Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #3
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on October 22, 2013
Pages: 526
Format: Hardcover
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One choice will define you.

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
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You’ve been warned….
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Seriously.. Stop RIGHT HERE if you don’t want to be spoiled!
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Okay. So.. I finished Allegiant a few days after it came out, and I’ve been trying – and failing – to figure out how to put into words how I felt about it. I want to note that I DID NOT read Allegiant with writing a review in mind. I actually had planned NOT to review it. But… I have so many feels, I kind of can’t help but write one. I feel like I need it… Closure, you know? Well, if you’ve read it, you know. And if you haven’t read it… WHY ARE YOU READING THIS? SPOILERS AHEAD! FAIR WARNING, GUYS!

One other thing I want to say before I start the “official” review is.. I’m pretty sure I’m going to fangirl and spew random thoughts and such. I’m also sure I’m going to forget to discuss several important points in the book. This will likely be my LEAST professional, LEAST put-together review. Ever. So… Please ignore my random ramblings and forgive me if I make no sense. Again.. I didn’t take any notes or anything. I hadn’t planned to review, so I don’t remember all the little details I’d like to chat about. I’ll do my best.

ONE LAST SPOILER WARNING.

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I’m not even sure where to start. SO I guess I’ll start with the factions. I actually really enjoyed the factions. I loved the concept of them and what each one stood for. I feel like the faux-science-genetic-explanation of the factions in Allegiant was a cope out. It didn’t seem plausible and it didn’t make sense. Honestly.. at the end of Insurgent, the video Tris sees with Edith Prior.. If they had followed that concept through, it would have been pretty epic and awesome! But the idea Roth went with instead? Sigh.

Tris herself… She frustrated me a lot. I loved her in Divergent. She annoyed me in Insurgent. And I just wanted to punch her in Allegiant. She goes from being careless, risking her life in stupid ways in Insurgent to being stupid and thinking she knows everything in Allegiant. She’s stubborn and fights with Four about the dumbest things.

And don’t even get me started on Four. First of all, his POV was mostly pointless. I know everyone is swooning over him and thinks it’s great we get to see inside his head in Allegiant. But if we weren’t told in the chapter headers who was speaking, it wouldn’t be obvious. Tris and Four’s voices are so similar, you can’t tell them apart. There’s nothing distinct about either character.

Several characters get killed off, some that had been with the series since Divergent. Their loss was felt pretty badly. It was painful, especially with one character – And I’m talking secondary characters right now. I’m getting to that other one… But honestly, most of the secondary characters didn’t really.. do much in Allegiant. They weren’t significant and were almost like background noise, unfortunately. Plus, there was no character development with the characters introduced in Allegiant. They were just there to flesh out the plot and move the story along.

There are a lot of themes relating to choices and sacrifice and what family means. It kind of felt forced though. Like it was all meant to get Tris to one point: her death.

And yes, now we’ll talk about that. First of all.. I had seen a partial spoiler on Twitter about someone dying. And from the level of outrage, I figured it was one of our two big players. But honestly, I figured it would be Four! I never, ever thought it would be Tris. Now.. Let me preface this by saying that I didn’t cry. I know a lot of people sobbed their eyes out, but I didn’t. I was upset.. My heart was pounding throughout the entire scene. But I didn’t cry. I think part of that was just because of.. Disbelief. I kept waiting for it to not be true. How can you kill off the main character?!?!? It’s just not done! Especially in a franchise as big as Divergent! That’s like killing off Harry or Katniss.

It’s just. not. done!

I wouldn’t say it completely ruined the series for me. I know it did for some people. I won’t be re-reading them. What’s the point? But it definitely took a lot away from the series for me. A part of me can understand why Roth did it, what her justification was. But it could have had a different outcome. Heck, I read a piece of fan fiction that had an alternate ending, and it was amazing!

All in all, what it came down to was this: If this were any other series, if it wasn’t a huge franchise with a huge following, how would I rate it, based on the plot and killing off a main character? And so I went with a 3. Average. It wasn’t spectacular and I’m still upset Tris died. The “messed up genetics” explanation for the factions was just weird and forced. But it still wasn’t a terrible book. It was just okay.