Allegiant, the third book in Victoria Roth’s Divergent trilogy, failed to live up to the hype that was created by the first two books. Roth’s bold plot twists made the final book in the series the most painful one to read. Although the book is 526 pages long, it is a quick read because of its large font and fast paced plot.
The Divergent trilogy takes place in a dystopian society located in current day Chicago. The novels follow are told from the perspective of Beatrice (Tris) Prior, who was born into a group called Abnegation, those who value selflessness. In Roth’s dystopian society, the population is divided into five factions who all serve a distinct purpose to the society. The other factions are Candor, those who value honesty, Dauntless, those who value bravery, Erudite, those who value knowledge, and Amity, those who value peace. All children in this society grow up in the faction of their parents, and when they’re sixteen they choose whether they wish to remain in their current faction or whether they wish to transfer to another. The first book, Divergent, follows Tris as she chooses to leaver selfless past behind when she chooses to transfer to Dauntless, a faction with nearly opposite values. Divergent shows Tris’s struggles as she goes through Dauntless initiation, as well as starts to develop her blooming romance with fellow Dauntless, Four, later known as Tobias.
The second book, Insurgent, again follows Tris, as she takes on a leadership position in the growing rebellion in her society. The first two books were thrilling and addictive, and made me much anticipate the release of the final Divergent book. However, Allegiant, did not live up to my expectations, and instead ruined the series for me.
Unlike the first two books, the third is told not only from the perspective of Tris but also from Tobias. The book switches from Tobias to Tris every other chapter, which ruins the fluidity and thrill of the plot. Another major change that Roth made was the setting of the plot. Instead of telling a story from inside the story, Ross tries to overdramatize the plot and follows Tris, and a few other main characters as they venture out into land outside of their known society. The plot in Allegiant is so vastly different from the first two that I often forgot what book I was reading.
Roth, however, does excel in character development. By the end of the novel, I found myself feeling empathy towards what the characters were going through. Also, the book does remain unpredictable, which created a thrill that made you want to keep reading.
After I got over the major differences from the first book to the third book, Roth managed to ruin the whole series for me through her shocking end to the trilogy. In order to avoid spoilers, I cannot discuss the ending in detail but all I can say is that I will never be able to read the first two books the same way again. The absolute worst thing about this book is the ending. In fact, it made me so upset that I stopped reading the book and refused to read the last couple of chapters until weeks later.
All in all, Allegiant, even though much less superior to Divergent, and Insurgent, it is a must read for all Divergent fans. With all of its flaws, it is undeniably entertaining, and a worthwhile read.
