Picking up Divergent by Veronica Roth well over a year ago was another one of my impulse buys akin to my urge to pick up The Hunger Games. In fact, at the time, many people were touting certain books as “The Hunger Games Hangover Cure” and Divergent was one that satisfied my appetite beautifully. Insurgent, though it picks up immediately where Divergent leaves us, had me wondering when I would feel the same high I felt before.

 

Okay, so I don’t dislike Insurgent. In fact, I found it pretty agreeable. There were a few choices that were made that made me question the direction the story is being taken… Such as *SPOILER* killing the major antagonist (yay for the good guys!… but seriously? There’s a whole ‘nother book!) and *ANOTHER SPOILER* a lot of people being divergent besides Tris (So… she’s not really special after all…?). What I did appreciate was a closer look at the inner workings of the other factions. Perhaps that’s really what this entry in the series was about: fleshing out the society a bit more, hinting at what could possibly be going on outside of the city. It seems as though there’s going to be a revolution within the revolution… which reminds me of the Matched trilogy. This entry still felt more like it was bridging a gap.

Throughout this book, I felt like the scenes were sort of cut and paste next to one another. One scene everyone is talking, talking, talking… Then there’s a lot of action and guns and running… Then back to talking and talking etc, etc. I wasn’t as interested in this book as I was when I first read Divergent – I found the world and premise fascinating, with simulations and faction hierarchy. In Insurgent, I felt like some of the rules were bent a bit: “Oh, you don’t remember what happened? It must have been a simulation.” *shrug*

That said, I am still looking forward to finishing up the series with Allegiant. I still enjoy the characters and their tensions/relationships. (BTW, definitely didn’t see the twist with Caleb coming!) It may be a while before I get around to Allegiant, but I have high hopes!