Allegiant by Veronica Roth – a Review

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Description:
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.

Review:
Allegiant is the 3^rd and final book for Veronica Roth’s Divergent series.  I loved the first two books of this series.  They were great; wonderful exciting stories, and some awesome characters, especially Tris and Tobias.  I could not wait for this final book, and to see how Roth was going to end it all.  I discussed this with a few friends, who read this series based on my recommendation. 

Allegiant to me was a major disappointment.  It just wasn’t the same, with the book being very slow early on, as well as the constant redundancy.  I also did not like the POV’s that Roth decided to add into this book, which made it so different then the others.  It was almost like a different writer.

What drew me to this series were the young protagonists we met, as well as the exciting action throughout.  All of this was missing for the most part.  As much as I loved Tobias, the main character for this series, the one who we followed through it all, was Tris.  She was a fantastic character, strong, smart, tough,, and would make a fearless leader. In fact, in this book, I thought Tobias was no where near as strong as Tris.  The best part of the book, despite its climatic ending, was the epilogue.  Roth wrote this well….a nice tribute.

I have never done this before, but after reading this final book of the series, I feel I have to express myself.

An open message to Veronica Roth    SPOILERS ……SPOILERS…..SPOILERS
(Do not go past this point if you have not read this book, unless you want to be spoiled)

I have been a big fan of this series, and loved your writing.  But after reading Allegiant, and this is solely my opinion….I was sadly disappointed, as I did not feel this was the same author who wowed us in the first  two books.

Sure it’s your book, your imagination, your story, your heroes.  But you made us deeply invested into your characters.  We loved Tris and Tobias.  We get it…it’s a war. People have to die.  It’s reality.  But this is fiction; we read and imagine with you the excitement of the battles, the love, the friendships…….the ending game.

I totally understand that sacrifices have to be made in a story like this.  You did make them all throughout.  But to take a main character, and sacrifice that character is not what we invested in.  I wasn’t totally thrilled with the ending of the Hunger Games, but Katniss would eventually rebuild her life with someone who loved her.  She made her sacrifices, and paid the price, but she survived.

Was it necessary to kill Tris off, especially when she survived the serum? What was the point of risking her life (to save a brother who betrayed her), suffering, surviving, and then killing her needlessly, other then to shock us all?  She deserved more, as in real life how many people would offer their lives?

Again, this is my opinion. Divergent was great, more then great.  Insurgent was very good, though a tad less then the first book.  Allegiant had so much promise and to me it was a major disappointment, paling badly to the first two fantastic books.

Reviewed by Barb