I haven't been reading as much lately, so I decided to ease myself into reading mode with an audio book. I have been putting off reading the rest of the
Divergent series because I've heard a few people say that the second and third books are underwhelming compared to the third.
Memorable quotes:
“Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you.”
“The truth has a way of changing people's plans.”
“People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.”
Insurgent by Veronica Roth is the second book in the Divergent series. This is the book summary from Veronica Roth's blog:
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.
Let me just start by saying that I agree with what a lot of people told me before reading this book. I did find it just a little underwhelming. I didn't hate it by any means, but the first book was so fast-paced and action-packed. This booked contained a lot more planning for attacks and strategic dialogue. Not a bad thing, just different. I was hoping for more edge-of-my-seat action.
One thing I did love about the book is that it picked up right where Divergent left off. I like when authors do this because some authors spend way too much time recapping the story from the first book. I'm a firm believer in thinking this is unnecessary. If someone wants a recap, then they can just go read the first book.
The main character, Tris, actually started getting on my nerves a bit. I understand that she just lost her parents at the end of the first book, but her reaction to everything happening around her was not very Dauntless. It's like she developed a death wish and just started being careless about all of her actions. She was pretty selfish throughout most of the book, and I really started getting annoyed by her.
I did enjoy the up and down of Tris and Tobias's relationship. It wasn't the main focus of the book, but there was a lot more focus on it in this novel compared to this first. Tris was being kind of dim about Tobias pretty much the whole time. I mean, give the guy a break. You know you can trust him; just tell him your plans! I don't know why she kept feeling the need to lie to and keep things from him. Clearly I'm Team Tobias in this situation. He's still my favorite character.
I had a few up and down emotions throughout the book. Like I said, it's not action-packed like the first book, but there was enough action to keep me intrigued and make me want to keep listening. I had a lot of inner battles trying to decide who and who not to trust and whose side I should be on. There's also a bunch of character development in this book. Yeah, you learn a lot about Tris and Four, but you also find out so much about Marcus, Peter, Tina and a mystery character that I don't want to reveal here, but it was a shocker when I found out about her (there's a hint. It's a girl.).
The only part that I was really sitting at attention for was the very end. I don't want to give anything away, but there were about a million different sides to be on in this book, and all of the main characters were on different sides, fighting for different things, and I was most interested in what Tris was fighting for. That whole debacle was very confusing to me, and I'm really interested in finding out the importance of what was found at the end of this book.
I give this book a 4 out of 5. There was a lot of new information to keep up with in this book because, like I said, everyone was fighting for different things. Compared to the first book, Insurgent is a bit of a let down, but I think it's still worth reading. I'm excited to see how Roth decided to end the series.
For more information about Veronica Roth and the Divergent series, go check out her blog or follow her on Twitter!
