Review of Insurgent (2015) by Paula M — 05 Sep 2015

My favorite exceedingly young prodigy returns in Insurgent, the Matrix flavored high school allegory between Dauntless jocks, Candor preps, and Erudite nerds. In her sophomore piece, she proves that she was not a one trick pony mistakenly catapulted from obscurity to worldwide A-lister and that she can hold her own being compared to her Queen Bee Hunger Games rival. It's obvious she trimmed much of the flab she had in Divergent, and she's even more chaotically unpredictable. Also, new grownups Johanna (Amity's leader) and Evelyn (Factionless' leader) convey rich complexities in their brief appearance, hopefully setting the groundwork for more development in Allegiant (1-2).

Unfortunately, there is insufficient attention to determine if Tris' brother Caleb's betrayal is from a fault in his stars, Peter's spectacular scene stealing complexity is woefully underutilized, and best friend Christina barely gets to interject the much needed levity she did in Divergent. Also, this otherwise intoxicating very young ingénue is unable to explain why The Rebellion would allow the only living person capable of uniting the Dauntless, Factionless and remaining Abnegation in their complicated allegiance, that is the offspring of Marcus and Evelyn, .i.e "The Chosen One," to enter Erudite's compound alone.

Perhaps "The Chosen One's" actions could be blamed on teenage impulsiveness, but it is not clear why the older adult Factionless and Dauntless leaders would allow "The Chosen One," the most powerful weapon they have -- who also happens have intimate knowledge of the specifics of their impending attack plan -- to essentially be handed to Jeannine. This is especially peculiar since no one is aware of "The Chosen One's" magical Houdini ability to effortless escape any prison (really? It's that easy for the most valuable Divergent in Chicago to escape? I thought the Erudite were supposed to be really smart?).

She's the youngest addictively entertaining Young Adult star today, but by the time she has Tris fighting her computer generated doppelganger, which is intended to be the epic climax, it ends up being underwhelming. Her Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rival was at the top of her game in her Hunger Games Catching Fire, sequel, but Insurgent is Veronica Roth's rushed dress rehearsal to work out the kinks before the anticipated "money printing finale" known as Allegiant (1 +2).