Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Book Two in the Divergent Trilogy
Published May 1, 2012

Review: 5/5

Cross reviewed on Goodreads.

SPOILER FREE

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.

Insurgent has finally hit the shelves and I was so excited for the release. I was actually forcing myself to finish a previously started book so I can start Insurgent, even through it's release occurred during the time of the previous reading. Let me tell you, it was a struggle.

That aside, INSURGENT! Holy shit. Yeah, holy shit! Veronica Roth truly upped the stakes from Divergent and Insurgent completely takes a direction of its own. In my review of Divergent, I commented how it had the depth reminiscent of The Hunger Games. That is more true for Insurgent than Catching Fire, in my opinion. As the back flap preview reveals, war is upon the factions. Their conflicting ideologies culminated to the resolution of Divergent and now, Tris has so much to handle. For a sixteen year old girl, battling a love interest, the torturous events of Divergent's resolution, and now this war, Roth proved herself by developing Tris on a whole new level.

Tris is very well balanced in this book as compared to the first. And that is to be expected, I suppose. She now has all this conflict, enemies, new allies, and most importantly, secrets that will shape her future, speeding at her on a bullet train. However, she handled it wonderfully and not once did I think Tris was developing in way more than another. 

The most interesting part about Insurgent is all the new discoveries that are made. With this war brewing, which eventually comes to fruition (no surprise there, so I don't consider it a spoiler), Tris learns more about herself and family and what it really means to be an individual. But, not just an individual: one of the strongest and most capable Divergent minds in their population. The conclusion of Insurgent is so beyond my ability to tell without spoilers, that I simply have to leave you with this: 

The factions, for as long as they've existed, were simply a framework for something more massive that was, is and will be expected of all faction members who survive the war. Their ideologies, the structure of how they operate and ultimately what caused the war, is hinted in the resolution as the cure for the rest of the world's problems. And that is all I can say.

Insurgent is brilliant writing by Roth. The story and the characters take on a new level of depth, and the relationships in this book compared to Divergent is one of the most rewarding parts of reading it. Besides the amazing story and the fabulous world, it's the blooming and crumbling relationships of all the characters that made me devour this book. 

I eagerly await the third book in the trilogy, which now that I'm looking on the horizon and I can see where this is leading, I have a guess as to what the third title will be. I'm guessing Convergent, as some other readers have also guessed.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

Next up for review:
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare