Book Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant

by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #3
Published: October 22, 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Format: eBook (526 pages)
Source: Purchased

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.

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.

Spoiler free even if you haven’t read the first book in this series. 

Allegiant explores what true sacrifice really means.  Sacrifice isn’t giving away other people’s lives for the good of everyone.  True sacrifice can only come from within yourself with the desire to truly help others no matter the cost to you.  I liked how Allegiant explored the idea of a good or evil sacrifice.  I liked the ending, though it did give me a major hangover that I had to discuss with my husband for an hour or two before I could move on.  I think the ending was tragic, gutsy, and really tied all the books together and stuck with the theme of the series. I also really liked Veronica Roth’s explanation of why she ended it the way she did.

Even though I liked the book overall, I did have a lot of issues with it that seriously hindered my enjoyment.  My biggest complaint was how slow the middle was.  There should be a PSA in the middle of the book that says, “We would like to interrupt this conflict to bring you All The Answers for at least 100 pages. Thank you.” Yeah. I was bored.  Not a lot actually happens for a huge portion of the middle of the book.  The answers of what was really on the outside of the fence was not really what I expected based on the ending of Insurgent.  And I don’t understand Tris’ anger for the people outside the fence not helping.   First she was mad that they were meddling in their lives and then she’s all mad that they weren’t?? Make up your mind!

I think the secondary characters would make really good cardboard cutouts for a movie.  I can just see Luke Skywalker turn around after he wins his medal and see the entire secondary cast of Allegiant.  I could not tell any of them apart.  I could not remember who was who.  I was constantly googling all the secondary people.  If Veronica Roth is going to just assume I know who all these characters are just by their name, then please don’t make them so flat and boring.

 The romance was okay.  It was a lot of kissing and then getting mad at each other.  But it had it’s moments that I really liked.  I think my favorite was this quote from Tris:

I fell in love with him. But I don’t just stay with him by default as if there’s no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.

Veronica Roth, Allegiant p. 372

Overall, I enjoyed it for the most part but the middle dragged way too much and the secondary characters were completely flat.

Content Rating: Medium, for lots of kissing/making-out, a suggestive scene, and some violence.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• eBook Challenge 2013