Allegiant, the final book in the Divergent Trilogy

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As I write this review, I’m still in shock. Not because Allegiant was horrible, but quite the opposite—it was good, it was realistic, it was unexpected, and oh my goodness, it was emotional. I’m still reeling from the ending. Just my saying that might have some of you guessing at what the ending could be, but you’ll probably still be surprised (well, unless you already read a spoiler somewhere, of course). I was entirely shocked—I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered a YA novel that ended quite like Allegiant did. Does it sound arrogant to say I’m proud of Veronica Roth for writing it the way she did? I hope not, because I truly mean it as a compliment. So many authors either avoid reality or plunge too far into it, turning it so tasteless that it’s like trying to swallow bitter ash. But Allegiant walks a fine line of bringing those moments that make us giddy and happy, and then reminding us of the seriousness of being a real person in real life.

Dang, I loved this book.

I wasn’t sure at first. Insurgent was good, but not as amazing as Divergent, and of course Allegiant started off in yet another different way, so I had no idea how it would go. Whereas Divergent was almost insta-love, Allegiant was more like falling in love with a best friend who just sort of crept up on you…unexpectedly in some ways, but yet, not so unexpected.

I suppose I should actually mention the plot, beyond all these vague hints. I don’t want to give too much away, and I think the summary covers the plot just fine, so what I’ll do is I’ll talk about the questions that are addressed in this book. If you want to know absolutely nothing about the plot and what is answered, stop reading here!

So…for the rest of you. Yes, Tris and Tobias finally learn what’s outside of their city. They learn where they are, what’s been going on in the outside world, and how their faction system originally got set up. We also see what happens to the city they’re from, so it’s not like the city’s totally been left behind. Tris and Tobias have to again make decisions about their values and morals, and they are wonderfully true to character. And I don’t mean they keep making the same decisions no matter what, I mean that they change, grow, and make decisions based on both old values and new realizations. Just like any person does. We also get a little bit of an epilogue, which is nice. I’m glad the book didn’t just end—I hate when stories do that.

If someone’s looking for critiques, the best I can give you is that Tobias has changed from who he was in Divergent, and some fans may not like that, who knows. Also, some of the science/ scientific ideals seem a little unbelievable to me, but I suppose you have to sort of take that in stride when you’re reading a dystopian.

But all that aside, it was the writing style, message, and characters that mattered more to me, and I loved all those. So a definite five stars for Allegiant, and I can’t wait to see what Veronica Roth comes up with next!


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