Thursday, March 6, 2014

Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent, book #3
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: October 22, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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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.

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.

I was afraid to pick Allegiant up. If you’re alive and kickin’ then you know that the buzz is not good. Now that I have read it, it’s very clear why. I’m going to try and explain in the most Non-Spoilery way.

When I read Divergent, my biggest complaint was, not knowing why they were there in Chicago. I mean, what about the rest of the world. Are they stuck in the City? Can they not leave? What’s out there? While Insurgent was action packed, it still did not give me any of the answers I wanted until the very end.

In Allegiant, you learn every little thing, details and all. I felt overloaded and bored. It’s a huge information Dump. Bigger than any dump I’ve ever taken, that’s for sure.


Then on top of all that, you can’t trust anyone, you have no idea who’s telling the truth, you just really have no idea about anything. I will give Roth some props though because I didn’t expect it to go in the direction it went. I’m not really sure what I was expecting to be beyond those gates, but it certainly wasn’t that. I was kinda left thinking.. really? That’s what all this hoopla was about?

I’ve seen that many readers did not like the ending. That's to be expected because the ending sucks. I’m not going to say much about it, but I was pretty pissed I pushed through all that other garbage to reach a conclusion like that.

You see, I thought the whole book sucked. I might have been okay with the ending, had the rest of the book been amazing, but it wasn’t. The only plus I can really give it, is that it did wrap up. There weren’t really any loose ends, so that’s good right?

I’ll be honest, I’m not nearly as excited about the movie now. I’m sure it will be great and I’ll definitely see it, but I won’t be able to watch it without thinking of how it all turns out.




About the author:

Veronica Roth is from a Chicago suburb. She studied creative writing at Northwestern University, and wrote DIVERGENT (Katherine Tegen Books, May 2011) and INSURGENT (May 2012). The third and final book in The Divergent Trilogy, ALLEGIANT, will come out on October 22, 2013. In the meantime she will spend endless hours browsing Wikipedia in her pajamas as she eats corn flakes. (Or some other kind of bland breakfast cereal.)

Find Veronica:

Website | Twitter | TumblrGoodreads

19 comments:

  1. I do have to agree, the world building in Allegiant was pretty crappy. I mean, after the pretty much non-existent world building in Divergent/Insurgent, I thought Roth was going to pull out some answers, and I guess she did- but they were pretty unsatisfying.
    On the other hand, I did actually like the ending. Maybe I'm a black sheep in this, but I thought it was pretty fitting considering Tris' character :)

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    1. yeah, I agree that the ending was pretty fitting, but I was already annoyed with the rest of it. lol.

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  2. Noooooo. *weeps copiously* I LOVED IT. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. xD But I totally see where you're coming from, and thank you for NOT bashing Veronica Roth while you wrote your opinions. Gah, that's what's most bothered me about the Allegiant-controversies...the author/book bashing. I was surprised that the pace wasn't as boom-boom as I expected. I mean, all in all, we didn't really CARE about what was outside-the-fence (all the political/poor/rich stuff) because we'd just spent 2 books INSIDE. So I was curious, but I wanted more inside than outside, if you know what I mean. Anyway. ;) I can't wait until the movie!

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    1. Really! I didn't see much author bashing with this one.. but I stayed away from the reviews because I didn't want to be spoiled. Not matter how much I dislike a book, I wont ever bash the author in a personal way.

      I'm so glad you loved it though. I wish I had loved it too!! lol.

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  3. Well drat. I'm only skimmed b/c I haven't read this one yet (though I have read and LOVED the first two), but the 2 star rating isn't very encouraging. I'm sorry it was a disappointment.

    Jessica @ Rabid Reads

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    1. Awwee, well don't be discouraged. My friend Suzanne read it right before I did, and she thought it was perfect. It could also be that I've just been loving contemporary more these day. As you can see, Cait above loved it!! So you might too.

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  4. I agree with everything in this review. I could have tolerated that ending if the rest of the book hadn't been so damn boring. You're absolutely right that it was an info-dump, which is beyond crazy because Insurgent felt like a big ole info-dump to me, too. I'm still excited for the movie because I loved the first book, regardless of how the rest of the series played out, but if they continue the movies after this, I can't say that I'll make it a point to see them in the theater or anything. Oh, and you deserve the BEST GIF EVER award for this one...it's perfect for this review. =) PERFECT!

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  5. I just heard Divergent and Insurgent and was so scared to read this one. So I went spoiler hunting and wow....I'm so glad I didn't read it! I agree that the ending would have been okay if it was necessary or if the rest of the book made up for it but wow did it let people down big time!
    This is like the Mockingjay version of Divergent (everyone you like dies) and I reeeeeeally hope that they change it in the movie. I mean, the movie's main focus is to make money and if they keep this ending, I'm sure it will piss people off, right? So yeah, I'm hoping this gets the hollywood change up.
    I'm just going to pretend Allegiant never happened and in my head Tris and Four lived happily ever after. Was that so hard Roth???

    To Jen: How is the audio/story for Murder of Crow's? I just added it to my wish list and it looks really good!

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    1. yes!!! this is the one instance where I hope that they do change the movies. lol. Good point though, I didn't even think about it, but it's possible they will do that. :)

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    2. Murder of Crows is awesome...a really great sequel to Written in Red. If you liked that one, you'll definitely enjoy MoC...the world-building is crazy good, the characters are terrifying yet adorable, and the romance is slooooooooooow-burning. My fave. :) I really like the narrator for this series, too. I don't think I've listened to anything else from her, but she does a fantastic job with this story.

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  6. First off, the use of the gif was spot-on. You succeed in being awesome. Second, even though the ending killed me, I actually kind of liked where it went. It went above and beyond anything you would normally see in a YA book - but it still hurt. It still really hurt. I couldn't stop crying for like 30 minutes. My feels are hurting!

    Emily@Emily's Crammed Bookshelf

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    1. And you make an excellent point with not knowing what's going on outside. To be honest I never even thought of it. I thought Allegiant was really slow paced too and I didn't like that part.

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    2. lol, when I saw that gif, I knew it was the one.

      The thing with the ending, it didn't really hurt me. Because by that point, I was so bored to tears and just waiting for the book to end. I was just annoyed because I pushed through it, all for a shitty outcome. :/ It was beyond slow paced for me, but being the last book, I didn't want to give up.

      I'll be honest, my review still would have had a 2 star rating, regardless of the ending. That was just icing on the poop cake. tee hee.

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  7. Completely agree! The pacing was off, and I hated the fact that it was dual-perspective. That set me up negatively from the beginning. Now, had Insurgent been told from Four's perspective, the alternating would have made more stylistic sense. And the info-dumping really annoyed me, too.
    I did like the epilogue, though. It was the best part of the book, IMO. I just really had no emotional reaction to the end, really. Because I was just tired with it, too.

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  8. Oh nooooooooo. I hate, really really hate when the last book in a series is a huge let down.

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  9. I have fond memories of my reading experiences with Divergent and Insurgent. I loved Divergent a little more though. But I'm avoiding Allegiant --for the time being. I'm a little curious to read it --just to see what my reaction would be. I know so many readers were more disappointed than pleased with the way things wrapped up. So, I'm curious but also afraid to find out where my emotions would fall on that spectrum. It's more likely I'll never find out though. Well, thanks for giving us your take, April. Even if you were majorly disappointed by this, your review was fun and entertaining to read! THAT GIF MADE ME LAUGH! :D

    Marlene @ The Flyleaf Review

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    1. Can't you just tell by my comment how conflicted I am? Lol I might read it. I might not! Oh, geez.

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  10. I'm probably in them minority but I really liked this book. I thought it was a realistic ending, even though it was sucktastic. I thought Roth was brave in doing what she needed to do to end the series. I am actually looking forward to reading what she decides to write next. I did have some issues with the POV, as many did. And I was annoyed with how Tris seemed like she was pushing Four away (I though this could have been done better).

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