Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the Divergent Series, I was expecting great things from Insurgent, the second outing for Tris and Tobias. The action picks up from where the last book ended, with Tris injured and wracked with guilt following the attack on her original faction, the Abnegation, by her chosen faction, the Dauntless, who were acting under the influence of the Erudite. In this dystopian world, people have been split into five different factions according to their particular aptitude. However, there are some people who do not conform to a faction - these are the Divergents, which is what Tris and Tobias are. Into this mix is added a large group of people who have been kicked out of the different factions - the factionless - who are becoming more and more powerful. There is soul searching and misunderstanding and it seems that no one can be trusted. Who will come out on top? I felt that the opportunity to really get under the skin of the two main characters, and develop them further was completely lost by author Veronica Roth. We do get to meet the mother and father of Tobias, but again, what should have been really big scenes fell a bit flat for me. Yes, there is plenty of action - which, for regular readers of this blog usually means a big tick from me - but it all felt a bit like going through the motions. It reads more like a movie than a book, with no real depth. We keep being dangled the gigantic carrot regarding a dark secret that will change the world forever. But when, FINALLY, it is revealed, I was underwhelmed to say the least. This book seems to spend almost its entire time setting the scene for the next book, but takes a long time to get there. Disappointing.
My STAR rating: THREE.
Length: 544 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from library as an ebook.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; unabridged audio CD; ebook.
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