Insurgent by Veronica Roth

This isn't so much a review as a rant.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

First of all, it hasn't been that long since I read and reviewed the first book: Divergent, but I had such a hard time figuring out who all the characters were. I mean, yes, I remember the name Christina, but please just put in a sentence reminding me what it was she did in the other book or how Tris got to know her or SOMETHING. This goes for all the characters. I don't care who you think your character is and how important they seem, you need to remind the reader. Even if we all know who they are and are obsessive about every detail of your book you still need to make it coherent.

So, yeah, it took me a very long time to figure out who was who and why Tris was moping on and on about having killed this person (Will) in the battle at the end of the last book. It would have been so easy to just tell us that he was a friend. To put in a memory or a flashback, to mention something concrete - as in an actual joke or mannerism or smell or preference or physical object - that reminded Tris of this person other than her holding a gun.

Speaking of which, yes, I know PTSD exists, but do you actually know how many times I had to read about her not being able to hold a gun without remembering Will and breaking down. I get it now. Move on to the story.

Nothing actually happened in this book. I'm convinced that the author had no plan except for the following: "They need to find out that they are living in one big experiment at the end and action-ey stuff should happen in between." This is the only explanation for the erratic character shifts, the nonsensical plot. It feels wrong for me to even mention words like foreshadowing in a review of this book because any build-up is so far removed from the way this story played out...

Other reviewers have mentioned all the plotholes. Others have attempted to talk sensibly about Tris and Four's wild character shifts and the rest of it. I can't bring myself to do that because I'm convinced that none of this was planned out the way a story should be planned out. It was like she just sat in front of a computer and typed out random things as she went along, so how can I comment on world building and plot and characterization?

The first book was surprisingly good because it had purpose. Tris was trying to find herself and to become free of constraint, but at the same time she was trying to hide a dangerous part of herself from people who wanted to harm her. She was struggling against bullies and unfair leaders in her new chosen facion: Dauntless. There was a reason to care and read on and there were believable reasons for everything that she did as a character. In this book none of the things she did made any logical sense.


When a character makes a decision or when two characters have an argument, I need to be clued in enough to actually follow what it happening so that this decision or argument seems significant. When people are arguing about random things that I don't understand then you have problems. I no longer care. 


Which brings me to the point that I kind of hinted at in my Divergent review. In that review I called it a lack of foreshadowing. What I really meant, and what has become apparent to me after reading Insurgent, is that in order for "plot twists" to have any meaning the reader needs to be half a step ahead of the characters, not a couple of steps behind. 

I will leave you with some specific things I did not like:

1) Tris having no purpose - how is she an insurgent if she doesn't actually do anything for 99% of the book?
2) Tris and Four kissing and arguing and kissing and arguing and kissing and arguing and never having an actual coherent and meaningful conversation for the entire book! *headdesk*
3) Four's mother coming back to life. Really? No.
4) The factionless. There was so much potential, but they came out terribly written.
5) Peter helping Tris escape. *multiple headdesk* I was convinced for about twenty pages afterwards that she was still in one long simulation and would clue in a and wake up eventually to find herself still in captivity. Apparently, she can clue into a simulation just because of which hand Four uses to help her up, but when Peter does a 180 degree turn in personality this is not an issue.
6) The whole classification of this book. There is zero world-building and negative 100 believability and so it does not deserve to be in this genre.
7) Nothing happens in this book. Nothing. I saw the "reveal" at the end coming ages before we saw it happen.

In conclusion. Even if you've read the first book and enjoyed it I would not recommend this book. It is a completely pointless string of illogical choices and actions. Don't waste your time.