Review: Insurgent - Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Series: Divergent Trilogy #2

Genre: YA, dystopian

Published on May 1, 2012

Published by HarperCollins

Pages: 525

Read From: 8.20.12 - 8.24.12

Review

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Cover Blurb: I like the colors better than Divergent, but the cover honestly doesn’t do all that much for me either way. It’s cryptic, it’s kind of pretty while ominous at the same time, it’s . . . a cover.

What I Liked: The premise was interesting enough, and I liked some of the twists. Tris remains a relatively OK protagonist, and I do still like Four, for the most part.

What I Disliked: I really, really don’t like Four’s real name. I didn’t mind it so much in Divergent, but then I had to put up with it for an entire 525-page book, and that solidified my dislike for his name. The little episode with Tris and the “peace serum” was just silly, and I got so sick of all the emotional breakdowns. It’s like every single character decided that Insurgent would be a perfect time to be emotionally compromised. Yes, the events they go through would be traumatizing, but emotional breakdowns get in the way of a good adventure. That’s the beauty of fiction - you don’t have to have all of that annoying stuff get in the way. And as for Tris’s emotions . . . Couples do argue and disagree, but her and Four’s suddenly tense relationship just causes problems that would be avoidable if they just talked about things. And it would be traumatizing to shoot your friend, but it seemed to me a poorly veiled excuse for Tris to never have a gun, and when she did manage to have a weapon of some sort, she always lost it before she could use it.

Believability: Factions going to war with each other is believable, and the reason the factions were formed at all (as is revealed in the end) was interesting, but the one thing that makes it unbelievable is: totalitarian regimes are never formed through good intentions.

Writing Style: I don’t like present-tense, I don’t like present-tense, I don’t like present-tense. Every once in a while, it kind of, sort of works for a story, but not this one. It’s just annoying and super movie-ish. It also struck me that the majority of Insurgent takes place in one cafeteria or another. The characters are always getting lunch or dinner or breakfast, and they’re always meeting up in the cafeteria to talk or to brood, or the enemies hold them prisoner in the cafeteria.

Content: Four and Tris almost sleep together (pg. 48-49), but Tris stops herself in time.

Conclusion: This is what caused me to be so generous with my rating, because I did like the ending. It’s exciting and has lots of good revelations. As a whole, though, I didn’t like Insurgent as much as the first book. Too many emotions getting in the way of the story. I’m being generous with the rating, and I’m not entirely certain why.

Recommended Audience: Dystopian fans, girl read, older audience.

Others in This Trilogy:

1)Divergent

2)Insurgent
3)Allegiant