Title: Insurgent (Divergent #2)
by Veronica RothPublishing Info: May 1st, 2012 by HarperCollins
Source: Anderson's Bookshop
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: October 31, 2012
Related Posts: Divergent (Divergent #1)
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 sort of followed the same pattern that DIVERGENT did for me — I was like “Wow what an ending!” but I was still kind of confused on how I felt about the rest of the story. Once I was done, I spent hours thinking about it afterwards, but I was still confused on whether or not I was really enjoying it while I was reading. Okay — I didn’t mean that. I did enjoy it. Quite a bit, actually. But I still found myself hoping for more. I could never quite place myself in the story though I really, really wanted to.
Somehow I finish over 500 pages and I can’t quite come up with what to say about it. It felt very reminiscent of DIVERGENT to me and not quite like a separate story, although we do find out more secrets here and there and more about the other people who are Divergent like Tris which play into the major conflicts.
Overall, I just felt like I was missing something, that I just needed a little something more and I could never quite figure out what I was missing! It was still very enjoyable though with a nice surprise ending and actually lended a lot of ideas to me for my current NaNoWriMo project (and believe me, for how confused I am about INSURGENT right now, I find myself struggling to make this novel NOT sound like the DIVERGENT series! It really had an impact on me)!
Beatrice/Tris: Sadly, I think I was more annoyed by Tris in this book. I wanted her to get even stronger and instead, her little lover’s spats with Four started to get on my nerves. I mean, I guess they ARE teenagers, but still. Tris is a strong character and I wanted every aspect about her to grow even stronger.
Four: Same with Four. Enough about the fights with Tris. Be strong and save everyone from the Erudite!
Marcus: Is it bad that I kind of like Marcus in this book? I liked that we got to know him more outside of Four’s nightmares and I thought he became a really interesting character.
Read it
INSURGENT was enjoyable but I still find myself so torn. I can’t stop thinking about the book and yet I can’t think of what I really LOVED.
BOOKS LIKE INSURGENT
22 thoughts on “Insurgent (Divergent #2) – Veronica Roth”
How great that you got a signed copy! I really have enjoyed this series so far! The second book was pretty good too. I agree with you that Tris does get whiny sometimes. Anxious to see what they do with these in the movies they are making soon. Thanks for your thoughts!
I fell in love with Divergent and so I’m very excited to read Insurgent! My friend read it before me and he keeps trying to tell me what happens at the end, so the only way to shut him up is to read the book!
This book totally frustrated me to the point that I will most likely not finish the trilogy. The changes in the characters of Tris and Four irritated me to the point that I don’t even care what happens in the plot. I think my reaction was a little more severe than yours, but all the flaws you pointed out were ones that bothered me, too!
Always glad to hear someone agrees!!! I was really frustrated with the way the books are going. I like them well enough to finish the series, but I did not like how whiny Tris got! I think the whole time, something just doesn’t FEEL right. I can’t picture these things happening or it feels unnatural, and usually I fall right into dystopians. Hm. I guess we’ll see how book 3 goes when it comes out. I can fill you in 🙂 haha
At least I can count on you to go into book 3 with similar feelings to mine, so if you say it’s worth reading… MAYBE I’ll give it chance. I’ll have to get over how disappointing Insurgent was eventually, right?
Haha – I’d like to say yes, but not necessarily. I never got over being disappointed in Crossed and now I’m reading Reached and I’m struggling! Badly.
Oh boo! I liked Matched a lot, but held off on reading Crossed until Reached came out since I’d heard disappointing things about Crossed. Now I may just have to leave the series unfinished!
Oh no, I may have ruined it for you! Haha. But in all honesty, I now don’t think I can even recommend the series and I hate when that happens. I’m still hoping Reached picks up so I can feel better about it! I WANT to but we’ll see if I can.
I know what you mean about it ruining the series. I wish I’d stopped with book 2 of Jessica Darling. The last 2 books were so blah, I have a hard time remembering why I liked the series in the first place!
Oh no, I just bought the first one from the used bookstore!
The first two were great! So definitely read those!
Oh good! I’ll go as far as I can and we’ll see if I hit a wall in the series 🙂
I still haven’t managed to get to Insurgent yet. Your review has me very intrigued on what I will or won’t find.
Yup, that’s how I felt too. Wanting more, I guess? I also hate too many lovers spats. I mean, they were destined to be together, right? Just go with it, don’t fight it 🙂
Good job catching up on the series!
I haven’t gotten to this one yet! My husband has read it though and said the same things about it!
You’re kicking butt on Series: Catch Up. I haven’t read this series. I have heard amazing things about it, though.
I’m glad you did like it, I liked it a lot too but felt that there could have been a bit more to it as well, but hopefully the next book hits the spot!
I think it was hard for me to go from reading about this totally badass Tris to this weepy Tris. Like I got it, she was upset over killing Peter, but her pain never seemed to end. However, maybe if she didn’t feel bad it wouldn’t have seemed realistic? Yeah, there was something about it that just didn’t move me like Divergent did, but I still left wanting more!
This review has perfect timing! I’ve been going back and forth between deciding if I should read this next or not, and I think I’m going to hold off for the time being.
I was so excited to get to it and when I was done reading, I just couldn’t pinpoint how I felt about it. Maybe I got too excited!
I loved insurgent an unlike ou though found it might have even been better on some level than Divergent. I hear what you mean about Tris and Tobias always fighting was a bit annoying I’m jut hoping in the next book they are a bit more sure about each other and each others choices to show a united front.