Book of the Week-Allegiant

I wanted to write this as soon as I finished the book but it was nearly impossible to do so. I felt the same as I did when I read City of Glass and Deathly Hallows and The Crimson Crown and The Last Olympian, thumb that sort of knocked out feeling you get when you read the last book of a beautiful and addicting and heartbreaking series.

I was having a hard time last night recovering from the things that Veronica Roth did to my emotions. Now I’m finally ready to share my review with you.

Of course, this entire review is spoiler free. I would never want to ruin a book that has just recently released. So I apologize if this review is incredibly vague but I wanted to highlight the things I loved and disliked about this book, but in a way that doesn’t ruin your own reading experience of the book.

I might, in the next few days, post a spoiler review for those of you who have read the book. If you’d like to discuss the book with me, which includes spoilers, then come on over to the official blog forums, and I’d be happy to talk about the book, and other books with you!

For now, enjoy the review!

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

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GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository 

Genre:

young adult, dystopian, romance

Part of a Series?:

The final book of the Divergent trilogy

You May Like if You Liked:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Legend by Marie Lu, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Age Recommendation:

Keep in mind this is MY personal recommendation and it varies on the maturity of the reader. 

14+

Plot Summary:

From GoodReads:

One choice will define you. 

What if your whole world was a lie? What if a single revelation-like a single choice-changed everything? What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected? 

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.

The Bad:

The pacing of the novel is really weird. Sometimes it seems like its going really slow, and that you’re learning a lot about what is going on, but nothing is really happening. Then all of a sudden, things seriously sped up and ended. So the pacing of the novel was incredibly awkward. I thought maybe the book could have been longer, or that the slower parts could be shorter and the action part longer. It seemed sort of weirdly balanced. Once the action started, it was so easy to finish the book, but the build up took a very long time.

The Good:

That all being said though, I really loved this book. I don’t want to spoil anything because the book just came out a few days ago, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I want to tell everyone what I think without ruining it for those who have not been able to read it yet, or who are catching up on the other books.

I loved the direction that Veronica Roth took it in. The end of Insurgent leaves hanging with the idea of an outside world, that needs the Divergent. Which is so different than the city that Tris lives in, where the Divergent are hunted down. But when we finally see the outside world, its so different than what I had ever expected. What we learn and find out is incredible. Confusing, but incredible and it really explains so many plot holes that exist in the previous two books.

I really liked the back and forth between Tris and Four. I feel like, its kind of become a habit for authors to do this dual point of view thing, especially for final books. It would normally kind of make me mad because of the repetitiveness but I really liked it. The only thing we’ve gotten of Four in the previous books is Tris’s own vision of him. Getting into his head, seeing his motives, his love for Tris, his fears, his hopes, all of that, really helps to carry the story. They clash all the time, and they both have such different fears and different backgrounds and it motivates their actions in different ways, and its also the way they come together.

Some people had an issue with the end, and what happens there, and I’m going to try and say my thing without spoiling anything. I was immensely heartbroken by what happened at the end. It was incredibly unexpected and it ripped me to pieces. I spent a lot of time crying, which clouded up my glasses quite nicely. I think it makes the most sense, and that the way in which the events unfold seem so likely to me. In fact, before they unfolded, I was surprised at the direction that Veronica was taking the characters in. When things changed, and ended the way they did, it just made sense to me. The decisions that were made by the different characters just seemed to fit for each of them, and the ending was a full circle for the story. I think that Veronica took leaps and risks that some authors don’t do but I think it played out nicely for her.

I’ve also not cried this hard with a book since I read the epilogue of Clockwork Princess.

I don’t want to spoil much, because there is too much in this book to spoil for anyone but I loved it. I didn’t think it was perfect, because the pacing is just so weird, but I thought it was a beautiful, unexpected ending. People die, lives change, and I cried like crazy. Somehow my favorite character (I hope I never told you who that is…) survives but other characters that I love die. I think that there’s so much to learn and to still contemplate about their world and what could and will happen to everything and everyone. Its a beautiful book and I think Veronica leaves us with the same sort of bittersweet ending that JK Rowling leaves us with in Deathly Hallows.

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Recommended or Not?:

Definitely, if you’ve read the rest of the series and you’ve loved it the way I have, it is necessary to read this one. You won’t be able to live with yourself with that Insurgent cliffhanger without finishing this novel.

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I hope you all are able to enjoy Allegiant, whether you already have or are currently working at it, or patiently waiting for your book to come in the mail.

Please, remember, not everyone reads fast, or has the ability to get the book right away. No spoilers posted in the comments. They’ll just be deleted.

If you wish to discuss the book, I’ve created a discussion on the forums, and would be happy to discuss all the spoilers with you there! Just follow this link!

Happy Reading everyone!