Once again, I am surprised by so many raving reviews, leaving me wondering, "Did we all read the same book?" I liked Divergent. I didn't exactly buy into the dystopian, faction-split world, but I thought the idea was interesting enough. Learning all the factions was fun as was the brutal Dauntless initiation tests. In Divergent, I especially liked it when Triss made quick Dauntless-like decisions, instead of sitting around brooding over right and wrong. She had spunk. She was brave and crazy. The character was refreshing.
I don't know what I expected from Insurgent, but I did not expect everything to fall apart. None of the characters actually stayed in character. Were they even the same characters? Same names, but completely different personalities. Triss was the worst. While in Divergent, she acted first and thought later, didn't worry about her family or consequences or right and wrong, or anything like that. Now, suddenly in Insurgent, she's this weak, wishy-washy little girl who does nothing but cry and faint and whine about how little she is. Insert cringe here. At some point in the beginning (or possibly the last book), she is shot, and she milks her injury throughout the whole book. She even lets people carry her around because she's too hopeless to stand on her own two feet.
Tobias, a.k.a. Four, is another one who's been taken over by aliens. In the last book, he was a tough guy, strong, hard to read. In this book, he's moody and childish. Caleb makes a longwinded appearance in Insurgent, but just like the other two, we can't tell who he is and what side he's on. Add in the remaining 700 characters, all with multiple personalities, and good luck keeping track of anything that's going on.
Insurgent had absolutely no transitional introduction, nothing to remind you of who everyone was and why they were wandering aimlessly. I actually had to go back and relisten to Divergent, because I couldn't follow this book. Once I got into the flow, I was still confused. For example, Triss and Four and a whole group of people suddenly show up at Amety headquarters. I had to rewind several times to see if I missed something. Why were they there? Did they announce that they were going there? The Amety promise that they're safe there, but as soon as the Erodite show up, they turn over their "guests" without the slightest coercion. "Sure, you can have them. There they are!" So they run to Candor, who say, "Yes, we know Erodite used mind control on everyone, but I see you on this camera doing bad things. So you must be guilty and not the mind controllers." Hmm, strike two. Hey, let's try going back to Dauntless. After all, we did save everyone's life. Surprise. Dauntless hates you too. That makes sense. Or not. Really, I know there a lot of stupid people in the world, fictional or otherwise, but does everyone have to be stupid?
Okay, so what saved this trilogy? The ending. At the very end, there is a somewhat, almost believable explanation for everything. It doesn't excuse the unforgivable chaos of characters running around with no memorable qualities. It doesn't explain why everyone's running around killing each other. But if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, the ending might possibly explain the factions and the post apocalyptic world that they live in.
If you've already read Divergent, you can't really miss Insurgent, because you have to finish the trilogy. Just take it all with a rain of salt. Grit your teeth and bear it until you get to the end. I plan to read the third, but after this fiasco, the third book BETTER be good.
