Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #3
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: October 22nd 2013
Source: Bought

One choice will define you.

What if your whole world was a lie? What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything? What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

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.

As you may have noticed, I’ve decided to put my rating at the top of my review this time. This is so that people who haven’t read Allegiant yet will be able to see what I gave it without being spoiled. My review will contain spoilers but I’m going to give a very quick and short opinion on the book with no spoilers before my full review starts.

For the most part, I found Allegiant enjoyable. For me, it didn’t live up to Divergent or Insurgent, but it was still enjoyable. The pacing of this story was slightly slow but there was enough going on to keep me interested. The storyline definitely wasn’t as interesting as the first two books. There was definitely a lot of info dumping in this book and there was a lot to wrap my head around. The ending left me in shock and I had no idea what to do when I was finished. What happened was extremely unexpected and to be honest, I don't like how this book ended.

I debated for almost a day on what rating to give this book. It's been constantly changing and I think I'm finally happy with what I've given it. Overall, I did enjoy this book but I hated the ending. It took me a while to come to terms with everything that had happened (I'm still not fully over it and I don't think I ever will be) and the rating I've gave this book is the highest I can go. Mainly because I didn't feel this book was as good as the first two and because I didn't like how the book ended.

SPOILERS START HERE. PLEASE DON'T READ ON UNLESS YOU'VE READ ALLEGIANT. I APOLOGISE FOR THE AMOUNT OF SWEARING.

So the book starts off with the aftermath of the revelation. Tris, Cara & Christina are in custody for being traitors. Evelyn is in control and is using her factionless followers to make people submit to her. Tobias is trying to fool his mother and get close to her so that he and his friends can escape from the city and find out what's outside the wall. Tobias, Tris, Cara, Christina, Uriah, Tori, Peter and Caleb go to leave the city, all of them but Tori make it out alive.

The one thing that really bugged me about this book was the constant make out sessions between Four and Tris. OK, I get it, you love each other. That doesn't mean I need to read about you guys kissing every couple of chapters. To be honest, it started to piss me off. They're in the middle of some serious shit and they're just fooling around like they had nothing better to do. I don't know why I felt like this because in the previous two books I adored their scenes together, but they just felt so random and unneeded in this one.

Tris is a character I've always admired. She's tough, stubborn, resourceful, feisty and she'll do anything to protect the people she cares about. I've always admired her strength and determination to do things even if it puts her own life in danger. 

Tobias kind of annoyed me in this one. He was always throwing himself into things head first and not listening to anyone else, which then got him in a lot of trouble. Tobias is stubborn and thinks he knows best, but he's also very caring and would do anything for Tris. My feelings towards Tobias were constantly changing throughout the book. 

I've loved Uriah since book one and I was devastated when he was injured in that explosion. And then it just got even worse because it turned out he was brain dead. Uriah was fucking dead. It was like re-living Mockingjay all over again. Why do my favourite characters always die?

The discovery of what was outside their city wasn't as exciting as I thought it'd be. It turns out that they were put in there for an experiment to produce people with 'perfect genes' so that they could 'fix' the population. People who are Divergent have the perfect genetic code, and everyone else is damaged - according to The Bureau of Genetic Welfare. And it turned out Tobias isn't Divergent which caused a lot of conflict between him and Tris and caused him to act like a complete ass. The Bureau were the ones in charge of this experiment and they were just as screwed up as Jeanine Matthews. There was more than one city like Chicago. Chicago was the first to introduce factions and then it was introduced in the other cities when they realised that it was working. The Bureau were controlling, manipulative and determined to do anything and everything to protect their experiment. They even allowed innocent people to die for their cause and didn't step in until their perfect population was in danger. They went out of their way to save Divergent's but when it came to 'damaged' people, they just sat back and watched them die. It was so screwed up.

The build-up to the ending was exciting. I was so engrossed towards the end and desperate to know how everything was going to turn out. I wanted to know who Tobias was going to pick between his mother and father and how everything was going to be solved. I couldn't believe how easily Tobias was going to forgive his mother. I know he's desperate for her love, but after everything she's done I can't believe how easily he forgave her. I'm glad he finally got rid of Marcus though, and that everything was going to work out. I was heading for my perfect ending. And then the cruel twist happened.

It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that Tris was dead. At first I didn't even realise. It wasn't until Tobias returned to the Bureau and Cara was standing there and Tris wasn't that I put together what had happened. And in my head I was thinking "She can't be dead. No way. She's actually dead? Are you fucking kidding me?!” After everything she'd been through in this series, after everything she'd fought so fucking hard for I just couldn't accept that she was gone. It just didn't seem real. Tris deserved so much better. She'd fought so damn hard and lost so many people that she loved along the way that she didn't deserve to die. I've had time to digest the ending and work out why Tris did it, but I still can't get over it. It was something I'd never expected to happen. I do admire Veronica Roth for having the guts to kill off the main character of her book, I suppose that's why she had the dual POV. So that when Tris died, Tobias could take over from her. But I just can't come to terms with the fact that she's dead. I seriously hated the ending when I first finished the book and I'm still not to fond of it. It's definitely not how I thought (and hoped) this book would end.

And then that epilogue. Two years later and Caleb is still fucking alive and acting like a complete dick. SO NOT HAPPY. Tobias and his mother are playing happy families, he and Christina have become close and they're finally getting around to spreading Tris' ashes. The cities are making their own rules and allowing people to come and go as they please. The epilogue added nothing for me because I just didn't give a shit anymore because Tris wasn't there.

So overall, I enjoyed this book but I really truly hated the ending. I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to re-read this series knowing how it all ends.

I'm curious to see what other people thought about the ending and about the book as a whole, so let me know what you thought in the comments.