Review - Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

Series: Divergent #2
Author: Veronica Roth
Release Date: May, 2012

Pages: 525, Hardcover

Goodreads Rating: 4.3 stars

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

My Content Rating: PG-16 (No more than kissing, but some intense violence)

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

*This review contains spoilers for Divergent (book #1 in this series).*

Insurgent is just as exhilarating as Divergent, full of twists and turns that will make your head spin!

The book starts up exactly where Divergent left off, with Tris, Tobias and company on a train, headed toward Amity, looking to regroup after the horror of the attack on Abnegation.  But, they aren't able to stay there long - they must figure out how to defeat the Erudites and bring peace back to their society.  Unfortunately, that's easier said than done, especially now that the Dauntless have become divided and since Tris and Tobias don't know who they can trust - can they depend on the other factions to help them?  What about the Factionless, who are stronger than Tris ever imagined?  There are no easy answers, especially when so many faction leaders hold secrets - secrets that might change everything!

The negatives:

• Tris and Tobias' fight.  One of my pet peeves is when the main couple in a book are kept apart simply because they won't talk to each other.  It always feels slightly contrived to me - like the author needed to split the couple apart for romantic tension, so she just has them keep all their feelings bottled up inside so that the problems can't possibly be resolved.  This did happen to some extent in this book.  But I will give Roth some credit because she at least gave her characters some realistic motivation for keeping things to themselves - Tris is eaten up by guilt about killing Will and she can't bring herself to talk about it.  I wish that they hadn't been in a stalemate for quite so long or that Tris had just fessed up and told everyone (including Tobias) the truth, but this is just a personal issue that I have with this type of conflict.

What I LOVED:

• Everything that I loved about Divergent.  I could almost sum up my review with this one statement.  In Insurgent took everything I loved about Divergent and continued it - or amplified it.  Once again, I was completely entranced by the story and engaged by the characters.  I loved Tris and Tobias, even in their failings.  They are both still complicated heroes that are struggling to do their best in a world that makes no sense.  I was thrilled that we got to learn more about the dystopian society that Roth created - she gave us a really satisfying glimpse into the other factions in this book.  We also get more answers about the simulations and what the Erudites want with the Divergent.  And I LOVED that the book was filled with action and had so many twists and turns that I'm surprised I don't have whiplash.  I did not see any of this stuff coming!!  Really - how did I not see it coming?  This book left me breathless - couldn't put it down (luckily it was an easy day and I didn't have to)! 
• The mystery.  At the end of this book, we are left with some answers to the real mysteries about this society.  But we're introduced to a whole new set of questions, leaving me dying to read Allegiant!!

Insurgent is an excellent second book in the Divergent trilogy, giving us more of everything we came to expect from Roth!    4.5/5 stars.