Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Divergent #2)

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth
Publication date: May 1st 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopia
Cover rating: 5/5
Content rating: 5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description via Goodreads: 

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. 

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

My thoughts:
I actually read Insurgent quite a while ago but haven't gotten around to putting a review up until now! In 2011, Divergent absolutely blew me away. It quickly earned its place in my top five favourite books of all time. Well, now I think Insurgent may have just knocked it off its spot because it was absolutely superb. I expected great things from this book but Veronica Roth really went above and beyond in delivering a heart-racing, thrilling read. This book was so insanely emotional and if I hadn't required sleep, I would have definitely devoured all 525 pages without even looking up from the book.

Insurgent picks up right where its predecessor left off. It wastes no time in recapping the events of book one, so I was incredibly glad I had a re-read of that very recently. It was really needed! From the very beginning, I was sucked back into the world and it held its grip on me until I was finished. There is a very sad tone running throughout this whole book so it was a bit depressing at times. It was amazing how the characters could deal with so much yet never lose their sense of humour. Within the first 50 pages, I wanted to laugh hysterically and I wanted to cry.

There is so much going on in this book that there is literally never a boring moment. Just when you think things are settling down or going to be okay, something else shocking happens. I had to close the book several times because I could hardly handle it! Tris was as awesome as ever and she beats herself up way too much! And what is there to say about Tobias, really? He's so fantastic, sweet, funny and tortured. I really wanted more of Tris and Tobias together! Their relationship was really tested during this one and it was hard to read about!

By the last seventy pages or so, I was getting a little impatient. I was worried that some things wouldn't be resolved at all until the next book but it actually turns out fine! I guessed some of the ''big secret'' but I could never have guessed the finer details. The very last page was particularly shocking, and when I turned the page in a rush and only saw the ''acknowledgments'' page, I was crushed! The wait for book 3 is gong to be a tough one but I bet it will be worth it!