Review for Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (Divergent #2)
By Veronica Roth
Published by HarperTeen
Bought Hardback
525 pages

 "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." - Goodreads

After I finished Insurgent, I ranted and raved how much I loved it (sorry Twitter). It blew my mind and that's saying something because my mind had previously been blown by Divergent. Insurgent has serious Author Brain characteristics (all credit goes to Small for the term!) Don't get me wrong, I loved Divergent just a little bit more but together they are an amazing pair.

These characters will grow on you, they will dig their way into your mind and set up camp... days after reading I still have them in my head. They have become that real to me and my emotions are completely invested in this series. Tris, she goes through some really rough times and how does she come out? Stronger than ever. She learns and fights till the end. Its one of the best character growths I've seen. Although I understand where she was coming from, I was disappointed that she kept lying though. As for Tobias, he has to put up with a lot and he has his personal skeletons to deal with but no matter what he keeps strong. Together, their relationship is rocky but it goes deeper... after all they experience they are still together. They build on their mistakes and their relationship has seriously gone to the next level so much so that I truly believe their "I love you's". One of the best fictional couples ever. I love them to pieces!

Insurgent had me smiling ("happy" serum scene anyone? Where Tris is at Amity headquarters?) but mostly it had me clinging to its pages breathless. There is a lot of action and a lot happens. We get to see into different factions and layer upon layer of the society is being revealed to us. The world building still amazes me. This society Roth has created was clearly thought out to the slightest detail. Be warned once you start reading, you won't reemerge until the end! And then your jaw will drop because of the cliff hanger ending (once you recover you might have the slight side effect of repeatly saying, "no,no,no,no,no it can't end, no,no....). 

Again, I highly recommend this series (of course if you are younger mabye not because of all the deaths)! It's a series you don't want to miss out on, Veronica Roth has a brilliant talent!

Excerpt

"Four!" I call out. Why am I calling out a number? Oh yes. Because that's his name. I call out again, "Four! Where are you?"

"Tris?" says a voice from the trees on my right. It almost sounds like the tree is talking to me. I giggle, but of course it's just Tobias, ducking under a branch.

****

"What did they-" he starts, but I stop him with my lips. He kisses me back, but too quickly, so I sigh heavily.

"That was lame," I say. "Okay, no it wasn't, but..."

"Tris," he says. "What did they do to you? You're acting like a lunatic."

"That's no very nice of  you to say," I say. "They put me in a good mood, that's all. And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax-"

"I'm not going to kiss you. I'm going to figure out what's going on," he says.

****

"What did you do to her?" Tobias says, terse. "What in God's name did you do?"

"I..." Johanna frowns at me. "They must have given her too much. She's very small; they probably didn't take her height and weight into account."

"They must have given her too much of what?" he says.

"You have a nice voice," I say.

"Tris," he says, "please be quiet."

"The peace serum," Johanna says. "In small does, it has a mild, calming effect and improves the mood."

***

The serum wears off five hours later.... Tobias shut me in my room for the rest of the day, checking in on me every hour. This time when he comes in, I am sitting on the bed, glaring at the wall.

"Thank God," he says, pressing his forehead to the door. "I was beginning to think it would never wear off and I would have to leave you here to...smell flowers, or whatever you wanted to do while you were on that stuff."
"I'll kill them," I say. "I will kill them."

 

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