Alligent by Veronica Roth | Website | Twitter |
Publisher/Year: Katherine Tegen Books | October 22, 2013
Pages: 544
Series: Book three of the Divergent series
Genre: YA Dystopian
Format: Hardback
Source: Own
Summary (From 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.
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.
Shannan’s Summary
With the factions broken and a new power taking over the City, the best option Tris can come up with is to go outside the wall. What once felt like protection, now is a barrier to the truth that Tris so desperately wants, but the truth was more than her and Tobias could ever imagine, and it sets them on a new path to decide what is best for the people they love.
First Off…
When I first started reading this series, I thought there were going to be five books for some reason, so after reading the first two and discovering it was only a trillogy, I was overjoyed, but then deflated that I had to wait over a year for the third one to come out.
Thoughts:
This one’s a tough one for me. I don’t know what it was about this book, but I had a hard time emotionally reconnecting with the characters, and despite wanting to see how the series ends, about halfway through I found myself say “eh, good enough.” But I’m stubborn and have a hard time letting a book go unfinished, so I picked it up and slowly made my way to the end.
And the hard part wasn’t even that I was disappointed by the ending. I thought it was appropriate. It was a freshness in a genre that is currently saturated. I thought the epiloge also didn’t feel forced, but natural. You got to know what happened with all the characters that had been there through all three books and what direction the world goes. I just wish I could have been more emotionally invested in all of it.
Part of it may have been the length. I think about 100 pages could have been taken out and it would have been the same story, just with a lot less internal dialog. There are a lot of good themes that run through the book about identity, love, and forgiveness and what those really are and if you know you have them. But I still feel like those could have been addressed with all the back and forth dialog between Tobias and Tris. And this one had less action in it than the other books, which made it also feel like it was dragging, for me, because it was more of a character driven book.
As far as the characters go, I felt they stayed true to themselves and still grow into better people, mostly. I always get a little frustrated with stories when they build a lot of drama around assumptions and poor communication. I know that’s real life, but I’m one of those people that read to escape real life rather than learning how to deal with it. So when a story becomes too much like arguments I’ve personally had, it usually makes me annoyed.
Overall, I really did like the story, but I don’t think it was as good a story as Divergent. I thought it was well written and a great finish to the series. I just didn’t get to reconnect with the characters like I had before. It might have been the time between Insurgent and Allegiant. Maybe it was dual viewpoint storytelling. I’m not sure, but I’m glad I finished and didn’t just stop in the middle.
10 Second Summery:
- Everything is tied up: When the book ends you have the answers what happens to the main characters and what a couple years in their future looks like.
- There are great themes through the book: Tris and Tobias tackle a lot of hard topics about personal identity, love, and sacrifice. Even if you don’t agree with the thoughts, I enjoyed being challenged to evaluate my own beliefs on the topic.
- There is a lot of internal dialog: I think it feels like even more because the book is both from Tris and Tobias point of view. But they process internally a lot.
I own this in hardback to match the other two I own. I’m glad I do, I like the trilogy as a whole. But if this was a stand alone book, I probably would have said paperback.