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

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 | Tumblr | Goodreads

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Labels: allegiant, divergent trilogy, dystopian, harper-collins, post-apocalyptic, reviews, veronica roth

{Audiobook} Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Narrator:  Emma Galvin, Aaron Stanford
Series: Divergent, book #3
Length:  11 hrs 51 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: October 22, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

At first, I thought my feelings toward this final installment were based solely on my disconnect with the audiobook, but I've discussed with others who've echoed my sentiments about this book feeling really slow. Like I was slogging through all of these details and all of this information, and I couldn't really even bring myself to care.  The thing is, it wasn't even a lack of action because STUFF happens, but as with Insurgent, I just never felt the same connection to the characters that I did in the first book, and I really missed that.

I will admit, a lot of my problem with this book did revolve around my lack of love for the narration.  Aaron Stanford as the voice of Four was great, and he should have been, considering the fans got to pick that voice to represent their beloved Tobias.  But I was in the middle of listening to Endless Knight which also features Emma Galvin as the narrator, and switching to this one with her as the voice of Tris left me disappointed. First, I kind of loathe her as the voice of Evie in Kresley Cole's YA series.  I didn't mind her as the voice of Tris when I listened to Divergent as a refresher to Insurgent last year, but this time around, I found it difficult to listen to her portray this character.  It's probably my fault for listening to her narrate a series that I'm not loving and then attempting to shrug that off and listen to her as Tris again, but I just didn't connect with her as Tris at all this time.  I actually found myself wishing Aaron Stanford could have narrated the entire book.

But, since this was a dual narrative, I understand why that wasn't possible.  Even so, this felt more like Four's book...like more emphasis was put on his story arc than ever before, which makes sense since he got his own point-of-view in this book, but I think his story ended up overshadowing Tris's.  Maybe that's why it was so easy for Veronica Roth to commit to the ending she wrote for these characters.  And, gawd, did she commit.  This was not the ending I was expecting, nor was it the ending I was hoping for, but it was real, and I can't fault the author for that.  This was a story about war and human nature and it's impossible to tell a story like that without the loss of lives, without the loss of favorite characters.

I know this book isn't being received as well as expected, and I know I'm rating it lower than I expected to, but it's not a bad book.  It forces the characters to look at some hard truths and face even harsher realities, but it's a dystopian novel, and I don't think readers could have realistically expected sunshine and rainbows for these characters at the end of the day.  I'm not usually a fan of epilogues because it feels like they're always used to soften the blow of the true ending of the story, and that's definitely the case with Allegiant, but I think it was warranted in this situation.  I, for one, really needed to see what became of the factions, the GDs and the GPs, if and how they worked things out.  I'm not sure I really ever understood which side we were supposed to be campaigning for, but I feel like they're all on the same path now...or at least headed in the same direction.

This final book was more than a little depressing, but it was a fitting end, I think, for our Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Dauntless friends.  I'm glad to be done with this world and all its political maneuvering, but I'm excited to see what Veronica Roth has in store for us next.

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 | Tumblr | Goodreads

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Labels: audiobooks, divergent trilogy, dystopian, harper-collins, post-apocalyptic, reviews, veronica roth

Dystopian Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Dystopian Giveaway Hop

November 1st to 7th

Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & My Shelf Confessions

All of the giveaways on this hop will feature dystopian novels:

  

dys·to·pi·a

noun

a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and

overcrowding.

For my stop, I'm giving away a paperback of one of my favorite dystopian reads and also the winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book of 2011:

Rules:

• This giveaway is international. 
• One entry per household.
• All entries will be verified.  Any entry found to be falsified will result in disqualification of all entries for that participant.
• Winner will be notified via email.  Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected.  And, people, check your SPAM folders...I've had to reach out more than once to some winners because they "didn't get the first email."  I don't want to, but I'm going to have to start just picking new winners.  :C
• I am not responsible for lost packages.

And now on to the fun stuff!  You only have to follow my blog to enter, but all other entries/follows are appreciated!  :D

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered here, be sure to check out the other 100+ giveaway stops on this blog hop:

Good luck & happy reading!

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Labels: divergent trilogy, dystopian, favorites, giveaway hops, giveaways, veronica roth

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title:  Insurgent
Author:  Veronica Roth
Series:  2nd book in the Divergent series
Publisher:  HarperTeen
Publication Date:  May 1, 2012
Source:  purchased

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
 
New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

 

Insurgent was probably one of THE most highly anticipated novels of 2012, especially for me. I list its precursor among my top five reads of 2011, and I read 130 books last year, so that’s saying a lot. However, I have noticed that my taste has changed a bit over the course of a year, and I don’t find myself immediately loving every book I pick up. That’s either due to the fact that I’m reading everything as if I’m going to write a full review of it and therefore deconstructing the story as I read, or it’s due to the fact that I’m relying more on recommendations from Goodreads friends and blogger buddies. And let me tell you, we do not always agree. I’m afraid we won’t agree whole-heartedly on Insurgent either.

Divergent grabbed me from the very first chapter, and I stayed up through the wee hours of the night to finish reading it. Insurgent was released on my birthday this year, and so my bestest blogging buddy Michele over at A Belle’s Tales suggested we stay up and do an all-night read-a-thon since Divergent was what brought us together in the first place. (Okay, it was really our love of Four, but don’t tell our husbands!) With Insurgent, I never really felt like I was fully back in that factioned world. The pull from the story wasn’t nearly as strong as it was with Divergent. Whereas I was Tris in Divergent, I felt like an outsider in Insurgent, watching from the sidelines as Tris made one poor decision after another.

I loved Insurgent. I did. It’s full of non-stop action. And Tris. And FOUR. I just felt disconnected from the story in a way that I didn’t with Divergent, and even though I’d been waiting a year for this sequel, it still felt like I was waiting…or rather like something was missing. If I had to put my finger on just why that is, my best guess is that it’s because the characters themselves did not feel connected. In the first book, there was a sense of camaraderie as the initiates trained together and even when they competed against one another. They were united in a common goal, at least. In this second installment, though, there is no one left. Not really.

Still, that missing piece, that loss, really set the tone of the novel, and even though I felt apart from it, the novel’s underlying theme paralleled my own feelings about the story. Be prepared. There is no light-heartedness or carefree and fun attitude in this book like there was at times in Divergent. Instead, the book serves as more of a cautionary tale revolving around loss and picking up the pieces and of human nature in general.

Another thing that bothered me? The dialogue. It seemed quite a bit immature and inappropriate at times considering the dire circumstances and dangerous situations the characters found themselves in. Or maybe Tris and Four just seemed more mature in Divergent? I love sarcasm and snark as much as the next girl, but it is not a good color on Four. You be the judge:

“Got that gun?” Peter says to Tobias.
“No,” says Tobias, “I figured I would shoot bullets out of my nostrils, so I left it upstairs.”

Regardless, I still want to say a big thank you to Veronica Roth for not giving me a chapter or two simply summarizing the events of Divergent. And thank you for throwing me right back onto that train and continuing the story from there. (Note: If you do need a refresher, though, the author has put together just such a post, but beware that it will be spoilery if you haven’t read the first book yet.)

In summation: Do I think Insurgent was better than the first book? No. Did Insurgent at least live up to my expectations? Almost…probably. Could there have been more Four? Definitely. (BTW, did you read the Free Four short from his POV? Yummy.) Am I still excited for book three? YES, especially after that ending!

Rating: 

Book-A-Likes:  Legend by Marie Lu, the Matched series by Ally Condie



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Labels: book-a-likes, divergent trilogy, dystopian, favorites, harper-collins, reviews, src 2012, veronica roth

Review: Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

Title:  Divergent
Author:  Veronica Roth
Series:  Divergent Trilogy
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Links:  Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: 

From Goodreads:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Review:

I was up until the wee hours of the morning trying to finish this book. It gripped me from the first page, and I couldn't imagine going to sleep without knowing what happened. Which, if you think about it, doesn't make much sense since it's only the first novel in a trilogy, but there it is.

This book was so captivating -- I'm sure that word will appear in a ton of reviews -- and I've heard a lot of comparisons to The Hunger Games, but I don't think that's a fair assessment. Yes, dystopians are very much the trend right now, and dissenters will undoubtedly refute the merits of this novel by calling it just another copy-cat trying to ride on the coattails of The Hunger Games' success. I assure you it is not. This book is real and honest and compelling and unafraid. Of course there are going to be similarities, but that will always be the case in literature; it's how the story is told that makes it stand out, stand apart. However, if The Hunger Games is the dystopian novel in which we are to compare all others, it has found its equal.

In Beatrice/Tris, Veronica Roth provides us with a main character that we can immediately find likeable and even relatable. Tris is not pretty. She doesn't have many friends. She doesn't always make the right decisions, and she struggles to be the person she is expected to be. Her voice is so natural, so powerful that you feel as she feels. Tris is not invincible, but she is strong and intelligent. We're allowed to see her flaws and faults, that she isn't perfect and can't best every foe placed before her. Tris is very capable but she's still fragile and needs help at times to overcome her obstacles. That's where Four comes in.

Four is the perfect complement to Tris. He pushes her and has no sympathy for her plight, but it is still obvious that he cares for her. Four does what he can to keep Tris safe, but she doesn't fully understand their relationship, why he taunts her or doesn't acknowledge what happens between them in private. One of my favorite scenes is when she confronts him about it, and Four says, "I didn't think it would affect you this way. Sometimes I forget that I can hurt you. That you are capable of being hurt." Four believes in Tris when maybe no one else does. Their mutual respect is a driving force in their relationship, and that only gets stronger when they see each other at their weakest.

The world Roth has created in Divergent is fascinating. People are split into factions based on their strengths and how they perceive that the downfall of their once great civilization came about. They must choose which faction they belong in at the young age of sixteen, and this decision impacts the rest of their lives, determining if they will live out the rest of their lives with their families or choose a different path altogether. The motto of all factions is faction before blood. What a difficult choice to be faced with at sixteen.

This first installment mostly concerns itself with following Tris through her initiation into the faction she chooses. We see her grow and overcome. We see her fall and we see her triumph. And through it all, we see Tris become the person she always suspected she was. But now she's starting to suspect that things are not as they seem and her life may really be in danger.

Divergent is full of suspense and there is no end to the action. These characters do not sit idly by and wait for things to happen. They are always in the midst of it. There are secrets in this novel, too, which I will refrain from spoiling, but I'll just say that all of my suspicions were confirmed. That's not to say that the answers are there in plain sight. No, you do have to work things out on your own. I just seem to have inherited my mother's gift for always knowing what's about to happen in a book or in a movie.

This was such a great read. All of the hype over the release of this book was not for naught. I dreamt about it after I finished it last night, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I'm actually already considering re-reading it. In my haste to devour it, I am sure I glossed over items of importance, and though I know I have a year or more in which to re-read it before the second installment is released, I don't know if I want to wait to read it again. My congratulations to the author for bestowing such an astounding debut novel on the world.

 

*I won an ARC of this novel from Pitch Dark Books/Harper Teen in their Dark Days of Supernatural promotion.*

Next up for review: 

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Labels: divergent trilogy, reviews