Review Detail

This book does exactly what a second book of a trilogy should do: it raises the stakes, it twists the tension, and it hits you with a mind-blowing twist you NEVER saw coming. Wait. That's not true. Part of it is a lie. But, that's only because I have divergent tendencies, so admittedly, I saw it coming, mostly.

For now, I must soak in the awesomeness and process what I've come to understand, and read lots of other lovely books until book 3 comes out. Whether the time passes quickly or not, at least there are other things to read while I wait.

You. Must. Read. This. Book.

Now I want to read it all over again, from the beginning, to see what I didn't see before. I have new eyes. Thank you, Veronica!

*sigh!*

MINOR SPOILER ALERT!!!

Do not keep reading if you don't want to know about a minor plot point near the end of the book. I had a brief moment of confusion when an appearing/vanishing knife popped in and then disappeared a few pages later. Tris at one point sets a stun gun down on page 469, then crosses to a bathroom where she has a different gun on page 471, and finally on page 476, she makes a reference to being unarmed again. I spoke with Veronica over twitter and she clarified (most graciously) that this was due to "a draft overlap problem. All the drafts blending together in my mind due to fast turnaround. I reworked the whole book several times, adding new elements and taking away others." Veronica further clarified "that whole interlude with the erudite woman being scared shouldn't be there. Just Tris falling into the bathroom and then explaining why she's there to the Erudite woman." The vanishing gun does not take away from the ending where Veronica deftly raises the bar for what a second book in a series should do. I was blown away by the ending and can't wait to see what's in store for us in the last book.