Insurgent

Publishing her award winning trilogy Divergent in 2011 Veronica Roth has gone on to write the rest of the series including Insurgent. The author has written with integrity showing readers consequences of their actions, revolutions and how our society could end up being with corrupt government officials. This book analyzes how the government can affect the society in tremendous ways but also displays how one person can change everything. Shown in the late teenage protagonist Tris Prior is the mental health effects caused by revolution and how bad it can be face punishment. Because she creates Tris and Tobias as complex characters while showing their developments throughout the story, Veronica Roth accomplishes informing the readers about consequences of making wrong choices and how future society can be while entertaining them with revolution. The novels starts with Tris Prior with Tobias Eaton and the rest of the remaining council members on the train heading to the welcoming arms of Amity in post apocalyptic Chicago. After surviving the Dauntless attack lead by Jeanine, Tris has to find shelter where she will not be exposed. But instead Tris forced to leave Amity in search for a new home. Throughout this time she struggles with her mental health and her relationship with her brother Caleb and boyfriend Tobias. She finds herself with the Candor and Factionless who leaders she can not seem to trust. Being attacked again by Jeanine and her minions she finds out that all the citizens were hit with a simulation serum. While under the simulation they let out a message saying for the Divergent (Tris) to surrender herself or everyday three new people will die. Tris is left with the choice to give herself up and be executed or continue leading the revolution she started. Roth relies on major character development to show just how bad it can be to deal with the effects of your actions and that it can get better. The novel shows how badly Tris’ mental health is affected by her killing her friend. She explains on her way to her execution, “ I felt assured of my long lifespan, if nothing else. Now there are no reassurances, except that where I go, I go because I choose to” (Roth 318). Killing Will and having the rest of her family be dead forces her to no longer care about her life and in fact disregard it. Saying “I felt assured of my long lifespan” tells the readers just how much she disregards her life. However, on the execution table Tris finally realizes that her life is worth living and that she must finish was she started. Laying on the table she internally screams, “I don’t want to die!” (Roth 383). She finally grows into the fighter she is supposed to be and realizes she has to live in order to finish what she started. Having her thoughts change shows the mental development she goes through in order to change the way she thinks. Roth teaches readers the effects the actions they can do can affect not only others but themselves too by using major character development. Despite what Tris is going through, Roth changes the story by having her brother Caleb switch over to the side Tris is trying to destroy. This entertains the readers with a thrilling an unexpected plot twist but also shows minor character development. In the beginning while talking to Tobias, also referred to as Four, Caleb questions “And you don’t think you’re too old to be with my little sister?” (Roth 17) By using the word “little” Caleb displays how much she cares about the well being of his sister and that she isn’t ready for everything because of how young she is. Having this protective sense over his little sister shows just how much he cares about her. Unfortunately, later in the book Caleb ends up helping Jeanine in using and killing his little sister. In her cell, Caleb walks in and is talking to Tris about how she is helping with the advancement of science. He tells her how her death is for the greater good to which Tris replies with, “I’ll still think delivering your sister to be prodded and executed is evil” (Roth 386) Using the words “delivered” and “evil” shows just how much Caleb has changed and that he willing gave up his sister instead of protecting her like he did earlier in the book. This shows just how majorly minor character development affects the plot of the story and how entertaining it is for the reader. Without having major family drama and plot twist, the story would have been just like any other Young Adult Dystopian novel. To add to the story Roth uses Text to Text and Text to World connects to make the story more exciting. Connecting to other stories and to what is happening makes the reader feel that the book is relating to him. On the train on there way to Candor, Tris and Tobias run into the factionless and describe how they act towards others. Tris explains, “A factionless man with an eye patch has a gun pointed at Tobias” (Roth 89). The factionless are basically the equivalent of the homeless in our society....

Cut to the Chase:This is the second novel in Roth’s dystopian trilogy with rhyming titles (which Lauren Oliver has also done with Delirium/Pandemonium/Requiem, leaving me to wonder both who is copying whom and what the title of the third in this series might possibly be; the best I can come up with is Detergent). It picks up right where Divergent left off (I’ll save the spoilers for the next section) and continues to follow Tris as she struggles to understand what being Divergent means for her and where she fits in. This book has some of the same problems as Divergent, namely leads who are less-well characterized than the excellent supporting cast and too much time spent on the trying, repetitively conflictual love story between them. And like its predecessor, it has a lot of violence, some graphic, and some light teen sexuality (kissing and touching). It earns a half-star higher review from me because Roth really comes into her own here; unlike her first book, no one could accuse Insurgent of being a The Hunger Games wannabe. The plot is all hers, and it’s excellent and well-executed. I can’t wait for the third in this series, whatever the name may be.Greater Detail (Spoilers):Tris has, in one very bad day, lost both her parents and shot and killed a close friend while he was under the influence of the Erudite simulation. A recurring theme from this book is her difficulty processing this trauma, and Roth seems to be trying to depict her as having PTSD — except Roth doesn’t seem to know what PTSD actually looks like, which is irritating for those of us who do. At any rate, Tris finds herself unable to fire guns, which is a bit of a problem given that she’s now in the middle of a war.Tris and the other survivors of the Erudite attack spend some time regrouping in the Amity and Candor headquarters, which gives us a chance to see parts of the world that weren’t as well described in Divergent. World building continues to be a strength for Roth; each compound is unique and not at all flat. Tris et al. also encounter the factionless, who are not at all the miserable, lost souls advertised. We get more of Tobias/Four’s backstory, including a greater role for both of his parents (oh yeah…mom’s not actually dead after all…). He and Tris are both dealing with some heavy emotional baggage, which Roth takes as license to have them continually hide things from one another in a very tiresome way as they each try to decide where their loyalties lie and struggle to believe that their partner would still love them if they only knew X.The main plot of the book is the war between the factions and the attempt to end the Erudite hold on the city, and it’s extremely well executed and not at all predictable. Tris becomes a bit stronger as a character and undergoes some growth as she tries to decide whom to trust and what’s worth fighting for, but I still really struggled to like her. Roth is clearly capable of writing good characters, as she does so throughout the book, but Tris and Tobias remain somewhat empty, most likely because the love story forces them to behave in ways that just don’t make sense for intelligent people — even teenagers in love.The ending, like Divergent’s, is satisfying, but leaves you wanting more. It’s not a cliff-hanger, and much of the conflict from this book is resolved, but the mystery of the factions and the Divergent deepens and it has left me very impatient for the third in the series.Comparisons to Other Authors:This isn’t The Hunger Games — really doesn’t even hold a candle to it. I would say the world and the characters are much better written and more engaging than those in Lauren Oliver’s Delirium trilogy. The world is less intriguing and believable than that in Ally Condie’s Matched series, but the characters are much more real and multidimensional than Condie’s, and have individual agendas which are consistent with their characters. Roth also seems to be building strength as her trilogy advances, whereas I’m not so sure about Condie. All three of these ultimately make the same mistake of the female lead spending too much time woozy over some boy.

"Insurgent" begins almost exactly where "Divergent" left off, with the protagonist Beatrice "Tris" Prior and her boyfriend Tobias "Four" Eaton riding the train to an uncertain future in the aftermath of a surprise attack that devastated two of the five personality-based "factions" that reside in what was once Chicago. They turn to the peaceful folks of Amity for a safe haven, but there's really no time to recover from the physical and psychological wounds of battle. There are secrets to uncover, alliances to be made, enemies alert for another chance to attack.I didn't enjoy "Insurgent" quite so much as I did the first volume of Veronica Roth's dystopian trilogy. Although there was plenty of action in "Divergent," it was on the whole a much more thoughtful and character-driven novel. The first few chapters were concerned primarily with exposition, worldbuilding, and Tris's soul-searching as the day approaches when she must choose her faction. There are hints fairly early on that there's some kind of trouble brewing on a societal level, but most of the novel concerns Tris's initiation into Dauntless and her relationships with both other members of her chosen faction and the family she left behind. "Insurgent" is much more plot-driven. That's not to say it's a mindless sequence of action scenes; Tris finds herself struggling to live with the aftermath of all that she witnessed and performed at the end of the previous book, and it takes its toll on her relationship with Four. Guilt, grief, and sacrifice are recurring themes, and Tris rarely makes it through more than a day or two without facing a new devastating ethical dilemma. However, the characters feel a bit more contrived and manipulated here, occasionally acting in ways that contradict everything we know about them so far when it's convenient to the plot.One of the central conflicts of "Insurgent" - certainly the one most important to Tris - concerns the possession of a dangerous, potentially devastating, piece of information. Unfortunately, Roth commits the authorial sin of building suspense by openly withholding information "just because." At least two major characters know exactly what the big secret is, and a third may or may not know everything but certainly knows much more than Tris. She is told again and again just how crucial this piece of information is. A character she has no real reason to trust seeks her aid in recovering the information from what he insists are the wrong hands, but refuses to tell her what it is - "but not because I don't want to. It's because I have no idea how to describe it to you. You have to see it for yourself." No character even attempts to tell Tris anything substantial, no matter how desperately they wish to persuade her of the rightness of a particular course of action. Even worse, Tris, usually so determined and resourceful, never once puts her foot down and says "Tell me what it is or I won't help you." By the time I started the last chapter, I figured Roth was going to carry the mystery over into "Allegiant." I was wrong. The final three pages of the novel are devoted to the Big Reveal, which was pretty much the kind of thing I was expecting it to be based on the few hints other characters had dropped. There were still a few surprises in store, but they would have had much more of an impact if there hadn't been such a huge buildup to something so utterly ineffable even the person who knew it best couldn't find a way to describe it.My favorite thing about "Insurgent" was that, whereas "Divergent" took place almost entirely within two factions, the sequel finds Tris and Four spending time in each of the factions, and even passing a few chapters in the company of the factionless. I don't think a dystopian novel could ever contain too much worldbuilding for my taste, and I set down "Divergent" longing to learn more about the other factions and their values and ways of life. Of course, with society descending into chaos, "Insurgent" doesn't offer quite the pure slice-of-life descriptions I craved, but there's definitely enough to get a feel for each faction, to understand its strengths and weaknesses, and to confirm my suspicion that Roth never meant to portray any faction as entirely virtuous or entirely villainous. Probably what tipped this book firmly into four-star territory for me, however, was Roth's venture into the relationship between neurology and personality, long a favorite subject of mine, when Tris submits to a series of medical scans and tests in an attempt to learn more about her Divergence: "I did not know that my entire personality, my entire being, could be discarded as the byproduct of my anatomy. What if I really am just someone with a large prefrontal cortex . . . and nothing more? . . . I feel like my mind is cracked open, its secrets spilling over the floor for me to finally see.""Insurgent" ends with a plot twist that, upon reflection, raises more questions than it...

Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica RothReviewed by Steph with Dani’s commentarySteph’s rating: 5 starsDani’s rating: 5 starsTotal: 5 stars Review: *DIVERGENT spoilers*Oh! Thank you so much Veronica Roth for giving a legitimately satisfying sequel to Divergent!!! A lot of series these days have a great debut novel, questionable sequels, and ending that makes an author seem like they’ve aged a hundred years because their ideas have lost their fire.Divergent is not one of those series.In Insurgent, the corrupt parts of the 5-faction system becomes very apparent. It’s not just the Erudite faction that is messing with people’s heads. You start wonder if every faction actually values what its manifesto says. Lots of characters have begun to see the degrading of the rotten system, which leads rifts within factions and their eventual breakdown.This book made me want to tear my hair out so many times, and at the same time it made me want to stick it up on an altar and worship it from my knees. You can say that I’m moody, or you can say this book was that good (FYI I only get severe mood swings from good books). I hated and loved at the same time that everyone expected so much out of Tris. I thought they truly believed in her ability to withstand difficult situations, but I also thought it was pretty cruel of them to put so much stress on her even though she’d recently lost her parents. I felt bad for Tris throughout this book because she was trying to meet everyone’s standards while dealing with her own psychological issues. Really, I just wished someone stood up and screamed, “GIVE THE GIRL A BREAK!” (actually, I was really hoping Tobias would do it because it might’ve lead to a cute moment). Just because I felt bad for her doesn’t mean that she became some locked up girl though. She’s still plenty open about her thoughts, and does what she believes is right even though she knows it could make people lose their faith in her. Her relationship with Four/Tobias was moving along pretty well at first. They do have some hurdles to jump over, but I think I will love Tobias forever for his choice at the end.Suspense played a pretty big role in Insurgent too. I swear my heart was pumping faster than 80 beats/min during tons of moments. In case you are like Dani and are wondering “Um how fast does a normal heart pump?” a heart pumps about 60-70 beats/min. Many new characters are introduced, and several recurring characters from Divergent returns. However, these new characters are almost like a 50-50 wager throughout the entire book. You know innately that they could be a great alliance to the rising rebellion, but you are unsure if they’re trustworthy or not. You also learn about what really happened to Tobias’s family. Tris learns a lot about who she can put her trust in, and there was one shocking betrayal that totally threw me off course because it was like a fat pie-in-the-face out of nowhere. Perhaps faction does come before blood...There was also one character aiming for redemption, but no matter what I will still be suspicious of him or her from their previous actions.I have so many questions about this series, especially after that dang ending! I was riled up by it but super content with it at the same time! I always knew Tris was, ahh, special. The reason for the creation of the 5-faction society is revealed in this book too, and you know things are going to go to hell in the next installment. I’m wondering how Veronica Roth plans to wrap up this series in one last book because there are just so many unanswered questions and ideas that pop up. With a 1000 page book. Perfect, amazing solution to this problem! The society that was supposed to be created for a good purpose is now in utter shambles, and I don’t know if it can be fixed. Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll decide to write a third and fourth book instead. That way the series won’t end so soon :). Or a 1000 page book...A glimpse of a wonderful and insanely cute Tobias and Tris moment...I don’t remember why I came here in the first place.And I don’t care.I wrap my uninjured arm around him, pulling him against me. My fingers find the hem of his T-shirt, and slide beneath it, spreading wide over the small of his back. He feels so strong.He kisses me again, more insistent this time, his hands squeezing my waist. His breaths, my breaths, his body, my body, we are so close there is no difference.He pulls back, just a few centimeters. I almost don’t let him get that far.“This isn’t what you came for,” he says.“No.”“What did you come for, then?”“Who cares?”I push my fingers through his hair, and draw his mouth to mine again. He doesn’t resist, but after a few seconds, he mumbles, “Tris,” against my cheek.“Okay, okay.” I close my eyes. I did come here for something important: to tell him the conversation I overheard.Now it’s time for DANI’S COMMENTS!Pretty much everything that Dani would like to say has been mentioned above. So Dani’s got nothing to say bes...

Another great addition to the Divergent series, Insurgent begins where Insurgent left off. After the Erudite decision to use the Dauntless against their will as a killing army, the faction system seems to be in chaos. Tris and Tobias find themselves trying to find allies to help them stop the Erudites from their plan to use serums to control the population. Seems straight forward, right? Well, not so much. This book is a collection of events that seem to throw whatever reality the characters come to accept into question over and over again. The Amity seem to be a safe ally ... until they aren't. Enemies seem to be enemies ... until they aren't. By the end of the book it seems as if the horrible enemies who Tobias and Tris have fought the entire book are not quite as evil as we originally believe them to be. If I had to pick a theme from this second book in the Divergent series, it would be this: The world is not so easily defined as we would like it to be. There is a complication to our actions and intents that make it impossible to label everyone. That is why the Divergent, the individuals in this faction divided system who do not fall easily into any one faction, are so important to this story.My thoughts on Insurgent:Well, I have to admit that this book is not quite as good as the first book in the series. It was still gripping and interesting ... just not quite as good. I think that the main reason for this was because this story has fallen into typical "book two in a trilogy" territory where the main characters spend a lot of time in a funk, waiting until book three to come out of their weirdness to bring justice back to the world. That is definitely the case in this story. In Divergent Tris was the strong, practically fearless girl who fought her way to the top in a ruthless Dauntless initiation system. She was flawed, but she found a way to overcome and fight for the things she believed in, even if it went against all that she had grown up to believe. In Insurgent she is just a mess for most of the book. She is suffering a lot of post traumatic stress due to her experience killing Will in book one. This takes away a lot of the courage and power that she showed in Divergent. Tobias is wonderful in this book, but he seems to have lost some of his strength in this book as well. Much of this book involves the two of them bickering with one another. It got a bit old after awhile. This is just me, but it drives me crazy in stories when two characters who supposedly love each other keep important secrets from one another, when they are so concerned about upsetting the other person that they refuse to be honest with each other. If you truly love each other, then say what you mean, mean what you say, and work through things. Tris and Tobias don't do this for most of this book, so they have some rocky moments. Too many rocky moments, in my opinion.There is some question about the motivations of the leaders of the various factions. There is information that is being hidden from most of the population, information that will change the way that everyone views their society. Some people want that information destroyed. Some people want it opened to everyone. Who is right? At the end of the book I still don't know. This information seems to be the driving force behind so many decisions, but for 99% of the book it is spoken of in veiled discussions. Marcus explains that once it is discovered people walk around in a daze because the knowledge is so disturbing. Because I didn't know what this knowledge was, it made it hard to pick sides to root for. I guess that was the point. I was on the edge of my seat as I read most of this book because I was never comfortable with any of the alliances. But then at the end, when the knowledge was revealed? Well, maybe I was exceptionally dense as I read the ending, but I have to say ... I didn't understand what was so unnerving about it. I couldn't understand why this needed to be so guarded. I am sure that I will understand things better when I read the concluding novel later this year. For now I feel like I ended this second book needing a lot more information before I could be comfortable with any of the action of this book.Having said all that, this is still a quick and exciting read. I left this book still loving Tobias and Tris. I was worried for a minute that I would not feel that way, but they managed to come through for each other in the end. Hurray! While this book is a notch below the first book in the series, it is still a very good book. There are lots of themes to think about at the end of the book, and I can't wait to see how the world of factions responds to the events of the last chapter. I do recommend it as a great continuation of a wonderful series. Four stars!

I so, so, so wanted to be in love with Insurgent as much as I was with Divergent. I wanted to rate it 5-stars, 4, even! But ugh, I find myself struggling between a 2 or 3-star on this second book from a very promising series. Reading Insurgent felt like the Hunger Games fail of their book 3, where suddenly you are wondering if I'm reading something from the same author. At least the writing style was not lost in Insurgent, that was up to par (and the reason I went for 3 stars on this) but plot-wise, eh. (**Spoilers ahead**)I can appreciate the emotional struggle Tris goes through in this book considering what she went through and her losses. It was a necessary part of the storyline and I was ok with it at first but then it never went away! I felt like the character went too far into the "I'm a changed person" storyline. As a reader, I don't want my characters to change so much. Go through a struggle, yes, but to completely become unrecognizable is not fun. We still want a Tris that is brave, i.e. Dauntless, and who is still Abnegation and Erudite despite what she went through. But to get to the point of being practically suicidal, that's just too far from what we love about the character and, frankly, not fun to read! Every time there was a scene where she 'should' have acted like her old self again I kept thinking, okay, she's going to come back on this one. But No! It was a fail every time and then boom someone else swooped in to save her! I still wanted to see the Badass Tris sooner than the ending despite the pain/struggles/loss, etc.I was also very disappointed to see the Tris/Four relationship take a nose dive. Ok, realistically I didn't expect that it would continue on honky dory between them for the entire book but their interactions in Insurgent were actually annoying at times. For a couple who shared so many of their secrets with each other in Divergent, their trust was completely broken. And to only have seen honesty while under a drug was a cop out. They should have invested more into each other, it just petered out and then their love was magically restored in last pages! Why?Speaking of last pages...ok this is where I was really annoyed. Towards the end of the book the plot changed so that Tris is given a "clue" - one mysterious, question-filled clue - from the one man we have been lead to believe, the entire book, NOT to trust. And guess what, she trusts him and then suddenly she's on a suicide mission without ever really knowing WHY!! There is some life-altering "information" that she is fighting for, willing to lose the one person that loves her for it, willing to DIE for even, and she, herself, does not know what it is?!?! It was so frustrating because it's okay to believe someone will take risks for what they believe in but Tris just blindly took Marcus' word for it and then went full speed ahead. I don't get it! Rather, it became clear to me that the author had a "Surprise Ending" but didn't know how to tell the story without giving it all away. It seemed the mission was more "just keep reading until the last page when i can finally tell you" rather than giving us a compelling story. Why not just have Tris discover the information on her own without Marcus? The tension should have been built around her trying to get the information public before she was compromised rather than just keeping us all in the dark. Silly.Well, regardless of this disappointment I have to say that I am invested in the Divergent series. There is something still intriguing about the premise. Unlike after the Hunger Games book 3, I still like the Tris character and still have high hopes that she can grow and become a hero again in the next book. So hopefully the author, takes out the Detergent, cleans out the gunk we endured in Insurgent, and we are pleasantly surprised come next Fall. What can I say...perhaps I'm Amity! Pass the bread...

http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_wr_link?ie=UTF8&asin=B00A2AGCAA&nodeID=# I seriously felt this was a very strong second book to Divergent. I know when you have this incredible success writing the first book--the second in a series comes with enormous pressures. I for one would congratulate MRS. ROTH FOR PULLING OFF INSURGENT SO WELL WITH HER STORY. Every author has quirks when writing. One of hers is people "arching " one eye brow. I've taken it as place humorous imagining Veronica knows tons of people who do that quirky silent facial gesture as I now think Rick Riordan either says "BAH" in a sinister undertone or scarily enough socializes in my imagination with a lot of people who sinsterly go "BAH!" at jokes and things that annoy them just alike. Nothing to be worried about, GEORGE LUCAS USED "I've got a bad felling about this" in at least 2 different movie franchises can think of.On to the heart of this matter. I took an instant liking to the PRECEDING BOOK: Divergent. It took me one day an up all night because I COULD NOT PUT DIVERGENT DOWN. WHY I LIKED DIVERGENT IS A BIG REASON WHY I LOVED THIS BOOK....MAYBE AN ITTY BIT MORE! IMy generation born in 1981 and got to party like it was 1999 has been shifted to LATE GEN X. THEN GEN Y. THEN MOST RECENTLY THEY ARE CALLING US THE FIRST OF THE 'NEW DIGITAL AGE MILENIUM GENERATION. WHICH Was a BIT LIKE THE FACTIONS! If you were Gen X you are supposed to be lazy. Gen Y or Mileniums are supposedtto be self centered, full of self entitlement. And never lived without the Internet or cell phones,, statalite Tv etc. Thank makes me and everyone born my year for a few years before and after just a very weird almost subgeneration no one gets. We're the lost gen. And if you replace factions for. W/ genations the story had traction in certain areas I study.When I started INSURGENT I WAS WONDERING WHY SHE DIDN'T SAY SHE LOVED HIM BACK AT THE END OF THE 1ST BOOK DIVERGENT.I was perplexed. By Tris' choices hold back her feelings and what happened from Four. Also seeing how the other factions worked was great. It showed levels of efficacy and frustrating levels of ineffectual cohesion but startlingly levels that each faction went so EXTREME. ONE WAY.... EACH FACTION (EVEN ABEGNATION IN MY OPINION) FORGOT THIER ORIGINAL PURPOSES.... WHAT THE MANIFESTOS STOOD FOR. Each became so obsessed with their faction jobs they seperated from each other. They had the factionless who were the homeless people of this world. You have a brother ....Caleb born the same year as Tris. How is this possible. More secrets. And most painful at all @ candle Tris and Four undergo truth serum in front of all candle and Dauntless who refuse to ally with the scientific faction the ERUDITE. The farming faction that values happiness has forgotten about peace inner and outer is called amity. The lawyers and civil. Servants. Are candid who value honesty to the extreme. Tris and Four transferred to the 'military' or police faction called DAUNTLESS. Abegnation was the only faction with government control. That brought envy and malice from the ERUDITE WHO ARE THE SCIENTISTS. THE INNOVATORS WHO CREATE TECHNOLOGIES. THAT ARE SUPPOSED. TO BETTER LIFE AS CARA SAYS NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE THERE IS A TECHNOLOGY FOR YOU. Or how the Erudite started. Under their current leadership they've turned into a war machine using the susceptible OR NOT DIVERGENT. To kill any and all of ABEGNATION. It seems really most ABEGNATION tried to follow their core value ALWAYS. THAT VALUE IS SELFLESSNESS. BUT...we are only human! How much could PETER HAVE DONE IF HE GOT A TOP GOVERNMENT JOB THROUGH CHOOSING TRUSTING, NEVER SUSPECTING A THING ABEGNATION? Look what abuse BOTH MARCUS AND FOUR 's mother allowed? She was an ABEGNATION. Woman having an affair who was abused by her husband allowed her son to stay in that abuse. I would be shocked, if that is all the scandal that really happened. ABEGNATION HAD GOOD IDEALS AND VALUES. BUT THAT IS LIKE MAKING. EVERYONE FEEL INADEQUATE BECAUSE EBEN IF WE USE OUR MISTAKES TO TO DO BETTER...WE ALL DESERVE TIME FEEL AMAZING AND UNRESTRAINED: IN LOVE, IN OURSELVES, AND IN OUR FAMILY...AND THOSE FRIENDS WHO HAVE BECOME FAMILY, LASTLY WE DESERVE THE RIGHT TO BE SELFISH TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THE TRAITOR WE NEVER EVER THOUGHT WOULD BETRAY UD THAT WAY. FORGIVE. NEVER FORGET TO WIND UP WITH ANOTHER KNIFE IN YOUR BOOK. HE SHOULD YOU WHO HE REALLY WAS AT LAST.

Some SPOILERS for Divergent!SUMMARY -Tris has lost everything - everything except for her brother, Caleb, and her boyfriend, Four. They are on the run, running from something they don't yet understand, hiding the heartache inside as they fight for survival. There is a war, building inside the factions, threatening to burst. Tris and her friends must choose sides and create balance in their lives, before their world tips over.MY THOUGHTS -As stunning as Divergent was, I had NO FLIPPING IDEA that Veronica would do it again. I had hope for the best, but expected the worst, because who knows? These days, I find I can never get my hopes up. But what was I even thinking? Insurgent blew Divergent out of the water. I thought, no! It can't be! But it was. Insurgent rocked my world.CHARACTER NOTES -Tris is radical. I sometimes get infuriated with other readers for hating on her change in Insurgent. What she does and how she acts is only rational! She lost family members, killed a dear friend out of self-defense, and has lost a home she loved very much. She's struggling. And if our heroes aren't even allowed to struggle, to war within themselves, then what's the point? How can we relate to them? I found I related to Tris more in Insurgent than in Divergent.So, yeah, I love her to pieces. I kind of want to be like her. She kicks butt and is smart and, on a more shallow note, she has the world's best boyfriend. I mean, come on!And while Tris was amazing, I have to say, the world's best boyfriend is still my favorite. Ever. In the entire world. He's so beyond epic, it hurts my face. How can he be so superhuman and yet so imperfect and still stay so lovable??? I just don't know. But he's just delicious.I could go on and on about these two, and the side cast, but I have to NOT overwhelm the review. So, basically, everyone had a SUPER neat role to paly. No one fell by the wayside. All the family dynamics and friendship strengths/issues added about 50 dimensions to the story. It was so real, so smooth and life-like and raw, it was like I was living it.STORY NOTES -I could say the same about the story.Packed full to the freaking brim with action, passion, discovery, mystery, and SO MUCH HEARTACHE it was impossible (no exaggeration!) to set this book down. I read nearly 200 pages a day, more than my usual amount! The length of this book, 525 pages, is totally easy to get through because you never once notice it. And you'll want it to keep going on because of that DARN END!Stupid cliffhangers that are a mind-explosion. SO. NOT. FAIR.Another thing that a lot of people didn't like was the direction Tris and Four's relationship went. HOW?! How can you not like that?? It was perfect in the story. Once Tris and Four got to settle down for a bit, relax, be regular teens for once, just be together, there were other issues than just not being able to be together. That's life, hate to break it to ya. They didn't always agree, they fought, they kept secrets, did dumb things - everyone does. But what matters most is that even when they disagreed, they always loved selflessly. They put the other's life before their own and that was the most beautiful thing I've seen in YA since the end of Delirium back in 2-11. In any case, the relationship dynamics were perfect. Totally real and what many teens and even adults can relate to. And - hint, hint! - it doesn't end badly. Guaranteed!SUMMING IT UP -A journey for everyone -and one of my Forever Favorite books. It was an excellence beyond excellent. It's in its own class. You'll be doing yourself a favor by reading these books. :)For the Parents -Violence, but not gory, throughout. Maybe a cuss word? The romance is passionate and deep and the characters often kiss passionately, with some detail. These scenes are intense, I'm not going to lie. They never have sex but once they kiss in bed they're tempted to when they get lost in each other, but they stop and just share a hug. Recommended 14+

From Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance BlogAt a GlanceI love, Love, LOVED Insurgent. I was a little nervous going into it because I heard mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it just as much as Divergent. And can I just say, I love the direction this series is going.The GoodHere's the Story...Insurgent begins where Divergent ends. War is on the horizon between most factions. Tris and Four are still alive after their faction was taken over by another and used as a weapon, but not all walked away from the fight. Tris has lost most of her family and has even killed a friend. And now she is racked with guilt. Left with no other option, the few survivors try to survive by hiding amongst the non-violent factions. But even places of peace and truthfulness are not so perfect. Tris must now survive in a world that wants to use her or kill her. And her tentative relationship with Four is going downhill fast. He is keeping secrets and his secrets might just lose them the war.Factions...EEEE! I can't believe it took me so long to read this book. Many people said this book wasn't as good as the first one, but I disagree. I loved it. It had everything a book should have: action, drama, love, and heartbreak. The world-building in Insurgent took a huge jump and a leap. This time around, we got to learn more about the other factions (Amity, Candor, and Factionless): see how they live and what their positions are in society. I respected and despised their principles at the same time. I understood how their beliefs worked for them but as a whole, it was obvious separated factions are simply not a good idea. To separate humanity into characteristics sounds like an interesting idea, but the concept realized is not workable. That was made obvious in this book.Tris...Tris went through so much in this book. She is still deeply affected by her parents deaths and her guilt over Will's death. It doesn't matter that Will was going to kill her, she can only see the other ways in which she could have saved both of them. Tris is not a kill or be killed type of person. That's why she's Divergent, she can never be 100% Dauntless. She was frustrating at times when her grief caused her to make some pretty stupid and reckless decisions. But I also sympathized with her. The death of people you love can make people do crazy things. I think she did the best she could. She still held on to her bravery and her determination. She even made the hardest decision of her life without looking back, knowing she would probably lose more people she loved, but she did it for the good of the majority instead of the individual.Four/Tobias...Pick a Name, RothFour/Tobias was, in my opinion, very childish this time around. Sure, Tris did childish things as well but she had an excuse. Four's reasoning was non-existent. He holds Tris by standards that he does not follow. If she doesn't reveal every secret she has to him, then he pouts, but he can keep all the secrets he wants; secrets that are detrimental to the war they are trying to prevent/win. Sorry, this is the good section, so I shouldn't be complaining about Four yet. Luckily, by the end, I started liking Four again. We get to see more sides to him. He let's his emotions peek through, which was nice. He was more vulnerable, which made him even more endearing. I hope the next book takes Four and Tris's relationship further.Blow You Away...I can't tell you enough how much I am excited by the direction of this series. The ending will BLOW YOU AWAY. Though I had a small idea of what would happen, I was still shocked by what was revealed by the end. Even throughout the novel the surprises kept coming. People died, betrayed, and lived, even when they shouldn't have.Book 3 Better Be Coming Out Soon...The plot and pacing left me breathless. Roth knows how to write with complexity and detail but without making it confusing or boring. There was also a lot more character building, even for the ones we hate. I don't know how Roth does it, but she keeps setting the bar higher and higher and it only makes me that much more anxious for book 3.The BadThere wasn't anything bad about this book. There was just little things that bugged me. Many are too insignificant to mention but one thing that could have been handled better was Four and Tris's relationship. I didn't understand why Four was being so weird and standoffish. And when he revealed why he was upset with Tris, I just rolled my eyes. So. Freaking. Childish.The SnugglyOh yummy, yum yum. The sexual tension was pretty good. Four and Tris don't go any further than they did in Divergent but I still enjoyed their times of closeness. So the books overall intimacy is YA-ish but still causes little butterflies.OverallIf you loved Divergent, I don't see how you couldn't love Insurgent too. The action was intense, the romance was mesmerizing, and the world-building was superb. I really felt the emotions seeping off the page, making me want to cry and shout o...