Book Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth
Genre: Young Adult (Dystopian/Science Fiction)
Date Published: October 22, 2013
Publisher: Harper Collins

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.

Allegiant is the third book in the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. This is going to be a very hard review for me to write. After completely loving the first and second books in this series, I felt like Allegiant fell flat in so many areas. From the beginning, I was struggling to feel the connection. I thought Tris really came together within this book though. The strength and confidence within herself consistently grew through this series, and it continued to do so. In Allegiant, we are also given Four's perspective, which was my first clue that something I wouldn't want to happen was going to happen. So, I was prepared for something upsetting, but I also thought it would be something epic.

Four was very different from how I imagined him through Tris's eyes in the past two books. He's been through a lot, so I understand he's going to have moments of uncertainty and weaknesses will come out. Maybe this is how Four always was, and I just saw him through a glamour with Tris's point of view. However, I was hoping the Four from the previous two books(especially Divergent) would re-emerge. He never did.

The story line was very drawn out, and I had such a hard time staying focused from early on within the book. If book one or two started this way, I probably would have never finished this series. With all the build up, I expected something huge to go down, but it never really did. And the ending? I don't even want to talk about it. That was a very brave way for an author to end a book, but an ending like that needs to have a strong meaning and purpose behind it. Again, there was none. And the way it happened? I don't know. It didn't make sense to me. There were so many other ways to pull it off and leave a lasting impact with the reader. I could find no significance. I'm sad to write this review, but I was so disappointed with the story as a whole.

Check out my reviews of Divergent(book 1) and Insurgent(book 2)

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.)

To learn more about Veronica Roth and her books, visit her blog.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.