Author: Veronica Roth
Release Date: May 1st, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 525
Edition: Hardcover
Cover Judge: I really like it! Plus it matches!
Quote Choice: TEAM CANDOR WUUUUT.Source: For Review
Goodreads: Link
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.
DIVERGENT SPOILERS ALL UP IN THIS REVIEW.
So this book. Sweet jesus, it definitely doesn't suffer Second-Book Syndrome*.
Veronica Roth had created a crazy world in Divergent, a society that organizes itself by personality traits (Selflessness, Bravery, Honesty, Intelligence, Peaceful) and our main heroine, Tris, has become a Dauntless because she wants to get out of Abnegation. When Divergent finishes, Tris and Tobias along with a few other characters are on the run after Erudite officially broke into Dauntless and divided it completely. And the plot just keeps getting crazy from there, guys. Tris and Tobias are taken all over the city of Chicago, which I loved. In Divergent, we only really got to see how two factions -- Dauntless and Abnegation -- live. In Insurgent, we spend him in Amity and Candor and even a little bit in Erudite! Each faction is explored more indepth and you really learn about the hierchy works in each faction.
Tris, as always, was an amazing heroine. But unlike in Divergent where she's a total badass who takes name and is awesome, in Insurgent you get to see another side of her, a much more vulnerable side. The events in Insurgent really take a toll on her and it's always nice to see the up and downs of a character before they can triumph. Tris is no exception and it just made her that much more real and awesome to me.
Tris and Tobias are lovely to me. They go through a lot of hardships in the books, plenty of arguements as some relationships do, but they grow as a couple as well as individual characters. I like that Roth didn't do the typical Second Book thing and bring in a random love interest but instead, she took the cracks in the foundation and the flaws in their characters and made them work on it and become even more connected as people.
And as always, her writing is brilliant. There were so many quotes I wanted to choose for the title but I choose that one because as a Candor member, I feel it really is so true.
Memorable Quotes:
“The Candor sing the praises of the truth, but they never tell you how much it costs.”
“Before I chose Dauntless...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.”
“Cruelty does not make a person honest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.”
“It reminds me why I chose Dauntless in the first place: not because they are perfect, but because they are alive. Because they are free.”
Happy Reading!
*Second-Book Syndrome: Plot slows down, general sucky-ness, possible introduction of random love interest that makes no sense.
