There are few times when the second book in a series or trilogy will surpass the book that started it all. I mean in that first book lies the discovery – a whole new world to immerse yourself in. By the second book, things are not shiny and new anymore and as intriguing as they may be, nothing is like that first time… Well “Insurgent” will just have to be one of the exceptions.
“Insurgent”
by Veronica Roth (May 1, 2012) 
One choice can transform you… or it can destroy you. No matter what… every choice has consequences. While unrest surges through the five factions, Tris Prior must continue trying to save the people she loves – and herself – while grappling with haunting questions of grief, forgiveness, identity, loyalty, politics and love. Tris’s initiation day should have been one of celebration, but all that is remembered are the unspeakable horrors and death the day ended with. Conflict between the factions and their ideologies grow and war seems inevitable, casting a shadow on everyone. In times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge and choices will become even more powerful – and irrevocable. Transformed by her decisions, but also by the burdens of grief and guilt, radical new discoveries and ever-shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence… even if she does not know what she will lose by doing so.
The city is a much different place than it was in the beginning of this trilogy. One of the factions enslaved another’s minds, forcing them to almost entirely wipe out a third faction. The two factions that were uninvolved must make choices as they find that if they don’t, choices will be made for them. And then there is the Factionless who were all but forgotten… until now. This is book was intense because you never know who someone is, even when you were sure that you already did. Enemies become secret allies, loved ones become traitors, comrades… spies, suspected spies… innocent or true to the faction they defected from. Secrets tear apart the fabric of relationships and reality itself as Roth continues to explore human nature in this second installment of her “Divergent” trilogy. The first book touched on human nature, what it could be and what it could turn into… but this book shows what could happen when people are pushed to the breaking point. In times of war and the world falling apart, life and death becomes every day and every decision becomes life and death. What does that do to a person? What kind of person will you turn out to be, when you are pushed to make your choice?
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