Review for Insurgent by Veronica Roth

WARNING
This is the second book in the Divergent Trilogy. Although this review will contain no big spoilers from Insurgent by talking about the plot there may be unintentional spoilers from the first book in the series. You can find my review for the first book Divergent here.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 1st May 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Amazon Summary:
"Fighting for survival in a shattered world… the truth is her only hope. The thrillingly dark sequel to New York Times bestseller, DIVERGENT. 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."

Review
Insurgent is the kind of sequel I’ve always dreamt of reading. Y’know when you read a really fabulous debut and you’re left dying to read the next book only for it to be kinda disappointing compared to the first? Well Insurgent isn’t like that AT ALL. Firstly there is NO love triangle something that is so overdone in YA fiction and tends to develop in the second book in a series. Secondly, like Divergent, Insurgent reads like a fully accomplished novel that is, whilst part of a series, a complete well rounded book in its own right. And lastly it answers ALL OF THE QUESTIONS fans have been dying to know and the answers breed new questions for the next book. In short it’s not the same plot repeated all over again or just one long dragged out premise. I think Insurgent has to be one of the strongest sequels I’ve ever read and I loved it even more than Divergent.

The book jumps in right where Divergent left off with no re-caps so if it’s been a while since you read Divergent you might want to fit in a re-read before picking up this book if your memory needs refreshing. Insurgent takes off at break neck speed when Tris, Tobias, Peter, Marcus and Caleb arrive at Amity headquarters seeking refuge from the war that is unfolding between the other factions. In Insurgent you really get to know each faction better as throughout the book Tris spends time in each one, you also learn more about the factionless and their way of life which I found really interesting as Veronica Roth’s factions are something completely different to other societies in dystopian fiction. All of the big questions get answered in this book like why Erudite are interested in the Divergent? Why the attack on Abnegation at the end of the first book took place? And perhaps biggest of all how the world came to be this way with each person being assigned to a faction in the first place?

As mentioned earlier this book doesn’t have a love triangle something I personally found hugely refreshing. Instead Tris and Tobias have their own ups and downs I wasn’t sure how I felt about this at first as no one wants to see one of their favourite couples arguing but as I read on it made their relationship feel that much more real to me and overall I believe made them even stronger as a couple.

Tris is a very different Tris to the one we met in Divergent. Whilst still being a total bad ass we see a softer side to her in this book. Tris’s grief over losing her parents and guilt over the death of her friend Will really takes its toll on her and she’s a little bit more fragile and vulnerable than she was before. I really liked this different side to Tris I thought it gave her more dimension as a character and I enjoyed watching her grow and find a new kind of strength. Despite everything she’s been through she’s still a total trooper and I had a new found respect for her because of that.

I won’t go into any spoilers on the ending of this book so all I will say is that my jaw literally dropped. The ending to this book blew my mind and I LOVE the direction that Veronica Roth has taken this series. Its genius and sad and terrifying and is different to anything else in the dystopian market. When I read the last word I just sat there mouth hanging open thinking about what this means and what might be to come. I don’t think that fans of Divergent could ever be disappointed with such a strong sequel; I loved everything about Insurgent and will anxiously be awaiting the next book to this series.