Insurgent, Veronica Roth

Book: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth Her Site
Series: Divergent (#2)
Genre: Dystopian/YA Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Moral: 4/5

One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

I read it... And I absolutely adored it! Veronica Roth can write one killer book. Even when I first started the book and realized it was full of Tris+Four romance I couldn't stop reading, and as Veronica said, "To all those people who are saying romance overpowers the book, its supposed to." Read More Here. I have to agree.*Third book, I will steel you if I have to, so watch out.* Tris proved her strength in book one, but in Insurgent, you really got to watch her character develop  and she got stronger. I can't wait to read book three because I know she is stronger now, and she understands what is important  Her narrative is beautiful. 

The Plot:

Veronica Roth has a post on her blog, here, she talks about one of her writing tools being a "backpack". In this post she says "imagine that you are about to embark upon a twenty mile hike through the wilderness, and you have to fit everything you need into one backpack. Do you want to bring your hair dryer? Uh, no. First of all, because there aren't any plugs. Second of all, because no one's going to see you. And third, and most importantly, because it will take up space in your already cramped backpack, and it's completely unnecessary." So if you put this as a writer, it pretty much means, leave out the stuff you don't need. If it doesn't help the plot, don't use it. I saw her backpack at work in Insurgent (and I plan on using it myself). It helped the plot flow, so I wasn't skipping over half of the book like I often do (sad but true). The plot itself was hard to understand. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to focus on Tris' mental development, or stopping the terriable people who were taking over the 'not faction' civilization. The beginning was slow. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, and neither was the main character. In the end everything worked out.

The Characters:

Tris is the most well developed throughout the story character I have ever meet. She can get on my nerves, seem ridiculous, ornery and stuck up, but I never stopped loving her. The intense, realistic and unique girl Veronica has written continues to amaze me. Four became a snob. One that I didn't like. The only thing he added to the story was a road block for Tris and romance. I was very annoyed by his presence, even though the romance was original to the plot. I was unsure about some of the other characters, and I hope Veronica paid more attention to the rest while writing Allegiant.  

The Setting:

Instead of the orderly factions in book one, everything is mostly chaos. Whats left of the Amity faction seems peaceful and almost like the books own paradise. Sadly, stuff like that never lasts. In  chapters the Amity had to flee into the chaos. So then you are back to trains, old buildings and the ravine. 

The Standout:

Regret. It is something that everyone deals with. Some on different levels. Veronica tackled this emotion in Insurgent and came out strong. Not only did it help to develop Tris' character, it was something people everywhere can compare with. Tris had to learn to move on, and that was gut-wrenching.(SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ BOOK ONE!!) The anger she had at herself for killing Will was mind blowing and depressingly realistic. 

The Moral:
Insurgent was more mature. Everyone is older mentally and physically. Tris is forced to take more responsability upon herself, and she also has to learn about fogiveness. These are both good morals and I loved how they were portrayed in the book. The romance was heavy, as I mentioned above. There was lots of making out. Other than that, Veronica isn't one to swear unless it is useful. Adored the book!