Sue's Reviews > Insurgent

April 2015: fun to listen and read again then see the movie

August 2013: I liked this one better than the first, probably because I was already invested in the society. I didn't find too many surprises along the way, mostly because Tris kept noticing things and commenting and then we're all prepared for what happens later. But there were some fun things that I didn't see coming so that kept me reading. Mostly because I wanted to find out the big SECRET, which turned out to be not much of a surprise, but sets up the last novel quite well. The relationship between Tris and Four heats up and that brings me to one of my irritations, which is this trend in YA fiction of strong male characters that have otherworldly control over their hormones. It's getting a bit old. They are 18 and 16 years old and they spend several nights platonically sleeping together. I'm not advocating that they have sex at all, but it's unrealistic to think the average teen can repeatedly make out and then sleep together platonically, a la Edward and Bella. It seems to be asking for trouble and not a good role model for real teens. OK, rant over. On a positive note: no love triangles. Yay! The other thing that got mildly irritating was the tendency for Tris to start channeling Bella Swan and be all full of angst. Katniss just kept on fighting to the end, and that's what I'd expect of Tris, as well. Once again, Four is the more interesting character so I'm looking forward to the last one which will be told from a dual perspective of Tris and Four. All in all, even with my petty gripes, I loved the fun read and immersed myself in the world of the factions and factionless for a great summertime read.