Review | Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent
Veronica Roth
Divergent #2
Published May 1, 2012 by Harper Teen
YA dystopian/adventure
4 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Insurgent is just as thrilling and action-packed as Divergent. Fans of the previous book will be quickly drawn in by this spectacular sequel.

King-Sized Review
Sometimes the second book in a trilogy falls a little flat. The author treats it as a bridge to the conclusion rather than a story in itself, and the entire book consists only of setup for the ending. I have to admit, I was a little worried about this possibility when I started Insurgent.

It's okay, though. Insurgent is awesome.

Insurgent is so awesome that I read it in one sitting. Not one day (although okay, yes, it was one day), but I literally sat down and did not get up until I finished the book. It is utterly action-packed, with barely enough time to grasp one thing before it moves you right along to the next fight. The pace was simply brilliant; maybe if I'd had time to sit down and think for a few minutes I would have gotten more than a vague idea of what the big reveal was, but as it was, my predictions were always distracted by the next scene.

The story starts off right where Divergent left off, with basically no time spent on recapping. Luckily, Veronica Roth has written a background post for everyone who read Divergent months ago and forgot a lot of the details, and I used this resource a lot in the first few pages. After that I got sucked into the story and forgot about the post, not to mention all of the internet.

Insurgent doesn't really seem like a YA book. Every time someone mentioned that Tris was only sixteen, I thought, "Wait. Really?" The characters in this book have a maturity born of hardship and pain, and don't at all act like teenagers most of the time. In some cases, that might be difficult to believe, but here it never seems fake because of all they've been through. While there is a little bit of drama, it's terribly minor in comparison with everything else that happens, which is something I definitely appreciated.

This is a pretty dark book, though of course it has some great comic relief. Bad things happen. Parts are shocking, though some of it wasn't much of a surprise. I really can't wait to see what Ms. Roth has in store for us next. I'm sure it will be spectacular.

Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Excellent

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