Insurgent
Insurgent (Divergent, #2)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. (goodreads.com)
For those of you who won't read this because you don't want to be spoiled (even though I promise not to spoil things) I will say this: WHY IS IT NOT 2013 YET? WHY IS THERE NO TITLE FOR THE NEXT BOOK? I CAN'T WAIT A YEAR FOR THE REST! GAH!You may look away now if you so choose.There will be an overload of posts about Insurgent popping up all over the place. This book only released last week and it's been a highly anticipated sequel to Divergent. You may recall that I never read Divergent when it came out. I read it months and months after its release and I had avoided it like the plague because I thought it was over-hyped and likely not going to be any good. You'll note from my blog post about it in July that I was completely surprised by how amazing a story it turned out to be and how much I needed the sequel to come out, like, NOW.So I bought the sequel the week it came out. I have not done something like that for a long time. This 400+ page book took me a couple of days to read because, well, work and stuff get in the way. (Why does sleeping have to happen?) Although I did spend much quality time with the book on Saturday and Sunday.There are two worries with Insurgent. 1) Will it live up to the hype it's going to get? 2) Will it live up to the awesome that was Divergent?Big ol' YES to both of those questions.Insurgent is action-packed and scary and real and gripping and emotional. Tris is one kick-butt protagonist and even though she's the typical "I'll rush in and save the day because I'm the main character!" sort of character, I found that I could not find flaw in her reasoning behind her actions. She's a smart cookie who has fears and dreams and she just seems like a real, every-day person. Someone who could very well exist in the real-world, if the real world was a scary, dystopian society. You know. That.There's no insta-love. (Yay!) There's no love triangle. (Yay!) There are real relationships that are fragile and broken and not always mended.This story is gripping and creepy as all get out. It freaks me out, but not enough to need to take a bottle of Xanax to calm down.The only potential negative I'd have about this book is more about a plot line that I find repetitive in dystopian novels - why is there always a "Inside the Wall" and "Outside the Wall"? This isn't the first dystopian story I have read where the characters are trying to escape some compound, whether they realized they were in one or not. It's just such a common theme in this genre that I'm a little "meh" about it. Is this really how people envision our (rather depressing) future? Are we doomed to all be corralled into some mega gated community and monitored for some whack-job's pleasure? I'm curious. That and flying cars (shouldn't we have those by now?) are always part of the future projections I keep reading about. I'm not particularly thrilled with that concept. Hmm.But I digress... there's just so much revealed in Insurgent and it's not rushed, nor is it vague or half-assed. This is one thrilling read from start to finish and you'll likely be salivating for MORE! MORE! MORE! by the time you turn that last page and realize you're suddenly at the Acknowledgements and you're like, NO!!!! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! DAMMIT! CURSE YOU, VERONICA ROTH!!! *shakes fists at the heavens*I promise you that this book, this entire series, is worth reading. I will certainly be pushing it on my friends and making sure they read it as well. It's not a fluke that people are raving over this series. I promise you that I am 100% genuine in my adoration and praise of the Divergent series. I have not lied to you yet on this here blog and I'm not going to start now. ;)Divergent