Jose.Maltaca 25/06/2019
Too much, yet too little
Insurgent is the second installment in the book series initiated with Divergent. Written by Veronica Roth, it tells the story of Tris and Four after the tragic events which happened in the end of the first volume, adding some depth to the characters and some additional motivations to their journeys. This time around, the protagonists travel a lot, having a tour through all the installations of all the factions, as well as some other less conspicuous places, like the debris that the factionless call home. I understood perfectly the author’s intentions: to start the series in a closed in space (the first book takes place almost entirely in the Dauntless compound) and expanding this world until its final volume, in which the characters go beyond the fence and its symbolic faction system. Nevertheless, this tour feels forced: Tris changes her motivations all the time, betraying people who she theoretically loves; other characters go through weird unexplained changes (Caleb and Peter, for instance) and Tobias just watches it and does nothing at all. All of this is for the sake of taking the characters from one location to another, without giving the reader the time to understand how and why these people are there.
The society divided by factions is one of the most obnoxious ideas I had ever read in a book. It makes no sense. Yet, it is this story’s guideline, so I decided to just go along with it. However, the concepts after a while get so confusing that by the end it is pretty hard to grasp the meaning of Divergence, the usage of the multiple serums and their relation to the protagonist, the changes of mind that characters linked to one faction go through, and the most alarming: the fuss about the final twist. It was like a bucket of cold water. Furthermore, there is one more terrible aspect to this book: the naturalization of a toxic relationship and its lack of real consequence. Tris lies to Tobias all the time, as well as he keeps lots of information from her. Yet, by the end of the book, it is all forgiven because they “love” each other. The justifications that the author gives for the protagonist’s successive changes of mind and betrayals are nothing short of pathetic, and serve only for the sake of advancing a flawed and confusing plot.
I would not say that this is a terrible book, because it has its highlights: the action sequences are well described, there is a tension that permeates the whole narrative, and some moments are captivating, usually when it comes to secondary characters – Uriah and Lynn are consistent throughout the journey, for instance. Still, the central aspects of the book, like its main characters, the situations they are thrown in, the plot twists, are badly constructed. I am yet to see a more poorly developed relationship in a book than the one built around Marcus - who was to be a dubious character but ends up as totally inconsistent - and Beatrice. In a nutshell: this book attempts to do too much, but falls short, turning the plot into a confused mix of sparse situations weakly linked. It is a feeble sequel to a flawed beginning.