Books Review: Divergent and Insurgent

Move over, Hunger Games, the latest dystopian futuristic fiction is even hotter, with more action and a headstrong heroine I find more interesting than Katniss Everdeen.

The second in what is expected to be a trilogy from Veronica Roth dropped last week, and Insurgent picks up the action about one breath after the end of Divergent.

Actually, I'd say Insurgent comes without a breath or a backward glance, which is appropriate, since that appears to be how the hero tries to handle her very messed-up life in the midst of war.

I had Insurgent in my hands mere hours after its arrival at Penny's bookshop, but without any kind of review in the opening pages, I was forced to re-read Divergent before plunging in, and I'm glad I did.

Divergent is set in a society in the not-too-distant future in what used to be Chicago. The society is divided, quite deliberately, into factions, each with a name and a specific set of attributes and responsibilities. The groups do not mix, although each is familiar with the functions of the other.

Beatrice is born into Abnegation, the grey-clad, mirror-eschewing group of public servants and governors. But she, like every other 16 year old, is required to choose her faction and earn her way into it. She is expected but not required to choose the faction into which she is born. She chooses Dauntless, the much-tattooed warriors and soldiers who leap on and off moving trains, and who are supposed to provide security for the city. Mayhem ensues, not only for Tris, as she renames herself, but for the society as a whole as the scientists, named Eurdite, find a way to control most of the Dauntless in an effort to overthrow the Abnegation and become defacto rulers.

In this rollicking, action-packed tale which explores a girl's efforts to find and become the best version of herself, my only regret is how long I expect to have to wait for the third and final instalment.