Review: Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

ALLEGIANT

Author: Veronica Roth

Series: Divergent

Pages: 526

Publisher/Source: Harper Collins Australia

Amazon

Release date: 22^nd October 2013

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

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: Not rated.

Contains possible spoilers

Ok, I admit upfront my opinion about the events which took place may change once I let it all sink in but at this moment all I feel for this series is sadness so this review may be incoherent and all over the place. Allegiant is one of my most anticipated reads of 2013, I was literally counting down the days and to say I am disappointed by the conclusion of the Divergent trilogy would be an understatement.

I don’t want to spoil it for anyone as it was spoiled for me so I will keep this review relatively brief. Insurgent left us with a big ahhhh moment and the possibility of people residing past the city boundaries; we also saw betrayal and hope and what I thought would turn into a journey of self-discovery for Tris and progress for the factions to merge but the whole plotline seemed to veer off course as we find out the secrets that have been kept by the government to their guinea pigs - the factions; it certainly wasn’t what I had expected.

We also get both Tris and Four’s POV and out of all honesty, as much as I was excited for this it didn’t work but I understand why it had to be done, Ms. Roth had a reason for this – Four to me has always been a bit of a mystery, broody yet protective but in this instalment and reading from his perspective he came across as weak, vulnerable and lacklustre; the romance also wasn’t as amazing and swoony as what is has been.

There is a lot of new conflicts with little resolution, over the top oh no moments, and death and destruction; you can’t fault the author for writing a brutal, non-typical conclusion but do it without sacrificing what has already worked and without an ending that I feel didn’t, the MC was self-sacrificing but it sort of defeated what she had achieved and worked for up until that point, it failed to serve a purpose.

Allegiant left me feeling as I did at the end of Mockingjay (The Hunger Games 3) & The Sookie Stackhouse series, deflated and emotionally drained. I have adored this series up until now, it is one of my all time favourites but this was one big let-down and I am saddened by the direction Veronica Roth took the story and I won’t even mention the shattering ending which I am still shaking my head about, I have been anticipating the upcoming movie but I will now not be watching it knowing how it will all end (I sound stubborn but it is still fresh).

Veronica Roth’s writing is flawless but I felt the plot and world-building faltered once the characters left the city limits, it was all downhill for me from there despite my excitement, it was extremely inconsistent and I felt like it didn’t belong to the first two amazing books, the characters also didn’t progress which I feel was needed.

Overall, I’m sure some people are going to adore Veronica Roth’s bravery but for me it was inadequate after the awesome build-up we have had to get to this point. One thing this book did convey was a lot of emotion, from me – loss, heartache, betrayal.

Thank-you kindly to Harper Collins Australia for the opportunity to read and review Allegiant.

About the author: 

Veronica Roth is from a Chicago suburb. She studied creative writing at Northwestern University, and wrote DIVERGENT (Katherine Tegen Books, May 2011) and INSURGENT (May 2012). The third and final book in The Divergent Trilogy, ALLEGIANT, will come out on October 22, 2013. In the meantime she will spend endless hours browsing Wikipedia in her pajamas as she eats corn flakes. (Or some other kind of bland breakfast cereal.