"Insurgent. Noun. A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily regarded as a belligerent." 
 *3.5 stars 
 In Insurgent we follow Tris, Four and all the other characters who survived Divergent (which was quite a hard task, to be honest) in the aftermath of the attack simulation, that wiped out half Abnegation. Insurgent isn't as action-packed as Divergent and that is simultaneously its vice and its virtue. 
 Due to the fact that the characters in this book don't run or fight all the time, Roth has more time to develop their personality. In Divergent Tris is always trying to find a way to get out of trouble, so we don't really get to know much about her, apart from the fact that she is blessed with superb surviving skills. But in Insurgent I felt like I was diving deeper into her thoughts, into her true self. Divergent's Tris is a badass hero, but nothing more. In Insurgent she must face the consequences of her actions, she learns how hard it is to deal with grief and loss. When it comes to ya-fantasy,it has always bothered me how although people die and lives get destroyed, the main characters, most often than not, seem untouched by these tragedies. They carry on fighting, like hell hasn't broken loose, like their lives haven't really been turned upside down. But here, Tris does break down. She cries, she's hurt and overwhelmed by the atrocities of war. Some might call her whiny, but I think that she is a realistic portrayal of a 16-year old, who staggers under the heavy burden of death and guilt. I admire Roth's choice to give us protagonists who are real human beings, rather than superheroes. They make mistakes, they cry, they get angry. The people in their world don't always depend on them to save the day and not everyone knows Tris's or Tobias's name. They are important indeed, but they never become superstars, the way Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen did. 
 On the other hand, apart from the good character development, this book lacks in a gripping plot line. It was nice seeing how the other factions think and live as well as the alliances formed between them, but apart from some occasional tension and slight plot twists, the story never really reached a climax. We didn't get to witness the great fight in the end because Tris was otherwise occupied (view spoiler)[, since she had to fight herself in a stimulation which is symbolic, but not nearly as epic , (hide spoiler)] and although throughout this book Roth had been teasing us with the same questions, the answers we finally got felt a bit sketchy and rushed. 
 All in all, this is a rather entertaining book, although not as captivating as the first one in the series. The writing is pretty simple and it could be 150 pages shorter, but after all these are common problems among the second books in ya adult-trilogies and are to be expected.