Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant

Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent, #3
Goodreads

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.

Talk about revelation and heartbreak. Veronica Roth did a number on my heart and soul with Allegiant. This is the first book in a while that I've read simply because I wanted to. It wasn't part of a blog tour or for a review--I just wanted to read it because I was dying to find out how one of my favorite series ends. And I was shocked by it. I mean, really. I think my eyes popped out of my skull and I most definitely went through all the stages of grief. Denial being the most dominant of them all.

I was absolutely thrilled to discover upon beginning Allegiant that it was told in duel points of view. We get inside the heads of both Tris and Tobias, something I've been dying to do since the beginning of this series. It was so hard to really know just what Tobias was thinking or feeling sometimes because he has always been so closed off which makes reading his point of view that much better. It was fun seeing their different views on situations and just how different the two of them really are, yet when they are together they just work. Although they did go through some trials in this one (though haven't they the whole time?). When they finally get the answers they have been seeking, it isn't at all like they had imagined. In fact, in some respects, it's a lot worse. It was like they couldn't win for losing. They have so much information coming in at once and it's difficult for them to process it or trust it and the people relaying the information to them. Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Why would someone lie about the truth? How can they possibly change the way things work, not just in the city but outside of it? Why did they do the things they did? It was really just one huge reveal of so many different circumstances and some of them were lies while some of them were half-truths and others were whole-truths but truths that couldn't be revealed to others because it's dangerous information. It was a lot to take in--for me and the characters.

My favorite thing about Allegiant is that Tris finally became Tris again! All throughout Insurgent I absolutely HATED her guts. She was whiny, annoying, disrespectful, childish.. need I go on? She just wasn't herself and I had a hard time reading the story. So much so that when I first started reading Allegiant I had forgotten most of what happened in Insurgent! So when Tris finally turned back into her level-headed, badass self and really redeemed herself in this one. I will admit that there were some things Tobias did in this book that I didn't agree with at all and made me really mad and frustrated with him, but I understood why he did what he did: he's broken. He's a broken human being and it's hard to come out of that so when something happens to make you feel like your fears have come true, you sometimes don't think rationally and do something really REALLY stupid. Luckily he redeemed himself as well so while I didn't enjoy the ending, I did enjoy watching both characters grow tremendously.

One of my friends described the book in just 6 words and I think they summed it up perfectly: "good-good-awesome-awesome-bad ending". If there was ever a time I didn't expect something AT ALL, it was this ending. I wouldn't have guessed it even if I tried. That's how much I didn't see the ending coming. It was like a huge slap in the face. I felt like a deer in headlights for probably 5 minutes because it took me that long to process exactly what I had read and then it took a few more minutes for the realization to finally set in that what happened wasn't going to miraculously change. And then once I finally completely finished the story I just sat there, still processing, still trying to figure out just WHY Veronica Roth could have ended her amazing book the way she did. And honestly? I'm still processing it. Which is definitely saying something for this amazing author because that's how you know they've made an impact on you. When your mind continues to think about what it read days ago? You've definitely read an amazing book and this one is most certainly amazing.

I rate this book:

The Divergent Series

My review of Divergent

My review of Insurgent

Favorite Quotes

Spoilers Below!! Proceed with caution!

Most of my life has been spent keeping information close, turning it over and over in my mind. The impulse to share anything is a new one, the impulse to hide as natural as breathing.

It seems fitting that the blow would leave a mark on both of us. That's how the world works.

And I know now, that's what love does, when it's right--it makes you more than you were, more than you thought you could be.

Or maybe forgiveness is just the continual pushing aside of bitter memories, until time dulls the hurt and the anger, and the wrong is forgotten.

Since I was young, I have always known this: Live 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.

I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward. And maybe that's true of beginnings, but it's not true of this, now.
I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.