Insurgent by Veronica Roth | Rating: ★★★★★

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

Insurgent, the second installment of the Divergent trilogy, starts off strong and fascinating: picking up directly where we’d left off in Divergent. And with this continuation to the series brings more questions, more action, more romance and overall more badassery in the fantastic and suspenseful world that Veronica brings us. Instantly, we see how certain actions in the previous novel are weighing on our narrator Tris Prior and the results are very, very upsetting.

Our last brush with this world ended in chaos: Tris loses both her parents and watches as members of her faction are put under a very distressing simulation that brings nothing but death. And even though she’s reunited with her sweet and intelligent brother, and Tobias, she is living with not only the grief over her parents having risked their lives for hers, she is also living in the guilt over having to shoot and kill one of her best friends.

Although Insurgent, much like Divergent, has its moments of slowness it is overall a strong addition to the series that is full of twists and turns that will keep you wondering what will happen next, who we can and cannot trust. As usual — Veronica pens the perfect dystopian world that mixes futuristic additions in with the familiar settings that a Chicago native like myself knows. And we have the pleasure of watching Tris grow, as well as the relationship between herself and Tobias/Four.


Through the course of our story, we see several action packed location changes and the appearance of new characters as well as old ones. But which ones do we trust? And which do we not? — I will say this: Tris is very, very keen on her instincts and has both hits and misses in the question of who we can not trust and who we can.

We see more of Caleb, and an interesting turn of events in regards to the sibling bond between the two, as well as the appearance of both Tobias’ parents. Yes, you heard me: both of Tobias’ parents play a large part in Insurgent, as well as the rest of the trilogy I would believe. And you’ll be surprised by what actually happens.

Christina plays a large part in the story as well and we’ll see things come to head when Tris admits that she had to kill Will to save herself. He was, after all, under a simulation. Will their friendship mend? Will we see more touching and sarcastic moments in their friendship? Based on what we saw in Divergent, their friendship was one of my favorites in the story. Spoiler alert: they do work things out, thankfully.

As one would expect, we do get many answers and surprises throughout the pages but there is just enough left unanswered to keep us invested for the third and final installment of the series. And if I do say so myself, the last quarter of the novel is the best and most suspenseful part. Twisting and turning through the plot, we are left with some major cliffhangers and I for one cannot wait to read the final book

(By now we all know how the trilogy ends so even though I am excited I am also dreading the end of the story, Guh!)

All in all, Insurgent is a strong and fascinating read that keeps us on the edge of our seats. One can expect the love and betrayal of family members and friends alike, steamy romance and the witty interactions of characters. It goes without saying, as well, that the action is on point. I’d recommend this novel to anyone and hope that you, my lovely readers, enjoy it as much as I did.

My least favorite part of the novel was the moments in which it is revealed that (spoiler, spoiler, spoiler) Caleb has been working for his faction this whole time. I had hopes for his character and am disappointed to see them dashed; I can only hope that things change in the third novel and that I was right in the fact that he loves his sister more than some cruel little faction.

I was surprised by Peter throughout the novel and am nervous to see what happens next with his character, if anything else should happen. His character as a whole repulsed me in the first novel and confused me in this one. I don’t mean confused in a poor way, either and am genuinely looking forward to seeing what is made of his character by the end of the final book.

Have you read Insurgent? What was your favorite part? Sound off in my messages or reply to this post now. And in their world: what faction would you be placed in?