If bookstore shelves are any indication, dystopian literature seems to be all the rage for young adults these days. More people, especially the young, have taken an interest to reading titles on those particular shelves. There are some people who oppose this section of the bookstore – saying that the books there are not of the same class and level of sophistication as some adult books are. Insurgent by Veronica Roth breaks away from that assumption, proving that some of these stories are worth it.
Insurgent is the second book in Roth’s dystopian series, Divergent, and begins with the looming war between the factions (groups of people who each follow the same distinct moral code). It is told in the perspective of Tris Prior, who learns what it really means to belong to a society. It is a world where one choice can destroy not just you, but how everything else works.
It is a constructed read, a bit overwhelming with the information, but an enjoyable read. Deeply psychological, with hints of political and social commentary, Insurgent is not your average teen story of boy meets girl. Though there are elements of romance introduced, everything is strategic and is aimed at relaying the overall message of the series. Readers are invoked to empathy for both the protagonists and the antagonists – leaving the distinction that there are neither wholly good nor wholly evil people. It is a book that does not just make you feel things – it makes you look at the world, at yourself, at other people, and just what people are capable of.
Insurgent is chaotic, exciting, and continuous. There is never a dull moment, up to the very end. The images are vivid and gruesome as warfare ought to be portrayed. Readers are not given sugar coated plotlines of a love story set in a war. It is the story of a war with a little love story that goes along with it. The story deviates from telling people that everything is okay. It warns society of the hands that can destroy it: its own. Insurgent is an insurgency in itself.
