The second book in Veronica Roth's
Divergent series is entitled
Insurgent. This story picks up just where the first book,
Divergent ended. The story involves a self-contained population living in and around what used to be Chicago. These people are cut-off from all others in the outside world. The story takes place in some future time after something (unexplained to the reader) has caused society to breakdown. The people have divided into five factions, each defined by a unique organizing characteristic and way of life. Everyone must choose one faction to join upon their 16th birthday, Amity (peace and fellowship), Dauntless (fearlessness and bravery), Candor (honesty), Erudite (truth and wisdom), and Abnegation (selflessness). Those who are not allowed to join one of the factions, drift at the fringes of society as one of the "factionless". At the end of
Divergent, Beatrice (Tris) Prior and Tobias (Four) Eaton, two teenagers who have recently made their choice as Dauntless members, uncover a plot by the leadership of the Erudite to seize power and control of the people. The Erudite leadership use a special mind-control serum that they have developed to take control of a sizable fraction of the Dauntless, turning them into an army of automatons.
Now with the Dauntless faction in chaos, Tris and Tobias first try to learn what is going on and then develop a plan to stop it by forging and uneasy relationship with the factionless and their leader. Alliances are formed and broken between groups from start to finish as those who truly hold power do whatever they can to take control. At first it seems that they are just hungry for
power and conquest, but could it be that they are trying to protect the populace from an evil darker than they could possibly comprehend? Tris and Tobias finally uncover the truth and need to make a choice in their loyalty to their families, their friends, and to each other. The exciting tale concludes with
Allegiant.
