About the Book
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Author:
- Veronica Roth
Cover Story: Keeping Up Appearances
BFF Charm: Yay, With Benefits
Talky Talk: Action-Packed She Said, He Said
Bonus Factor: Holds No Punches
Anti-Bonus Factor: Holds No Punches
Relationship Status: Still Mulling Over The Third Date Rule
Danger, Will Robinson! Allegiant is the third and final book in the series that started with Divergent and continued with Insurgent. If you have not read the first two books, turn away now. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. If you have read the first two books, however, feel free to continue below. I will refrain from major spoilers in my review, but there might be hints at plot points and details about the story.
Cover Story: Keeping Up Appearances
As the third book in the series, it only makes sense that the cover would continue with the themes of the other two: a symbol featured prominently above the title and a set of buildings underneath. The symbol is a new one, however, and doesn’t belong to one of the factions we’ve come to know and love/hate. And, the buildings below belong to an airport, which is definitely a diversion from the norm.
The Deal:
After the release of the Edith Prior video, which changes everything the people of Chicago understand about their place in the world. Tris, Tobias (it still feels weird to call him that) and the rest of the Scooby Gang their friends/fellow rebels have been captured by Evelyn and the factionless. The city is in turmoil, Evelyn is leading the people by force, and a rebellion of individuals dedicated to the ideals of the factions—a group who call themselves the Allegiant—is brewing … pretty much everything has gone to crap.
When Tris, Tobias and a few others who don’t believe in Evelyn’s “factionless or nothing” doctrine escape confines of the city, they find much more than Edith’s video prepared them for, but quickly come face to face with yet another set of choices that lead to some unexpected (and life-altering) consequences.
BFF Charm: Yay, With Benefits
I’ve always liked that Tris is more than what she seems. Sure, she’s tiny and looks fragile, but underneath the deceptive exterior is a tough and loyal individual who is secure in the decisions she makes in life and knows when to trust her intuitions. I trusted in her more in this book than I did in Insurgent, when her decision-making skills seemed a bit broken, and she’s definitely grown up from the tentative girl she was in Divergent. If you’ll excuse me a flowery simile, Tris in Allegiant is like a sword; made all that much stronger by multiple trips through the fire.
Tobias is less of a MLD in this book, since we actually get to hear his thoughts from his POV. Because of this, we can see how broken and human he really is, but that just makes me even more want to fix him with my love. I mean, for Tris to fix him with her love. He’s still a total dreamboat, however, and as appealing as ever. Maybe even more, if that’s possible?
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
Tris and Tobias don’t have it easy when it comes to their relationship. They’ve had to deal with Dauntless training, crazy-causing simulations, psycho parents, revolutions, secrets that were kept for each others’s “protection” … I could go on. But they remain, with a few bumps along the road, a strong duo. There’s a moment in Allegiant that things get more swoonworthy than in previous books, but I was actually left a little confused as to what actually happened.
Talky Talk: Action-Packed She Said, He Said
Veronica Roth once again brings us the action and anxiety that we’ve become accustomed to thanks to Divergent and Insurgent. The intensity of the plot was more along the lines of Insurgent than Divergent, i.e. a little slower and not as blood-pumping, but once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop. (Which, to be totally honest, might have come from me wanting, so badly, to know how it all ended.)
The change from the norm in Allegiant, however, comes from the fact that we get to see the thoughts of and events through the eyes of both Tris and Tobias. This switch between characters with each chapter gives a bit more life to a character that had remained a bit of a mystery for much of the first two books, yet still feels familiar.
Bonus Factor: Holds No Punches
Veronica Roth makes some seriously tough choices in Allegiant—choices that are sure to make some fans of the series extremely angry. But as one of the few people who thought the grim and not all that happy Mockingjay made for a good ending to the Hunger Games series, I can sort of understand why Roth made the choices that she did. To me, they fit with the rest of the series and the personalities of the characters we’ve come to know and love. That said …
Anti-bonus Factor: Holds No Punches
REALLY VERONICA!?! REALLY?
Relationship Status: Still Mulling Over The Third Date Rule
So, Book, I hope you realize that there are going to be a lot of people who read you and immediately throw you across the room. While I’m not completely satisfied with the way you acted on this, our third date, I’m also not blaming you for making the tough decisions you felt you needed to make. I’m not entirely sure I won’t wake up tomorrow regretting my feelings, but at the moment I’m OK with where we left things.
FTC Full Disclosure: I bought a copy of this book with my own money and got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. Allegiant is available now.
