Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth
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.
Confession time: I have an awful habit of flipping through a book to look at some of the other chapters or the END, when I pick up a book to start reading it. I try to resist, but the temptation gets much worse, especially when I know I have a story-ending, series-ending book in my hands. So… those of you who have read Allegiant know what I found when I skipped over to the end of the book.
While I applaud Roth for making such a tough decision, especially in the Young Adult genre, I really, really didn’t want to read the book after that. Luckily, this was the only book I had with me while waiting for my flight back from San Francisco to San Diego, so I read a large portion of it in one sitting.
I don’t really mind spoiling books for myself because, while I skip around because I’m impatient, I still really enjoy seeing how they get from point A to point B, so it doesn’t take any of the fun out of the reading book for me. Normally.
**Also, side note: I really, really, REALLY hate when an author sets us up with a specific book structure across a series or a trilogy (Twilight, Matched, I’m looking at you), and then destroys the structure they set up. Suddenly introducing a new character’s viewpoint in the second or even third book? Yeah, no. In this series and in the other two, okay, yea, it worked, and sure, I guess it was necessary, but OCD me wants to scream. I really can’t stand when the story isn’t united by a consistent structure across books. It Bugs me. Rant over. **
Much of this story deals with what Tris and Four find outside the fence. The world-building and explanation for how the Divergent series story arc came to be was fascinating. But it was a little too back and forth, I’m not sure who I’m supposed to trust, who’s good, who’s bad. But as always, the writing is engaging and kind of makes the plot confusion irrelevant.
The last seventy or so pages of the book were just amazing. I cried so much. I felt all the feelings. I woke my boyfriend up from his nap and made him hold me while I felt like my world was breaking apart. So. Many. Feels.
Also, that scene where Four is in his old house, shaving his head? God. Damn. Killer.
No review of the Divergent series is complete without a commentary on Roth’s age, but yeah…gimme your skillz. I wantz them.
This was probably my favorite book of the series and it wasn’t because of the story, but the way the writing pulled it off and questioned pretty much everything we know about ourselves and our lives and how we relate to each other. Also, Roth has some insane insight into relationships, particularly romantic ones, that are worth highlighting, quoting, and sending on million-year circuits around the internet.
