Insurgent (Divergent, #2)

by Veronica Roth

I enjoyed Divergent. It was an amazing story and because of this I had high expectations for Insurgent. Unfortunately, Insurgent was a let down and destroyed most of the things that I loved in the Divergent.

Tris
Divergent Tris was totally different to Insurgent Tris. In Divergent, Tris was a cool character who allowed no-one to define her and control her.In Insurgent, Tris is trying to come to terms with her parents death and the fact that she killed Will. I understood that these occurrences would affect her and change her, but I didn't expect it to destroy her. It made Tris seem weak and I was extremely frustrated with her. At some point, I screamed at the book and told Tris to get over it. What angered me was that she continued to do stupid and impractical things and she hides the truth from the people that she loves by lying to them, when it's totally unnecessary.

Tris and Four's Relationship
Tris and Four's Relationship was something that I rooted for in Divergent. Tris and Tobias treated each other as equals, believed in each others strength and protected each other. But in Insurgent, Tris and Tobias started arguing over petty things, mainly because they were keeping secrets from each other. To mend their quarrels, they would make-out, which annoyed me to no-end. At some point, I just couldn't take it anymore and wanted them to break-up.

Being Divergent
In Divergent, being Divergent was like being a rare species. People who were Divergent were dangerous, feared and special. In Insurgent, it seemed as though being divergent was a chemical in the air that people breathed in. I do understand that people won't always fit a certain personality trait, but it made being Divergent seem cheap and common.

The Awesomeness that occurred too late
Even although Insurgent lacked Divergent sass, it picked up at about the 300 page mark. All the action (which Roth knows how to write), twists and turns, fights, betrayal, friends made, friends lost and a huge body-count was crammed into these last pages.

A brief summary of how I felt
The first half of the book annoyed me and made me want to scream, but the last quarter of the book, even with all its faults, reminded me why I loved Divergent so much. Hopefully Allegiant will be able to turn my feelings of Insurgent around.