17383918Title: Allegiant

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen

Publication Date: October 2013

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Dystopia

Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book Three

Synopsis can be found here.
I purchased this book.

 

Review:

And the series is over.

Divergent is a pulse pounding, violent chase through a dystopian society. Insurgent is more emotional, allies and foes and lies and love. In Allegiant, Roth tries to wind everything up into an explosive finale. And she does a pretty decent job of it.

Honestly, while Divergent slapped me in the face, pulled my hair, and screamed “Read one more chapter!”, Insurgent felt slower. Although I feel like there was a lot of emotional storytelling in the middle book, all of the backstabbing and lies felt a little to much for me. And Tris got on my nerves. Now in Allegiant, Tris and Four are trying to find a new path together, one filled with honesty and love and truth. And you know, save their world at the same time.

Allegiant introduces us to the world outside of their city, and a new cast of characters. I don’t want to give too much away, so all I’ll say is that I loved this idea. The whole thing. It’s creepy enough for it to be real. Roth does a good job at trying to explain the origin of their city, the fractions, and the divergent history. The third book asks a lot of new questions and there’s a lot of truth that are now shown as lies.  I really liked the questions that were posed, how vulnerable Four and Tris are, in their own ways. How two wrongs don’t make a right.

Tris and Four each handle these things very differently and it’s great to see how their relationship strains and stretches under the stress. Their problems are based on real issues many couples have- trust, strength, identity. The real issues between Tris and Four make the book believable and real, bringing the reader back to a place of emotion. It’s easy to get lost in the new dystopian world.

At the beginning of the book, there is one death in particular that I think is supposed to be shocking. Honestly, I wasn’t moved. I think because Allegiant dives right in, being the third book and all, and it’s been a while since I read book two, the deaths weren’t as emotionally jarring to me at the beginning. I barely remember some of these secondary characters. That said, the death does do one thing really well- it fills the reader with a sense of dread quickly and soon, you’re running and jumping and dodging bullets with Tris and Four. You’re there. With them.

I did feel like there was something missing in this final installment, but I can’t place my finger on it. Maybe it’s the introduction of so many new characters, a new setting, new truths that don’t have time to be explored. The ending and actions did feel rushed, out of sequence sometimes, reactions and split decisions that weren’t backed up with enough information for me to honestly believe that this was the only choice the characters had to make. The justifications weren’t always there and I found myself yelling at them to slow down, don’t trust them, get more information.

And the ending. I was surprised at first, but then, after thinking about it, no. The ending is the way it should be.

While Allegiant isn’t my favorite in the series, it is a solid ending, bringing together closure for the characters and a hopeful path ahead.

Rating 8 Cookie Worthy