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Allegiant by Veronica Roth – Review by Meredith Sizemore
Published: October 22, 2013
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 526
Genre: Fiction, Dystopian
Audience: Middle Grade/Young Adult
In anticipation of Allegiant, the third and final book of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, my students and I did all of the following: created a daily countdown from 20, had geeky fan moments while taking quizzes to determine our faction (much to my chagrin, but not to my surprise… I am Erudite), watched the Divergent trailer on repeat, stalked Veronica Roth’s blog, and swapped predictions for the trilogy’s close. When October 22nd finally arrived, I could hardly wait to get home and find the Books-A-Million package on my doorstep containing all my hopes and fears for Tris, Four and what is left of the Dauntless faction.
Insurgent, the second book in the series, left readers heartbroken with the loss of many Dauntless characters, and cliff-hangered with the tantalizing discovery of a video about what’s “outside the fence.” There is a woman in the video named Edith Prior and readers are stuck wondering if Tris is related to her, and if so, how? Is Edith Prior still alive? Who are these people outside the fence? What did the Erudite so badly want to hide and control? Everything the novel built up to only led to this snippet of a video that author Veronica Roth dangles in front of readers’ noses like a dog biscuit. This ending left me incredibly anxious for the next book. I, like the Erudite, am a slave for information and I wanted nothing more out of Allegiant than explanations. I could live without the action—I just wanted answers.
Allegiant supplies just that.
Unlike the first two books in the series, Allegiant is a dual-narrative featuring both Tris and Four’s voices. This is a welcome change as Four became an even larger character in Insurgent and his voice provides a deeper look into the dark past that haunts him. Four’s perspective also gives readers a new view of and empathy with his rollercoaster romance with Tris.
The start of the novel is action-packed as (yet another) group of rebels forms against Evelyn, who recently proclaimed herself the new leader of the city and announced that factions were outlawed. This group calls themselves the Allegiant, and they hope to reform the factions that for so long defined them as individuals and as a city. The excitement in this part of the novel gently slopes into a long (but not uninteresting) period of dialogue and information about the world outside the fence—or what’s left of it.
Tris, Four and other Dauntless members have a difficult time adjusting to this new world outside the city, and quickly find facets of this world that irk and anger them. Four brawls with the idea of supporting another uprising, and tries to find peace with his parents and his past; Tris grapples with whether or not to forgive and trust the people she loves. The couple goes back and forth, and back and forth, in their typical but complicated teenage fashion. One chapter, they love each other. The next, they’re not speaking. Nothing new.
While I received all of the information I desperately craved in Allegiant, nothing truly surprised me until the end. I was so blind to the impending plot-twist that I actually had to re-read two chapters to ensure I read it correctly. Veronica Roth warned readers in a recent interview that the ending would be shocking. Thank you for the understatement of the century, Veronica.
Even though I was stunned by the massive turn of events, I am over-the-moon pleased with the finale. I am a huge fan of plot twists, cliff-hangers, and bittersweet (and/or horribly depressing) endings… because they are realistic. Life isn’t always fair, predictable, or has happy endings.
So why should Allegiant end happily?
Yes, one of the beautiful aspects of stories is that readers can have the warm-and-fuzzy ending that they often don’t have in real life. However, I think the beauty of life is eloquently summarized by the last few lines of the novel:
Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that
damage.But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.
If you feel unhappy or blighted by the finish of the trilogy, I understand. But remember, all that was damaged, all that was lost can be mended. The characters live on to recover and to find happiness. And not just in the pages of a book, because the true beauty of a good story is what you make it.
There are those who may not agree with me, but I say well done, Veronica Roth, well done.
Meredith Sizemore is a second-year English teacher at Stuarts Draft High School in Virginia. When not teaching or reading, you can find her stalking new books at the Green Valley Book Fair, hiking, taking photos, and trying not to become a crazy cat lady.
I was really surprised by the ending but it was refreshing to not have the happy ending we always seem to get. Real life sucks sometimes, why shouldn’t it be the same in books? I also thought it was a fitting ending that made the series go full circle and it was something I could see Tris doing.
So beautifully written! I loved Allegiant and really enjoyed learning the deeper, more insecure parts of Four and how Tris was able to help him reach beyond his fears.
Real life sucks sometimes, why shouldn’t it be the same in books?
At first, I was also shocked and disappointed with the ending. (I’m an 8th grade English teacher and every day check in with my students to see who has finished the book so we can talk about it!) But after I finished the epilogue, I felt a lot better about the ending. It really made sense and when I thought about it, realized it was very consistent with the character’s personality and past. Plus, reading the epilogue gave some nice closure to see how the characters lived and fit in the future. Do I sort of wish it was tied up in a pretty bow? Yes.🙂 But I think this was a realistic ending and overall I am pretty satisfied.
I literally just finished reading allegiant. I have two opinions of the book: i love the books. I was not someone who was a fan since the first book. The first time i saw the trailer of divergent, i decided that i have to read it because this storyline is very different and it captivated me immediately. So i read divergent, then insurgent, and finally completed allegiant. My second opinionis that i hated-no hate-allegiant. It was unfair, unfair, tragic, unfair, and did i mention unfair?! I hate it as much as i love it. It had such a plot twist! I personally am very big on endings. To me, and ending is very important and depending on the way a book ends, i can either hate it or love it. In this case: both. I think throughout the whole last three chapters i was crying. When the plot first took a turn, i wouldnt believe it, with everyone being so hopeful. I was full on breaking down. I have never cried this much since the outsiders. I felt completely broken-i was feeling like tobias honestly. Now i am able to breathe, but i can still start crying if i think too much about tris and the future i imagined for her. I have to say i have never read a book this fast. I stayed up many nights reading the books, and i dont regret a single minute.
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Very nice review! I agree with your thoughts on the ending. Yes, I was bummed and somewhat shocked, but as a fellow author, I also appreciated Veronica Roth for having the guts to write it. Dystopias are not all rainbows and butterflies, yet they can still uplift and inspire us in their own way. You can check out my review here if you want. Happy reading!
http://dustycrabtree.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/teen-tuesday-review-of-allegiant-3rd-in-divergent-series/
Hi I haven’t read insurgent or Allegaint yet but ive read Divergent . I have to say I am not a big fan of reading unless it a realistic interesting book or I have to read for school ,and I had my doubts on reading it when my brothers girlfriend gave it to me. Ohh and in case your wondering I am only 13 so I shouldn’t say I’ve had a lot of experience with books but when read I found myself enjoying the thrill and romance of it all. Ive recaminded Divergent to a lot of my friends and theyve love it as much as I do. I just have to say Veronica Rooth is an amazing and inspiring writer.
I loved the first two books and was pretty eager for the third. However, it proved to be a bit of a disappointment. The book is written from a dual point of view which ended up a little clumsy. Tobias’ character, when written from a first person point of view, seems brittle and sounds a lot like Tris. Though a tragedy at the end was expected, the tragedy proved to be a lot larger than what was expected. The writing is as fresh as ever but the ending disappoints and leaves you with a lot of feels. Its a good ending to the series. Not a great one.