Book Review-Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

 Author: Veronica Roth

Series:  Divergent #2

Published:  1 May 2012

Length: 525 pages

Warnings: violence 13+

Source: Publisher for review

Other info: I totally loved book one Divergent (review here)

Summary : 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 ecause more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.

Review: Ever since I finished Divergent, I wanted to know what would happen next. I also hoped that book two would be just as good as book one, something that happens less often than not. Luckily, with Divergent/Insurgent, I was not disappointed.

You definitely have to have read Divergent-it jumps straight into the action with very little flashbacking to the events of the previous novel. Which is good, but when it’s been a year since you’ve read book one, it takes a little time  to get used to it.

There is so much packed into the 525 pages that it’s surprising that it’s surprising It’s not longer. There isn’t a moment in the whole novel when Tris is not on the run, about to be executed, being forced to do something she’d rather not, and generally trying to stay alive. Everything happens in such quick succession, there just isn’t a convenient place to stop. Not even the end.

I’m glad we get to see more of Candor and Amity, the factions that Tris didn’t have aptitude for, because they wee fairly overlook in Divergent. In Insurgent, they get their fair share of coverage which sets us up nicely  for what we might be getting in book three.

There’s a huge amount of characters in this, a few new, mostly recurring and most  in different lights to what we had in book one.  Some of them were a little hard to keep up with, especially with similar names. It’s also a little confusing with Tris going back and forth between factions in various states of captivity. However, it was easy though to fill in gaps.

Once again, the writing is great. It details everything and gives all the characters their own personality, their secrets, and strengths and weaknesses.

The thing that got me most was the way that Veronica managed to make me feel for all the characters when they die. Especially the minor ones. General thought processes: somebody major dies-good for them. Somebody we’ve seen for a couple of pages dies-NO NO NO WHY. And considering I don’t normally care about character deaths, that’s saying something.

And the ending. What a cliffhanger. And now we have to wait another year or so for the third and final book. Damn.

Overall:Strength 5 tea. It’s difficult to top Divergent. Insurgent  did.   

Links: Amazon | TheBook Depository | Goodreads | Author website |