Insurgent (Divergent, #2)

by Veronica Roth

Fighting for survival in a shattered world… the truth is her only hope.

The thrillingly dark sequel to No. 1 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.

• ISBN13: 9780007479900
• Publish Date: 1 May 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Harper Fire
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 576
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

Insurgent brings a bag of mixed feelings with it, though they are mostly positive. The story picks up right where Divergent leaves off and it kind of left me scrambling to remember what had happened, but it didn’t take long and before I knew it I was back in the faction-ed world of Tris Prior. Divergent was absolutely fantastic and I loved it…this one didn’t really live up to that and even though I’m giving it 4 stars it was a slight disappointment. I will say that it is probably mostly my fault, I had high expectations of it and so it’s not really surprising that it didn’t meet them but I still felt let down.

Insurgent is a slower paced book and at a staggering 525 pages I certainly felt it, however while it doesn’t have as much kick butt action in it, it does have a lot of psychological detail. This is a more in depth and deliberate book than Divergent and by the end of it I had no trouble figuring out people’s thought processes. The factions are in turmoil and lines that have been clearly drawn are turning into caverns between them. This is the part I liked more than Divergent, I loved that you get to see how people who react to suddenly being thrown into a situation where they have to rely on those they consider different. It’s an ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality to some of the factions and it causes some serious strain. Tris has a lot to deal with and I’m still amazed at her ability to hold it together when she needs to, even though it’s clearly hard for her to do so. The inclusion of Marcus in this story helps give some more back story on Four and some added tension. Another huge plus is seeing the other factions like Amity, Candor and Erudite in their true forms.

One of the down points for me was my disenchantment with Four (Tobias). He was so awesome in the first book, he had his flaws but I enjoyed who he was. Not so much now…I found myself wishing Tris would just leave him to sulk somewhere and get her act together. I understand why he is the way he is in this book and he’s fully justified, so it’s more of a personal turn off than anything else. I do like that their relationship is not all rainbows and posies, and they do have communication and trust issues. It gives them more depth, but at the same time I was practically yelling at them to shelve the theatrics because they had more important issues at hand. Of course Tris’ other relationships are also a bit strained because of the sudden crumble in society and I liked seeing her navigate those as well.

There are certainly enough twists and turns in this one and I found myself having to stop and let it absorb before moving on. Roth certainly took on a lot with Insurgent and it’s definitely worth the time, and dispite my issues with it I still really enjoyed it. The ending is one that still has me scratching my head a bit and I’m bummed out that I have to wait for the next one.

[ellieroth]

¡SANGRIENTA MIERDA SAGRADA!
¿Qué diablos come Veronica Roth para escribir tan bien?? ¡Qué me lo den a mí también!! ¿Qué poner cuando algo te gustó tanto?? Estoy en pleno ataque FanGirl.

Al empezar nos encontramos con una Tris un poco inestable, no sabe si está peleando o intentando matarse.

Me gustó mucho el ritmo de la historia, es rápido. Lo leí por partecitas para que me durará mucho… al menos esa era fue la idea original, pero una vez que empiezas a leer simplemente no puedes parar ¿Algunas vez has visto una película donde te vas pegando más y más a la pantalla sin darte cuenta? ¿O dejado de respirar inconscientemente? Este libro me tenía así: pegaba más y más la pantalla de mi eReader hacía mi rostro, incluso no quería parpadear para no dejar de leer. Sí, un poco loco, bueno, bastante demente, pero es que...

Reseña Completa: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

[thebookdisciple]

Harder o get through than book 1 but good

[zarahoffman]

Review posted at http://zarahoffman.com/blog/book-review-insurgent-by-veronica-roth

[elysium]

The book starts where the last one ended and Tris is grieving for her parents who died on Divergent. Dauntless has been divided into two and the brainwashed Dauntless soldiers are hunting for Tris and others who managed to escape. She’s feeling guilty about killing Will, which is causing problems when the traitors attack.
New alliances are made and they will also meet people from the past.

I loved Divergent and I was little worried how this would turn out but I’m happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

I like Tris and she’s a great heroine. She has weaknesses like everyone else and she’s trying to cope with everything that happened, and having hard time doing that. Unfortunately it also makes her kinda suicidal. She’s volunteering to every dangerous operation like she’s hoping she won’t survive. I think it went little too far and caused unnecessary strain in her relationship with Tobias (Four).

In the end I don’t think this was as good as Divergent but I did love it. And it was evil way to end a book but it makes me even more to looking forward to the next book!

[Amanda]

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4. I DON'T KNOW.

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2012/09/05/review-insurgent-by-veronica-roth/

I am so conflicted about this book that it took me ages to semi-decide on a rating. There were a lot of aspects that I liked in Insurgent, but there were also a lot of aspects that I disliked. Rather than doing a traditional review, I think I’m simply going to break it down into a list of likes and dislikes, as well as what I was so conflicted about. I promise to do my BEST to speak in the vaguest of terms to avoid spoilers. I assume the comments section will abound with them, though, so watch for that.

Dislikes

1. Tris, throughout approximately half of the book. *shakes Tris* I hate the “I’m so alone, I can’t tell ANYONE ANYTHING” angst.
2. THE CLIFFHANGER. I honestly had to reread the last few pages because I was all like, “WHA….???”
3. Insurgent didn’t grab me and pull me in the way Divergent did. If I hadn’t been reading with Kristilyn, I think I would have put it off more.
4. Feeling as though I had no idea what we real and what was not.
5. It was often difficult to keep up with ALL THE CHARACTERS.

Likes

1. Feeling as though I had no idea what we real and what was not. (Yes, this is both a like and dislike.)
2. Tris, for the other half of the book, where she finally “got it” and was being the strong, determined Tris I wanted.
3. THE KISSING, and how the “to do more than kissing or not” aspect was dealt with.
4. Getting MOAR INFORMATION at the end.
5. Despite what I didn’t like, I still read this in a single day. The book did recover itself.
6. The ending. Despite my dislike of the cliffhanger, I really feel like the ending saved the book for me.

My Conflicts

1. Tris and Four’s relationship.
2. The number of deaths.
3. What Divergent and divergence really mean for the world.

[Kelly]

I absoutely love this series. Eagerly awaiting the final book.

[Jyc]

★★★★ // still a great adventure novel, but why does love make people incredibly dumb all the time?

[Hixxup]

I so love this series I could see this series continuing on after the third book it has so much potential. But sadly there is only one more book left to go. I cannot wait until 2013 and the release of the last book. Because I'm so excited to read the conclusion to this story.

[Ashley]

As posted on booknook - YA and Fantasy book reviews

I wanted to like Insurgent so much more than I actually did. No, I wanted to love it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good book, it just wasn’t as z0mg amazing as I hoped it would be (until the last 50-100 pages).

Insurgent beings literally right where Divergent left off: with Tris, Four, Caleb, Marcus, and Peter on a train on their way to Amity. There is no recap of events from Divergent, no reminder of who’s who — nothing. or me that wasn’t an issue since I only read Divergent two months ago, but if it’s been like a year since you’ve read it, then check out Veronica Roth's recap of Divergent. She gives a brief overview of each character and reminds you of what happened at the end.

So, Insurgent is basically about the aftermath of Erudite’s attack on Abnegation. Tris, Four & co rush to Amity to look for support, but they’re turned down. So then they move onto Candor, where they once again get very little support. We’re reminded that Erudite is trying to wipe out the Divergent population (or find a way to make them succumb to simulations) and seize control over the factions. The Divergent threaten their ability to seize control, which is why they must be eliminated, or a new “Divergent serum” must be developed.

While reading Divergent, I got the impression that the Divergent were extremely rare and practically unheard of. That’s part of what made the book so exciting. Tris was special and unique.. maybe even one of a kind! But then in Insurgent, there are Divergent practically left and right.. or at least a lot more than I thought there were. I mean it makes sense that there would be a lot of people who don’t neatly fit into a box of bravery or honesty, etc., but it kind of ruined the magic for me. The whole idea just seemed a lot less special.

Now during the entire book, Tris seriously struggles with the fact that she shot and killed Will during the attack in Divergent. It was an act of self defense, but it still haunts her every day and makes her kind of weak and unstable. It’s certainly understandable, but it did annoy me a bit throughout the book. In Divergent I saw Tris as such a strong lead character, but her problems with accepting what she did made her a lot weaker in Insurgent. After a certain point I just wanted to shake her and tell her to get over it.

Furthermore, Tris and Four have some seriously annoying relationship problems. :( This disappointed me because I loved their relationship in Divergent. But in Insurgent, Tris and Four are constantly arguing and keeping secrets from each other. It gave me a bit of a headache! Their arguments were just so petty and I hated that they weren’t being completely open and honest with each other.

"He’s here to yell at me. He’s been keeping things from me."

About halfway in, things got better for me. There was less chatting, less politics, and more intensity. That’s when I started to really get excited about the book and was reminded about everything I loved in Divergent. There were still a few moments when I wanted to strangle Tris for lying to Four or keeping things from him, but not as many as in the first half of the book. Then, towards the end — the last 100 pages or so — I started to really love the book! It turned into a really terrific story with a lot of interesting ideas. We learn so much about the different factions, including the factionless. There are friendships (old and new), betrayals, and a few twists and turns that you might not see coming.

In summary, the first third of the book was a little “meh.” I was too annoyed with Tris and Four and the lack of action to really get into it. But things got a lot better and I ended up loving the second half of the book! It started to make up for all the things I disliked in the first half, and I’m definitely psyched for book #3! The end of Insurgent really leaves us hanging and sets a good stage for the third book. Maybe I’m overhyping it for myself again, but I’m really looking forward to the third book!