Veronica Roth – Insurgent

Veronica Roth – Insurgent
The blurb:I HAVE DONE BAD THINGS.
I CAN’T TAKE THEM BACK,
AND THEY ARE PART OF WHO I AM.

Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.

Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever… because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.
My rating: 4/5
Tagged: young adult, dystopia, romance, science-fiction
Date I started this book: 02/05/16
Date I finished this book: 05/05/16

What did I think? Insurgent is the second book in Veronica Roth’s amazing Divergent series and I admit, I started it the moment I finished Divergent, desperate to know what happened next. Insurgent paints a bigger picture of the world, giving us a chance to learn more about the other factions and their members. Equally intriguing for me was the development of Tris and Tobias’ relationship. I loved how Divergent ends with Tobias’ confession of love, but just as Divergent wasn’t a love story, neither is Insurgent; Roth is not to be distracted by their relationship and doesn’t lose focus from the main point of the story.

However, by far the best part of Insurgent is the secret. We learn quite early on that Marcus is keeping a rather large secret that will affect the entirety of the world in which they live and may even be behind the war. The secret generally remains in the background of the story, but Roth brings it to the foreground on occasion, tantalising and tempting, reminding the reader that there is still a lot we don’t know. Yet the biggest thing this secret does is differentiate it from similar dystopian books. It makes the Divergent series stand out because there is now more to this series than overthrowing a corrupt leader and therefore also establishes the point of the trilogy.

If you’ve read Divergent, read Insurgent. It is just as good as the first. Many sequels don’t live up to the first book (the Hunger Games trilogy is a good example of this), but Insurgent is different. It isn’t repetitive as some sequels are; it has a point all of its own that leads nicely on from Divergent, using Divergent as a solid foundation on which to build. It does take a while to get into it so if it doesn’t grip you immediately, don’t worry. The second half absolutely makes up for this. It is infectious and impossible to put down.