I made an "artistic decision" in Insurgent not to do a lot of recapping (that device used in sequels to remind readers of what happened in the first book). Recapping is not a bad thing-- it is very useful, and often necessary--but I felt that it would bog down Tris's narrative and would sound unnatural in her voice.
As with any "artistic decision," there will be consequences, which is that not everyone has a superhuman memory and/or the time to reread Divergent before reading Insurgent. Early readers of Insurgent have understandably had some trouble recalling all the necessary information to really be situated in the world of Insurgent. In order to help with this horrible thing I have done to you, I wrote this GIANT post to remind you of all the characters in Divergent, how you know them, and what happened at the end of Divergent.
WARNING: THIS POST IS ALMOST ENTIRELY COMPRISED OF...
DIVERGENT SPOILERS!
If you read it, it will spoil everything. EVERYTHING. About Divergent. You have been warned.
Now click this, and we can get started:
NAMES TO KNOW:
Tris, Caleb, Natalie, Andrew: the family Prior. Youngest child, oldest child, mother, father, respectively.
Christina, Will, Al: Tris's faction transfer friends from initiation. Christina and Will were dating. Al took his own life after a series of distressing events during initiation (one of which was attacking Tris). They were former Candor, former Erudite, and former Candor, respectively.
Uriah, Lynn, Marlene: Tris's Dauntless-born friends from initiation. Lynn isn't really a friend-- her first act in Divergent is stomping on Tris's toes before ziplining. The others we first met before capture the flag.
Tobias: Four's real name, which he kept hidden because it connects him to his father, Marcus, an Abnegation leader.
Peter, Molly, Drew: Tris's faction transfer enemies from initiation. Drew and Peter orchestrated an attack against her, with Al. Peter also attacked another initiate, Edward.
Edward, Myra: other faction transfer initiates. Edward lost his eye when Peter attacked him and had to leave Dauntless initiation; Myra left with him (she was his girlfriend).
Jeanine: Erudite faction representative who spread false news reports
about Abnegation prior to the attack. Orchestrated the attack against
Abnegation. She also seems to be the one responsible for getting rid of
the Divergent, and the one who developed the simulations, including but
not limited to the aptitude test simulation.
Marcus: an Abnegation leader accused by Erudite of "cruelty" toward his son, an allegation later proved to be correct by Four's fear landscape. He is one of the more influential Abnegation leaders.
Tori: Dauntless member, works in the tattoo parlor, volunteered to run the aptitude test simulation and disguised Tris's Divergence. Her brother was Divergent and mysteriously died during initiation. She is seeking to avenge his death.
Zeke, Shauna: Four's friends from his own initiation. Zeke is Uriah's older brother.
Max: one of the Dauntless leaders, invited Tobias to be one, too, but when Tobias refused, he appointed Eric.
Eric: the youngest Dauntless leader ever appointed, former Erudite. Tris discovers that he is working with Jeanine to find and eliminate the Divergent.
Susan, Robert: Tris's Abnegation neighbors, their father was an Abnegation leader, Susan chose Abnegation and Robert chose Amity at the Choosing Ceremony.
LEADING UP TO THE END:
Tris and Tobias discover that Erudite is planning to wage war against Abnegation, the faction in control of government. (Erudite believes in a democracy rather than an oligarchy.)
Tris figures out that the so-called "tracking serum" Eric injected her with after her fear landscape test is actually a simulation serum, administered to all of Dauntless to make them into an obedient army for the Erudite. She tries to tell Tobias, but isn't able to before the simulation kicks in. She marches with a bunch of simulation-controlled Dauntless to the train, which carries them to the Abnegation sector.
Once there, Tris shoots Eric in the leg to prevent him from killing Tobias. She and Tobias are then discovered to be Divergent, because they are awake during the simulation. They are taken to Jeanine, who puts Tobias under a different kind of simulation (one that makes his friends look like enemies and his enemies look like friends, etc.), and sends Tris off to be executed.
Tris's mother rescues her, and together they run to a safehouse where Tris's father, Caleb, and some of the Abnegation are staying. On the way, Tris's mother sacrifices herself so that Tris can escape. Tris runs into Will, her friend from initiation, who is now under the simulation, and is about to shoot her. In her panic, she shoots him instead, and somehow makes it to the safehouse.
Tris, her father, Caleb, and Marcus (Tobias's father) then plan to infiltrate the Dauntless compound to stop the simulation. On the way, they run into Peter. Tris and Peter have a tense exchange in which Tris shoots him in the arm. Peter tells them where the simulation is being controlled from in exchange for coming with them when they leave.
Tris and her father leave Caleb, Peter, and Marcus downstairs as they go upstairs to stop the simulation. Guards find them right when they are exiting the elevator, and Tris's father lures them away, sacrificing his life in the process. Tris then encounters simulation-controlled Tobias, who is running the attack simulation from the Dauntless control room. They fight. Echoing a scene in her fear landscape, she hands over the gun as if to let him kill her, because she can't kill him. Somehow this jerks him out of the simulation, and together they stop the attack simulation, freeing the Dauntless from Erudite control.
Tris and Tobias run from the Dauntless compound with Caleb, Marcus, and Peter, the data from the attack simulation in hand. They go to the Amity compound, where they can be (relatively) safe.
WHERE THEY ARE AT THE END OF DIVERGENT, ACCORDING TO TRIS:
Tris, Tobias, Caleb, Peter, and Marcus are...on a train toward the Amity compound. Peter has an untreated bullet wound. Tris has the hard drive with the attack simulation data on it.
Susan and a bunch of other Abnegation refugees are...already at the Amity compound.
Most of the Abnegation leaders, Tris's parents, and Will are...dead.
Drew, Molly, Edward, and Myra are...factionless.
Tori, Christina, Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene were...presumably under the attack simulation, with the other Dauntless. She doesn't know how the Dauntless reacted after the attack simulation ended.
Jeanine, Eric, Max, and the other Erudite are...regrouping.
