BOOK BLURB: Allegiant (Divergent #3)

ALLEGIANT (Divergent #3)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Number of Pages: 526
Date Published: October 22, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

Goodreads:

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.

***

My Thoughts:

Allegiant, in the most fitting description I can think of, is unsatisfactorily wearisome most of the time. Although it wasn’t as bad for me as the other readers had experienced, I still feel a tad disappointed with the third book. It didn’t deliver an explosive ending that would match the booming start it had. And somehow, I kind of sensed the gradual decline of excitement from Divergent to Insurgent, to Allegiant.

The first thing you’ll notice and will probably react insanely to when you start reading Allegiant is the shifting of point of views for each chapter. Yes, Tris and Tobias share the story-telling part of the book in Allegiant. (This isn’t really a spoiler anymore because the whole world most likely knows it already.) And how did I feel about that? In all honesty, not that well. Sure, I really liked him in book one, but I have been drifting apart from Tobias’ character since Insurgent. And reading the first few chapters in his voice, though shed more light to his character, irked me even more. I just wanted to punch him right there and then. There was nothing I wanted to do more than skim through his chapters and read Tris’, at least she has been consistent. Aside from that, I just didn’t get why Tobias’ point of view needed to be there. It would be more exciting if a reader only experiences one side of the story and slowly unveil the mysteries and secrets behind it all.

Another thing I had been concerned about was the direction of the plot. I was expecting a lot of fights and chaos, massive action scenes, and an explosive conclusion to the oppressive government of Chicago. But what I felt I got was a whole new beginning, a whole new story that may or may not lead to Divergent’s end. It felt like 20% of the book tackled the issues of the factions, with the fights and all, while 80% of it was more like an information-overload machine, feeding readers with new things to swallow and choke on, setting up a new world, building new characters and revealing bigger problems. I struggled with boredom while reading a few of those parts. It’s not much of a page-turner as Divergent was.

We all know a character’s death is inevitable in most of the stories. It’s the one that either breaks your heart with sadness, or makes you gleam with happiness (because finally the bad guys are dead). Unfortunately, in Allegiant, the deaths (yes, some characters died) are pretty calm and bland. It didn’t increase the excitement or the tension. It did nothing but make readers ask “Why?” and follow it with something like “It’s a stupid and pointless death.” Yes, if you have read Mockingjay, just like that.

But despite the book’s shortcomings, I still think Veronica Roth conveyed her message pretty well; about family, love, choices, freedom and all that. No need to elaborate, though. Also, I think I understood why she made those bold choices with the third book. It’s not easy to end something as big as this one, especially when the fans’ expectations are out of this world. And let’s face it, even though Allegiant didn’t blew us away like Divergent did, there’s a tiny part of us that really would have wanted to love this book to death even if it was a bit disappointing. 

Other books in the series that I reviewed:

***February 2016 Update***

This 2013 review has been somewhat updated to suit the format and the layout of the blog. No major change has been made with my review. The thought, and most of the words I used back when I wrote this review is still the same. Only some minor editing, like deleting unnecessary words, phrases, expressions and emoticons. Links to the review for the other books were also added.