Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

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 and cover image from Amazon

Insurgent, by Veronica Roth, was the highly anticipated sequel to Divergent.  Or at least highly anticipated for me.  When I found out that it came out on the same day as another book I was anxious to read, I didn't know which to read first!  Insurgent won, but only because the librarian told me I couldn't renew (as her son was next on the list!)

I loved Divergent (the choices, the action, the fatal hero flaws)...but Insurgent was just "meh" for me.  Part of it was because it had been a while (since October) that I had read Divergent, and because there are SO MANY characters and plot lines going, I had a really hard time keeping up.  I felt like I needed a cheat sheet to keep track of everyone.

I felt bad for Tris, she had some really tough choices to make, but I felt like she could have gone about things a different way. 

The ending, for me, didn't really tie anything up---yes, it kind of explained why Jeanine was going after the divergent (but only if you think about it---I could totally be wrong---its not spelled out); there was a lot left to interpretation and still a lot of loose ends.  I hope, for the sake of my curiosity, that there is a third book.

Fine, I'll say it.  I was disappointed.  Divergent was SO GOOD.  Insurgent had a lot to live up to.   

So for now, I'll leave my feelings as this:  if this is part of a trilogy, then Insurgent is still "meh", but hopefully all the kinks I had will be worked out.  If its not part of a trilogy, and this is the final book in the series, then oh my goodness.  

*Update:  I just saw that Divergent on amazon was listed as Divergent (Divergent Trilogy)...so good.  Hopefully #3 will be better....