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

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Book One in the Divergent trilogy
Published March 1, 2011
ISBN: 0062077015

Review: 4/5

Cross reviewed on Goodreads

SPOILER FREE

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
 
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.  

I've heard so many wonderful things about Divergent: how it is compared to The Hunger Games and a few other Dystopian novels that I haven't put on my TBR list yet. I knew I needed to read The Hunger Games trilogy first, and then I could jump on board with Divergent to discover the phenomenon. Sure enough, I thoroughly enjoyed Veronica Roth's Dystopian society she created. 

At first, I didn't quite know what to think of Beatrice, or Tris (as her name becomes later). She wasn't exactly a great character to start. Kind of normal, ho-hum, going about her transition into the faction she chooses. Then, all the sudden, things pick up speed as Tris's world is turned upside down by a secret she is forced to keep from her family and her new faction members. The secret is what drives Tris to become better, for her to not risk exposing it, she must show that it doesn't control what she can do.

As Tris continues to rise through the ranks of the other sixteen-year-old initiates around her, she develops a close relationship with one of her instructors, an eighteen-year-old boy called Four. Here again is where Tris's motivations started to confuse me. She was always flip flopping over revealing her secret to Four because she's become close to him, but constantly falls back to what she was told about her secret...and how it was very dangerous for any one to know. While other readers might see that as the depth of her character, I saw it as an annoyance. I wanted a constant. I like knowing that a character is strong and reliable, but I know it's not always possible. Especially since Tris is only sixteen.

Finally, in the last quarter of the book, we learn what all this has been leading toward. This Dystopian government which is ruled by the five factions as not as solid as we are led to believe. No surprise there. There has to be a flaw, and it is here when it is revealed. Tris becomes one of the best in her class of initiates and it turns around to bite her in the ass. I'll say no more for now.

Divergent was an excellent read. The story reminded me of the depth The Hunger Games offered. The world Roth created is exciting and deadly, and to learn answers about herself, Tris finally exposes her secret. It is the beginning of a rebellion that will come full-swing in Insurgent, due out May 1, 2012.

Up next for review:

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher