I wish that I had made myself sit down and write this review right after I finished the book. I've been away from it for over a week now, and am about 70% done with [b:Allegiant|18710190|Allegiant (Divergent, #3)|Veronica Roth|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395582745s/18710190.jpg|15524549] now, so things are getting muddled. As it stands, I don't know exactly how many stars I want to give this book. I'm gonna go with 2, though it's probably closer to 2.5.

Sometimes when I read a book, one word/thought will repeat in my head. For example, when I read [b:The Book Thief|19063|The Book Thief|Markus Zusak|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390053681s/19063.jpg|878368], I kept thinking "AMAZING." Trudging my way through the hot mess of the [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258] series, it was "GAG ME WITH A SPOON" that I couldn't stop thinking. When I read [b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462], I constantly screamed "PRETENTIOUS" (in my head, though I did audibly groan a LOT). While reading this book, I kept thinking "JUVENILE."

My following thoughts may be considered spoilery, so I'll put 'em under a cut!

All the characters' words, actions & relationships were just so incredibly juvenile and immature. It really bothered me. And the "relationship" between Tris and Tobias reminded me of the Bella and Edward fiasco. Super possessive/obsessive behavior, and all that crap about "risking your life without telling me" yadda yadda yadda. I wanted to strangle Tobias and smack Tris.

(How long have they known each other, exactly? I had a really hard time figuring out the timespan of these books. How long was initiation? Weeks? Months? I was never really sure. I know at one point Tris talks about summer, and then she talks about it being cold, but then it's back to summer? I know we're talking about Chigaco, here, but I was pretty confused. I had no idea what month or season it was, and I'm not sure the author knew, either.)

The Tris/Tobias thing never really fit with me. I really haven't been able to bring myself to care about their relationship. It doesn't feel real, or based on anything other than lust. That might work for a romance novel, but not for something like this. If these teenagers are supposed to be in love, show me how they've connected, how they've really grown close, how they support and understand each other. I saw opportunities for such things, but it never happened.

Another thing that never really materialized was what, exactly, made people afraid of Divergents. People, especially children, were scared of Tris. There were whispers of why, but it was never really explained. I feel like it was just another example of something the author never really figured out herself. Again, I felt like there were so many times the characters could have done something to show what they feared, but...it just fell flat.

Flat is perhaps how I would describe the characters. Have any of them changed? Have any of them grown? Have they learned from their experiences? The only character that sorta-kinda-maybe falls into this category is Caleb. He hasn't really changed, but there is a -gasp- secret he is keeping. But even that doesn't last. Is he good? Is he bad? Was he brainwashed? Did he really align himself with Jeanine? Who knows? I certainly don't. Oh, I guess there is some slight redemption of Peter, but that barely scratches the surface of his character, and is so predictable I called it in book one.

The "climax" of this book was...very anticlimactic to me. Partly because I knew what was going to happen to Jeanine, and partly because it felt so rushed and just flung together by the author. Or perhaps it was just that there was so much nothing happening throughout this entire novel that when something did happen, it felt...flat. I don't know. It just felt like it could have been so much better. I thought the "reveal" was interesting and did make for a decent set-up for the final book, but I just feel like it should have been handled differently.

I can't even remember much about their time with Amity or Candor. Just that it made me want to roll my eyes and get to some plot development already. That, really, was possibly my biggest qualm with the entire book. I'm sure there was a lot more I wanted to say, but I can't remember.

All in all:

1. So much of this book series has been done before (the "choosing ceremony" & factions are basically dystopian recreations of the Harry Potter sorting & houses; the antagonistic relationship between Tris & Peter is basically drawn from Harry/Draco; the slightly misogynistic/crazily over-protective boyfriend nicked from ~~Twatlight~~ Twilight; main character traumatized by violence like Katniss in Mockingjay...). And, the truth of the matter, it was done better originally (except perhaps Edward/Bella because I can't bring myself to say that mess was better than anything).

2. I feel like this book was drawn out unnecessarily. It could have been a few chapters instead of a whole book.

3. This book had potential, but fell flat time after time (much like the ~~Twatlight~~ Twilight books).

Insurgent - Likewise Book Reviews

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