Allegiant Book Review

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins
Publication Date: October 22, 2013
Genre: YA/Dystopian
Source: Bought - Easons

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.

Veronica Roth is a phenomenal writer. Despite anything and everything said on the contrary, especially in regards to 'Allegiant', you just can't deny it. Or, at least, I couldn't while finishing the Divergent series, and still can't, hours later.

Allegiant, the final installment of the 'Divergent' series, begins with the characters we know and love, coming to terms with the video they've just seen. Aparently the whole faction system, their whole city is part of a big experiement controlled by people outside of Amity fences, to breed a large enough Divergent population. When you put into contrast, the first and final books, the plotline has changed drastically. It's just like admiring one particular section of a painting, and then slowly backing up to see the whole picture. Roth does this in such a subtle way, that you wouldn't notice the drastic change until you really looked into both books. Her ability to do so is truly commendable.

Another thing I noticed about the plot of Allegiant was 1) how smoothly the story ran, and 2) how, in every chapter, was something significant. The first is pretty self-explanatory, no parts of the book felt unnecessarily prolonged nor was any part too fast-paced. The second, however, could use some further explaining. What I meant was, that out of the fifty-six chapters that make up this book, none of them felt like fillers. A filler is a chapter that does absolutely nothing for the plot, character development and so on, and they're found in almost every book nowadays. But I didn't think Allegiant had any of those. Every chapter made sense, and felt necessary.

"The world beyong ours is full of roads and dark buildings and collapsing power lines."

- Tris

One thing that the first book, Divergent, sort of lacked, was impressive world building. I don't think I have to stress how important it is for a YA dystopian to have good world building. We, the readers, have to know the world doesn't exist, but believe that it could exist. In Divergent, only the Dauntless compound was thoroughly explored. In Allegiant, everything from the city's history, to the Bureau outside of the city, was built so well.

After Tris, Four and the gang leave the city, and are taken to the Bureau by Amar, descriptions go through the roof. Not in such a way that you're overwhelmed with description after description, but rather, that you don't have to try so hard to imagine the world you're reading about, it comes naturally. That's something I really enjoyed about this book, because ultimately, your reading experience is made so much more fun.

"I'm sick of doing bad things and liking it and then wondering what's wrong with me. I want it to be over. I want to start again."

- Peter

Oh my God, the character development in this book is unbelievable! Like.. holy crap!
Tris is now my favourite heroine, of all time, and that's saying a whole lot! Who thought the fragile little protagonist of Divergent would ever turn out to be such a strong and mature, leader in what, a year? And Roth's bringing this transformation to life, I thought, was just so impressive. For me, one of the key moments when I just knew Tris' had really grown up, was later on in the book, with her forgiving Four. After the fight they had, and Four's participating in Nita's plan, I thought they were done for good. I was impressed when Tris actually understood that they stay together because they make each other better people and whatnot.

Also, it wasn't just Tris' character who's development was more than impressive. I felt like most characters across the board were well developed, from Christina, to Cara, to Peter, to Caleb, and most of all, Tobias. Any character who, in my opinion, needed to be fleshed out, was fleshed out and it was done effortlessly. Nearing the end of the story, after all the tragedies, the most significant of all took place; Tobias. I have no uncertainty in my saying that Four has changed so much, there's little resemblence between his character in Divergent and the finale, Allegiant. In the beginning of the book I didn't actually like how much he had changed, because he seemed too vulnerable, but it worked out perfectly at the end.

"'Oh, are we at the insult part of the breakup?' she says. 'Because I got in a lot of practice after what happened with Will. I have several choice things to say about her nose'"

- Cara

Man, did Roth's writing improve after writing 'Insurgent'! Seriously, I went through Allegiant, thinking to myself, that the writing techniques and styles were so much better this time around!
My review of Insurgent made it obvious that I was disappointed with the ending. With Allegiant, despite all the controversial opinions, I still think it ended perfectly. I don't want to spoil anything, because part of my enjoyment was due to the sheer surprise, but yeah, I thought Roth made the right decision. Sure, she could have ended it another way, but it wouldn't have been as memorable. If I say anything else, I will end up letting something slip, so I'll just leave it at that.

I think some people may be mis-reviewing this book, based more on how they didn't appreciate the surprise at the end. Me, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed it, in all it's heart-wrenching glory.

 

Another long review, sorry guys! Haha

Blogmas Day 2: Divergent Book Review

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: YA/Dystopian
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: April 25th, 2011
Sources: Easons  Amazon

In sixteen-year old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions - Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent) - each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a "perfect society". At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives.

On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly "perfect society". To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.

Think back to when you were a child, a hyperactive child, and you had just spotted something you love, in a huge toy store and you're told that you're allowed to get that special something. Remember the excitement that rushed through you, and how over the moon you were? Yeah that was me. In all my young adult glory, when I read the blurb of Divergent, reviews, the lot, and I finally found it in my local bookstore, I was the hyperactive child.

We start off on the day of the aptitude test. Engaging already. The concept is what draws readers in first of all. Well that, and the interesting writing style, almost like Tris' literal stream of consciousness. Once you begin reading, your eyes eagerly absorbing all the wonderful descriptions of how houses in the Abnegation sector, are set up, what it's like living and schooling there, and the details of the aptitude test. Yes, the aptitude test was where I knew I'd get hooked on the book.

Then came the Choosing Ceremony, and by this point we know enough about our protagonist, to sympathise with her when she chooses to transfer to Dauntless. Tris' character is so well fleshed out early in the novel that every decision she makes, every happening she experiences, every obstacle she encounters, it almost feels like the readers are there with her, by her side. I can't stress how important that is in a book, good characterisation that is. We readers have to actually care about the characters!

The Dauntless initiation events were probably my favourite part of the book! I being a stereotypical boy, just loved any little bit of action I could get and Dauntless.. well being Dauntless, provided enough of that for me! I absolutely fell for the one on one fights, and the combination of my love for the action and sympathy for Tris when she was getting her ass kicked, made it very difficult for me to stop reading, even at two in the morning! The chapters were so riveting and chalk-full of events, that you just couldn't help but read on. It'd have been a crime to do such a thing! Though the pace of the story was slow in parts, it wasn't slow enough to give you a reason to get bored. Also vice-versa, it was fast enough that you were kept thoroughly entertained throughout the novel, but wasn't too fast that readers were easily lost either!

I'm always in the mood for a good mushy romance, once it doesn't dominate the plot, so I was all for Fourtris! I love that both characters respected each other, and themselves, enough to control themselves and not get too carried away all the time.

Towards the ending, things definitely got very exciting, and I had to read the last few chapter over and over to actually comprehend what had happened! Haha. Once again, we admire Tris' steely determination and rational mind when she realises that her fellow initiates are under the control of the serum, when she's separated from Four and when she finds her Dad and the other stiffs. Loss after loss, Tris keeps herself together and she manages to save not only herself from Four, and Four from the serum, but also all the other initiates too! Well done Tris!

Anyway the ending was fantastic, leaving just enough covered to leave readers itching for more! The characterisation and writing styles were probably the strongest features, and I will say I was hoping to read a little bit on how their society became the society they know it to be, but I understand not everything can be given away in the one book! I'm more than happy to award it 4.5/5!