So book 2 was just as good as book 1. Veronica Roth seems to create a new drama but with the same premise. New dilemmas set in the same world. We find ourselves rooting once again for both Beatrice/Tris and Four/Tobias to conquer all the problems set before them while hoping that their love for one another will be enough.

In a world where you are at war at the young age of 16 how can love truly be what's important. In this book once again Tris must learn to cope with the reality of what war brings and the losses that occur. Not just close friends but even enemies. She has to learn to cope with her own actions from book, Killing one of her best friends in order to save herself. How does she cope with betrayle and learning that some of the people closest to her are hiding things from her and are not who they appear to be.

She struggles with learning to cope and realizing that giving up is not the answer. Learning that living is the way to honor those that have passed away and stuggling to maintain your humanity and do what's right even if it's at risk of losing the ones you love the most.

Tris once again does not disappoint. She is probably one of the strongest YA heroine's I have read about. Even though at times she does stuff you don't agree with and takes unneccesary risks. In the end she always does what she feels is right, even if she is the only that believes in it. She loves Four but is willing to risk her relationship with him to make sure the right thing is done for all people. Even if it means risking her life. She takes the path less traveled. That is what makes her such a strong heroine.

In book 2 we feel the tension between Tris and Four. Her trying to cope with the things she has done and knowing Fours isn't telling her everything. Four struggles with knowing she is also keeping things from him and trying to stand by her even though she seems hell bent on ending her own life at times. These are not simple things that they can overcome. These are issues that can break any relationship. The question are they strong enough to withstand it.

From the minute I started I couldn't stop. Well except for work and sleep :-( I even read while I ate dinner, breakfast, and lunch. The 2nd enstallment was full of action, drama, heartache, and hope. There was not one point in this 2nd book that I thought of stopping. It lived up to my expectations and am now anxiously awaiting the final book next year, fall of 2013. What is on the other side of the fence and what kind of future is there to look forward too?

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I didn't enjoy INSURGENT as much as the first book in the series, DIVERGENT. At 525 hardcover pages, I'd say a good 200 pages could've been edited out without losing anything.

The pacing was slow, with the reader having to go step-by-step with Tris as she woke up everyday, went to the bathroom, got dressed, walked down a hallway....I mean, can we get on with the plot please?? And when something did finally happen it followed a tiresome formula: 1) Tris is in a bind 2) she's rescued or gets away 3) repeat.

There wasn't enough substance to fill the pages, IMO, and the novelty of the faction-based society wore off. Now it's just revolution and factions attacking each other, and I just didn't find it to be all that interesting, especially since we're limited to Tris' point-of-view of everything. I think this is the biggest disservice to the plot. It would be nice to get some other perspectives on things.

I give this one a C. I really don't think I'm interested to read the final book of the trilogy, but I am looking forward to the upcoming Divergent movie.

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I read and enjoyed Divergent, it wasn't my favorite YA dystopian novel but Tris was engaging and the world design was an interesting one. Cue Insurgent and my disappointment. The pacing was terrible-things were happening constantly in this book and yet NOTHING was happening. I guess the plot was fine but aside from Tris I don't really care about any of the characters. The big reveal at the end seemed anticlimactic. I probably won't go on to read Allegiant.

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When we last saw Tris, she was doing what she could to stop the attack by her chosen faction on the one she left behind, master minded by another faction entirely. This novel picks up pretty much where the last one ended theres a war going on and someone needs to make sense of it in order to stop it. Since most of the adults who would normally figure that all out were killed in the attack, it somewhat falls to Tris and her friends to sort it all out.

I was really conflicted about Tris in this one. On the one hand, I get that shes just sixteen. But on the other, either behave like a child and sideline yourself, or get your head in the game you cant have both! She makes one decision after another that just seem ridiculous. And so much of the trouble she gets herself into could simply be avoided if she had only trusted a couple of people and told them what she was thinking. Instead, she is hell bent on destroying herself and seems unwilling to acknowledge that she could take the whole world down with her.

To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.

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Insurgent continues the story from Divergent as if you were just reading the same book. In fact, it reads like they were perhaps one long book that a publisher cut in half to make more money or avoid massive edits. Divergent ends in some chaos with no resolution, Insurgent picks up like the next sentence. This is good, there's very little recapping or backstory filling to waste our time. Things develop, Tris and Tobias make headway in their relationship and there are some interesting revelations.

I read the third book, Allegiant and it was pretty bad. The retroactive changing of facts in past books, the nonsensical resolution to the story, the pretty boring story, and the unhappy ending make me kind of wish I hadn't read it. While things are still up in the air at the end of this book, I was so disappointed and frustrated with the third book it made me almost sorry I read them at all.

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In her follow up to Divergent, with Insurgent Roth once again takes readers into the faction controlled world of Tris and Tobias who are fighting just to stay alive and to prevent the leader of the faction in control of the pursuit of knowledge (Jeanine) from turning the citizens of their world into mindless drones who would lose free will and the right to exist as individuals. This book when into very great detail about Tris' emotional struggle and depression that she had to deal with after losing her parents and having to shoot a close friend in the previous book. This combined with the interpersonal conflicts between Tris and 'Four'; and Tris and Christina and other characters throughout this story made this a very engrossing read for me especially since I have two psychology related degrees.

The details, and scenery were wonderfully described; in addition I literally felt myself being pulled into the story I finished the book in two sittings and can honestly say I enjoyed every minute. It seemed to show struggles that many people face both in adolescence and through adulthood. Tris is a character that many different age groups can relate to and in this book I was literally rooting her on through every page.

The book contained many dilemmas that everyone has to face eventually dying, losing someone you love, mortality, learning how to solve interpersonal conflicts, and learning that when you truly love someone you are willing to put their needs above your own. Insurgent is one of my new favorites; it shows that when humanity is faced with overwhelming odds we can pull ourselves back up and come back swinging; also it has a great surprise ending ;) But you need to read it to find out!

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Honestly, to me, this book wasn't quite as good as the first book of the series, even though I still really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it is simply because I've read SO MANY BOOKS and seen SO MANY MOVIES with this same type of plot twist, but about halfway through the book, I was able to figure out how the book was going to end, what was 'behind the fence' so to speak. I didn't know exact details, of course, but I knew, without a doubt, what was going to happen at the end of the book. That, to me, made the book a little less awesome than the first one, which was totally unique.

That being said, I still loved the book enough that, the moment I finished it, I began reading the third book in the series to see what is going to happen and how the series is going to end. At least, I THINK the third book is the end. There isn't going to be a fourth, right Divergent fanatics?

:-D

I still highly recommend this series and will continue to do so unless something really crazy happens and the third book just totally sucks eggs, but honestly, I don't foresee that happening.

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I did not like this novel as much as 'Divergent.' This book often finds Tris crying and screaming, things she never did before, even when being beaten to a pulp. Also, the relationship issues seem contrived and the plot unnecessarily convoluted. Obviously, I liked it enough to give it 3.5 stars, but by comparison with the first book, the second is a bit of a disappointment.

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An OK follow up to Divergent. I was not as impressed by the second book, however. I thought it was weaker in plot and anticlimatic at the end. I was left with a "so what?" kind of feeling. It's not that I thought it was a poor entry to the story or not an integral part-- it just shouldn't have left off there.

I think that this story also left many things throughout unexplained. Almost as if the author couldn't figure out how to get character A from one place to another ... so poof, all of a sudden the character was just "there." Example, it took great planning to enter the Eurdite compound in one scene, yet in another, a character has all of a sudden gained entrance, somehow.

I'm also not a fan of the characters' development. Caleb's progression should have been a bigger deal. Why Peter helps Tris was a luke warm reason and how Peter becomes such an "important" person is totally ignored.

Still, all in all, a very interesting and unique story. The author has a wonderful way of "showing" the audience what is going on through her writing. That is the sign of a good writer. Her writing style allows the reader to be right there in the moment with the characters.

I will definitely be reading the third. I do think it's a shame that it won't be released until the fall of 2013. Seems like a long time to wait.

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