Review - Insurgent - Veronica Roth

Insurgent (Divergent, #2)
Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
Publication: January 1st 2012, Harper Collins
Pages: Paperback, 525 Pages
Source: Thank you to my local bookshop  for a copy of this to review!
Rating: 5/5 CUPCAKES!
Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.
Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever... because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead

 I'm not sure why I took so long to get around to reading Insurgent but I couldn't bring myself to read it straight after reading Divergent, I think I just wanted to bask in the amazing feeling of experiencing Divergent, first. Anyway, I decided to re-read Divergent and read Insurgent straight after in preparation for Allegiant and HOLY COW, it was...amazing, astonishing and horrifyingly brilliant. I can't express my thoughts and feelings on how I feel about this. This might potentially be a very dramatic review, just a warning.

Insurgent picks off exactly from where Divergent ended, with Tris and Tobias on the train trying to escape the crumbling world that has been ravaged by war, lives have been cost, factions are waging destruction on each other as well as factions being divided into smaller groups and joining with others, I shan't say anything more except that if you haven't yet read Insurgent you need to. Preferably straight after you've read this review and stocked up on Nutella. Insurgent will have your heart pounding, your mind racing, your palms sweating and your whole view on their lives, and the story, completely altered. 

A lot of people who reviewed Insurgent said it didn't live up to Divergent, but I loved it, I might take it so far as to say it was even slightly better than Divergent. Everything is so extremely different, from the characters' growths to the new revelations of the world Tris lives in. You might also, like myself, find how reading Insurgent overwhelms you with a strong sense of nostalgia for Divergent. It makes you miss the old times, the order, and the not quite as brutal destruction that now envelops Tris' new world. I felt like I was literally in the story and, like the characters, I yearned for the better days. As you see how dramatically the characters have changed and how they've had to grow up, you will feel such a deep sympathy for them. All I can say is that this book is utterly amazing and that your mind will be blown by what you will discover in this book.

The amount of change the characters showed in this novel was unexpected, but I loved learning their stories and seen their world through the new eyes they seemed to own. In Divergent Tris was hardcore, she wouldn't let anyone get in her way, she would instantly fire a gun without thinking but due to the life-changing events that she has had to experience you begin to see her resolve slowly crumbling before your eyes and it saddened me, it really did, as I love Tris and she was one of the first YA characters I was ever introduced to and she will always hold a special place in my heart. I was so accustomed to seeing this daring, dauntless Tris and the new side she revealed in Insurgent was not what you would ever expect from her, her new side that would eventually let the tears come (without being taking self-pity on herself), who would give in to death without fighting back and the Tris who can't even pick up a gun. Her new side hinted of the fragility that was beneath the hardened façade she had to display in order to survive. 

The events she had experienced had broken her so much that she no longer valued her life and at times, all she wanted was escape. It was excruciating for me, as a reader who loves these characters more than any other characters, to see them ache like this, see them lose the ones they love. You could see the grief, guilt, anger, frustration and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and despair envelope Tris and the other characters, like a smothering blanket and I was rooting for her till the end that she would make it through this and she did, because Tris, Tris is brave and amazing and we should all strive to be a little like Tris.

Then there was Tobias who I just fell in love with all over again. I really begun to see just what a devastating impact his father's abuse had on his life and how it shaped him to be who he is. It was beautiful the way him and Tris loved each other and how they needed each other to survive in this world, but also knowing that they couldn't depend on each other because the world they live in might cruelly rip them apart. Tobias and Tris' relationship was beautiful and it broke my heart when they were slowly slipping out of each other's grasp due to the world they live in.

When him and Tris were slowly drifting apart and been involuntarily distanced by the secrets they kept and the betrayal they felt at time. Whenever she lied to him again so that she could save someone else I wanted to shake her and yell at her that she was jeopardising such an amazing relationship whilst simultaneously risking her life and she's not thinking about will happen if she dies, what will happen to Tobias.

I loved how in-depth the secondary characters were. From the ones I grew to love, to the ones I detested with passion. I absolutely adored Christina and how she forgave Tris for what she did and remained being a loyal friend and helping Tris on her latest rescue missions to save the world. I loved Uriah, Marlene, Tori and even Lynn. They all had their own distinct personalities. Then their were also the characters I loated, ones that did evil to the world for their own guilty pleasure, yet you could still see all the complexes they themselves had and you could see why they became this way. There was one character that has been malicious and vile since Divergent yet partakes in a surprising courageous act, and then there is one character who was incredibly close to Tris and who I thought adored her and whom she loved, who then betrayed her. I was gobsmacked. 

Veronica Roth has such impeccable skill, it's incredible.

The plot was amazing and I honestly I couldn't put Insurgent down, I needed to take deep breaths at some points to calm down, I needed to let the news sink in that yet another character I had grown to love had been brutally murdered, by force or by free will. I loved how I got to see more of Tris's world she lived in and how we got to learn more about the different factions and initiation processes. Every minute of Insurgent I read, I adored. Some parts would make my heart ache with a sweet, romantic, private moment shared and other parts I would want to let out a frustrated scream as to how Veronica Roth could think of doing this to the characters. And that ending, oh my, that ending.

That ending. What the cheese cakes was that? So unexpected, I literally just stared in shock at the page and...felt like my whole life had been a lie, as you can see my flair for being dramatic has now kicked in. Never when I first started reading Divergent did I expect this is what would become of Tris's society, how protected and sheltered they actually were by being placed in factions according to their personalities. I was shocked by the ending of Divergent and was excited as to where Veronica would take the next two books and Insurgent was mind-blowing, out of this world amazing. That ending had me literally feeling numb inside, it had me terrified as to what was going to meet Tris and the others on the other side of the fence. Some people might not have liked how Veronica Roth ended Insurgent but I loved it and I absolutely am completely enthralled as to what will be happening in Allegiant. Can the 22nd come any sooner?

I loved the writing in this, despite the cruelty and brutality in the writing there were quite a few humorous moments that had me smiling and bookmarking the sentences. I love the way Veronica Roth writes the action and fighting scenes as well, she writes it perfectly and it doesn't feel like the characters are treading through treacle like in some books I've read.

This was an astonishingly amazing, heart-breaking novel that shows what the cruelty humans are capable of and how destructive witnessing such horrors can destroy even the bravest of heroes, but how with love and friendship you can overcome any obstacle.  Veronica Roth shows us her full potential in Insurgent and just how spectacular her writing skills are. This book has betrayal, love, war, romance and will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. After reading this book and seeing what our destructive human nature can do and how guilty our mistakes can make us feel, you will want to try and be a better person. Veronica's books not only give me a look into a whole new world and have me running on adrenaline as well as being transfixed, but also teach me life lessons. Teach me how to be a better person. On almost every page there is a quote worth noting. Read this book, it's honestly, simply, stunning.

I give it: 5/5 CUPCAKES!