peace serum they make? I think Tris needs to be on it all the time. She’s so much easier to like that way.

I liked her better in this one, even when she was spinning out of control and alienating everyone. And I especially liked her more when she finally got it together

The Candor truth serum sounded terrifying in Divergent, but we get to see it in use here, and you know what? I think it’s awesome. I wish it existed. So many problems are created by dishonesty, especially in this book, that Candor started to look really appealing, even if their leadership was composed of spineless idiots.

We get more character interaction here, which I always like. We get to know the Dauntless-born initiates better and even some characters from unexpected factions become allies and friends.

Oh, and the factionless! I still think it’s weird they exist. This world was supposed to be a utopia, with a place for everyone, so why so many displaced? Perhaps things would have worked better if there had been fewer or no factionless. Either way, it was cool getting to meet them.

The thing about this series: I like it intellectually, but I don’t love any of the characters. I’m not sure why, but it’s a shame.

And like many people, I wish I’d stopped reading at Insurgent.