What a series. I absolutely love Katniss and could happily read more about her. Really enjoyed this series.

I received this book a long time ago and a while after the publishing date. Therefore I will not be giving feedback as not only would it no longer be relevant, but also I didn't get round to reading it. My thanks to the published for the opportunity, as always this is much appreciated.

Sorry for late review - just catching up after a busy 12 months. Fabulous books following the fabulous films. Thank you for the read. Much appreciated.

The first time I read Insurgent, I was very new to reading YA and didn't read as critically as I do now, so I rated it 5 stars. Considering I'm lowering that rating to two stars today, it's surprising I thought that highly of it in the first place, and it makes me wonder what other "old favourites" would drop down dramatically if I reread them now.
There is exactly one reason that this book isn't a one star, and that's because I think the way Veronica Roth tackles Tris's PTSD is impeccable. Instead of becoming a merciless killing machine without a second thought, Tris is filled with genuine guilt, remorse and regret for some of the actions she takes during Divergent, and her inability to brush it off without a second thought is very realistic.
That being said, it's the only good aspect in a book which is depressingly bland. It takes a very long time for any meaningful events to occur, because the first section of the book primarily focuses on rehashing the events of the first book in the series. Yes, it's good to recap events to remind people of what they might have forgotten, but it makes reading books close together an absolute drag.
As well as recapping the events far more than is necessary, there is also a hell of a lot of repetition in this book. Whereas repetition can be effective if utilising properly, this is a case of Veronica Roth stating the same things over and over and possibly not even realising she was doing it. For example:

'The face of Abnegation headquarters is just a cement rectangle, like all the other buildings in the Abnegation sector.' - pg 411

'We reach Abnegation headquarters, and its face is just a cement square like everything else in the Abnegation sector.' - pg 430

???? Why do we need to have such similar descriptions less than 20 pages apart? And also what kind of magical shape-changing building is this, morphing from a rectangle to a square that quickly?
There were huge sections that I could have skim read (if I wasn't reading this out loud to my partner, damn him!) and if the editor had been doing their job properly this book would have been at least a hundred pages shorter.
The last thing which really got on my tits was the unnecessary inclusion of the bury your gays trope. A character makes a deathbed confession of their sexuality, meaning Veronica Roth effectively shoehorns in an LGBT character to get a tick on her diversity checklist and then kills them within the space of a paragraph. I didn't pick up on this first time around or I would have been far less forgiving in the first place, because this trope is one of my least favourites. I'm surprised I haven't seen more people talking about it, and I can only imagine it's because the book has been out for so long - any of the detractors have probably been buried by rabid Roth fans throughout the intervening years.
In conclusion, if you haven't read the Divergent series yet, don't bother. I know for a fact that I hated the last book in the trilogy, and if the second book has managed to disappoint me this much during a reread I can't imagine the third installment will fare any better.

I felt the first book was probably a little young for me, and also too similar to The Hunger Games series to really hold my interest any further. Therefore, I didn't read this instalment.

This series is one of the most interesting, thought provoking book series I have ever read. I loved the whole premise of the storyline, and the strong independent characters, not one of them that does not interest the reader. The storyline is strong and individual, with well built worlds to support the characters. The author has worked hard to create both a world, and characters that we can relate too, and emphasise with. I truly loved these books and felt quite sad when I had finished them, it was like losing friends.