Book Review: ALLEGIANT by Veronica Roth

Note: I will try to be as spoiler-free as possible in this review. But understand that, as the final book in a trilogy, it’s hard to discuss it in any way without some understanding of events that have transpired in the previous two novels. I will, however, try to be sensitive to those who are still deciding whether to read the trilogy.

In DIVERGENT, we met Tris Prior, the Factions, and how this brave new world collapses, causing Tris and her new found friends to find refuge among the factionless. INSURGENT saw Tris coping with a new reality, and beginning to see the how the faction system can be abused. At the end of INSURGENT, Tris’s world is turned upside-down, as everything she had thought to be true turned out to be something quite different. As with any good cliff-hanger, all is not what it seems, and we were left wondering what Tris, Four, and the others will make of this new reality.

Now we come to ALLEGIANT, the final book in the series. INSURGENT had such a great opening, and an incredibly tantalizing finale, so my hopes were high and expectations were great that ALLEGIANT would continue along the same line. It pains me to say it, but I was disappointed. At least for the first 100 pages, even the first 250 pages–half the book. It was like being on the precipice of danger… and then bleh. The drop from the precipice turns out to be only a foot, and there’s soft grass and fluffy bunnies at the bottom. That’s how I felt. After the high octane ending of INSURGENT, the pace drops to a crawl. Tris and Four engage in a lot–and I mean a lot–of nose-brushing, knuckle-stroking, lip-mashing, shirt-grabbing kind of stuff (I’m not a huge fan of romance novels, so I have a relatively low tolerance for this kind of thing anyway). I understand there’s a relationship going on, but there are more artful ways of showing intensity of emotion. I think what annoyed me most about it was not so much the actual physical displays, but the fact they seemed to occur just about any time they were left alone during the first half of the book. I’m sorry, but to me that undermined the seriousness of the situation. I expect this kind of thing in YA contemporary; but in dystopian, I expect the drama to overshadow romance. We should be feeling the torment of them not being able to be physically close; of having mutual feelings that can’t be expressed. I think that fits the genre better (compare, for example, the very physical but clandestine relationship between Winston and Julia in 1984).

Unlike the first two books which were both from Tris’s first-person viewpoint, ALLEGIANT switches viewpoints between Tris and Four–mostly on alternating chapters, but sometimes one POV will take a couple of chapters in a row. This bothered me a bit at first, but later I understood why it was necessary to do this, especially writing from a first-person perspective. However, I didn’t hear any real distinction in the voices. Tris sounds like Four–or does Four sound like Tris? A number of times I had to flip back to the chapter heading to remind myself whose POV I was reading.

On the plus side, the second half of the book was a return to form. The pace increased, and the finale reminded me why I enjoyed INSURGENT so much. The heart-thumping excitement came back. And the ending… oh, the ending! I know some have complained about it, but I applaud Veronica for going where she did. It was bold, but completely in-character. Devastating, but the right thing to do. In all honesty, I think it would have betrayed the series to end it any other way. Up to the middle of the book, I was getting ready to give it a generous three stars on Goodreads. By the time I got to the end, I was comfortable with four stars. Whatever failings I thought there were with the first half, Veronica more than made up for those in the second half.

There are some instances of profanity, and some violence, so I would rate it a PG-13. If you’ve read the first two, you ought to read this. If you’re deciding on whether to read the series, I would not be put off by my negative comments. Yes, I wish the first half of ALLEGIANT was better, but it deserves to be read if only for the second half, and the jaw-dropping ending.

I invite your comments on ALLEGIANT (please try to be spoiler-free). Remember, however, that reviews are subjective. Feel free to disagree with me, but I encourage you to be mindful that we are all entitled to our opinions, so let’s keep the discussion respectful and civil.