Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth is the aftermath of a rebellion, where the truth may be their only hope… 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.

Summary

The book starts off where it left in Divergent with Tobias, Tris, Peter, Caleb and Marcus on the train, they reach amity, which is turned into a safe house for all abnegation and Dauntless refugees as long as there is peace between them. Later, Tris overhears Marcus talking to the Amity leader, referring to some secret information which the abnegation government were trusted with. Later when Tris confronts him about it, he refuses to tell her anything. After her meeting with Marcus, Tris sees dauntless traitors and Erudite arriving and warns the abnegation and dauntless.

The refugees take on the yellow colours of Amity and try their best to blend in with the rest of the faction, however, they are soon discovered when the guards discover Tobias’s tattoos. Soon a gunfight breaks out among the dauntless and dauntless traitors, while the erudite aims her gun at a man who happens to be Peter, and Tris lunges him out of the way; incidentally saving his life.

Tris, Tobias, Caleb and Susan Black escape and climb aboard a dauntless train which they find full of factionless. They are immediately outnumbered by the armed factionless. They are about to shoot the four when Tobias tells them his name and the group are taken to the factionless home. They are surprised to find the factionless had made a community in which they all seemed happy. They are taken to their leader which turns out to be Tobias’ mother, Evelyn, who was thought to be dead.

When everybody is asleep, Tris overhears a conversation between Tobias and Evylen, in which she is requesting the dauntless and factionless to ally and takedown erudite. The next day, Caleb and Susan decide to remain and the factionless safe house, and Tris and Tobias journey on to Candor headquarters where more loyal dauntless are said to be staying.

When they reach Candor headquarters, they immediately arrested and put into trial by truth serum their they are asked questions Infront of the entire faction, while under the influence of the serum. this breaks apart Tobias and Tris’s relationship, leaving the readers wondering how it will all end. Meanwhile, Jeanine Mathews has something else in mind which includes experimentation, execution and covering up the truth…

Review

This book has been absolutely phenomenal and I cannot justify how much I have loved reading this book. Veronica Roth has put her blood, sweat and emotion into this one and it really shows. I had to get hold of this book after the big cliff hanger in the ending of divergent. The book picks up immediately after we left off and I am still in tears. Tris has a complete makeover not only in looks but in personality as well, from the short hair to the sacrificing lifestyle. But the biggest change in the book is overall the relationship between Tobias and Tris. Tris has lost almost everything she cared about in one day, her family, her best friend, her closest friend, and half the abnegation faction. The only thing she has to keep her going is her relationship with Tobias, and after a while, it all starts crumbling and she wishes she could join her parents instead of deal with the crumbling world she is in now.

Just reading her progress through the book is heart-wrenching; Veronica Roth has a way of writing, which makes simple acts feel unbearable to read. This is probably the most conflicting book I have reads so far. As I am really involved in the plot in there are still so many questions which are left unanswered from Divergent. However, I cannot bring myself to read Tobias and Tris fighting. Although it is hard to read, I feel it makes their relationship seems more realistic and that just adds more effect to the book as a whole.

Adding on to my previous point, the plot and storyline in this book are designed in such it way, it just wants to make you keep reading. The fact that their world has fallen apart just keeps the action going and what will happen after the war is over. But the way everything is happening at once, makes the plot grasp you and pull you in; it’s so unpredictable that as it keeps changing. More and more secrets reveal themselves throughout this book, it was impossible to not read on. And even down to the way the book progresses, reflects the main goal in the climax, the truth.

But to be honest, I cannot expect anything less from Insurgent, after all, its set in a dystopian world which tells you that the world has already ended and on top of that their present already broken world is being torn apart. That can only lead to a climatic book which has twists and turns at every corner. I felt hungry for answers about the past as I read every chapter. And when the truth did come out in the end, it just left me with even more answers than before. This book is a bag of satisfying frustration.

The relationship between Tobias and Tris is probably the most urgh things about the book. I cannot see how their relationship went crashing but Veronica Roth has certainly pulled are heartstrings with this one. After visiting Candor headquarters both Tris and Tobias were asked to spill their biggest regrets and I couldn’t have cried more in that scene. Although Beatrice is still the main character, a majority of this book is based around discovering more about Tobias and his family, who were either traitors or dead. The whole thing has left me in a puddle of frustration, laughs and tears.

“We both have war inside us. Sometimes it keeps us alive. Sometimes it threatens to destroy us.”

There is conflict on both sides from Tris and Tobias. That is partly the reason they are soulmates, they are both broken on the inside, it’s hard to ignore. On the inside, they are both fighting their own wars and like the quote, they are tearing them up on the inside out. This what makes their relationship seem so real, the way Tobias hates Tris for just throwing her life away, and Tris is mad at him, as she cannot ignore that little piece of abnegation left in her. Even though they started off in the same faction, and transferred to dauntless. It’s the journey from point a to b that ears the apart as it brings them together. In perfect honesty, their relationship at the end of the book is confusing and complicated, to say the least…

This book is the following genres: Dystopia, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Adventure, Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic and Action. I recommend this book to readers between the ages of 12 and 19 years old.

Warning, this book ends in a cliffhanger!

In Conclusion, I give this book a five out of five for leaving me in a puddle of frustration, laughs and tears. Perfect from start to end!

About the Author

Veronica Roth is an American Novelist and a New York Times best-selling author of the famous Divergent series (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four: A Divergent Collection). She has also written many other books including The Carve the Mark duology (Carve the Mark, the Fates Divide), The End and Other Beginnings collection of short fiction, and many other essays. she is currently living in Chicago.