Synopsis:
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.
Review:
After having not been immersed in the Divergent world since the first book came out last year, I had qualms about diving headfirst into Insurgent without refreshing myself with the basic events that happened prior to the start of this novel. However, having neither the time nor the care for rereading a book with this enticing, new, fresh book lying in front of me, I decided to be a Dauntless and take the risk (small risk, but hey, it's the thought that counts).
My first thought? That rereading Divergent would have been unnecessary in the fact that Insurgent picked up right where Divergent left off and had enough continuity to it that I slowly but surely picked up all the dormant pieces of information that I needed to know for this book. The action picks up right away, and my worries for this book, the middle book of this trilogy, were completely blown away with the events that happen. Oftentimes the second book of a trilogy slows down and loses some, if not a lot, of the pacing of the first book, only for the climax and the denouement to pick up drastically in the finale. Insurgent, however, did not disappoint me in that way.
I loved so many things from this novel, many of which I will point out below:
FOCUS OF THE NOVEL:
Come on, I didn't read Insurgent for its romance. It's obviously a perk, of course, but the romance between Tobias and Tris isn't the main focus of the novel, not at all. The conspiracies, the conspiracies within the conspiracies, and the struggle between choosing what feels right and what logically is right is oftentimes employed here that makes you want to read further and further to see who's really the good guy. And then somewhere along the way, you realize that the good guy may not be the nicest guy. I think Roth aptly puts this to justice when she writes: "And while he has done cruel, evil things, our society is not divided into “good” and “bad.” Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind." The multilayers to every action and every character makes you stop and think of the macro events, which is what I believe books should truly be about.
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