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“Every wolf ‘s and lion’s howl / Raises from Hell a human soul.”

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Allegiant burns like holy water.

Over a month after it's release, and a few weeks after I finished reading it, its time to talk about Allegiant. The following will be a no-spoiler review but I will include a final paragraph about my thoughts on everything that went down, which will be filled with spoilers. I'll warn you about that. Otherwise, please try and spoiler alert if you comment!


Insurgent was a very big let down. I loved Divergent so much, but Insurgent was basically a new setting. The Dauntless training, that was so fun to read about, was not only over but the fraction system was also messed up. My mind blends what happened in Insurgent with what happened in Allegiant because it was most of the same stuff. Drifting from place to place, Tris and Tobias fighting, people dying (the second book did not have as many pertinent deaths, if you ask me). I found myself reading the final 100 pages of Allegiant asking myself when the action was going to start and what was it that caused such an uproar in the Divergent fandom.

Ha.
Ha ha.
Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

The meat of the story was rather dry, but the final 100 pages were where things finally stared to get interesting. People were confronted. Plans were made. We were going somewhere. You've heard about it by now, people have been going crazy about the conclusion. Before I get to that part of the review, I have a few bones to pick.
For starters, many people were annoyed with Tobias.  The emotional trauma of his childhood still plays a huge role in the story, if not even bigger. His character is more vulnerable, much more vulnerable and yes sometimes extremely frustrating! I wouldn't go as far to say that this ruined Tobias for me, as it did for so many, because I don't think that would be fair. We saw Tobias in only good light in the previous books, his character was viewed through the eyes of Tris' adoration. In Allegiant, we see Tobias not only through Tris' more grown up eyes but also read through Tobias' thoughts. I do wish Veronica Roth didn't accord Tobias' childhood such a huge role in determining his actions, I didn't feel it was completely necessary. In terms of the story, my thoughts are this:

Veronica Roth took a huge risk but it completely paid off! She stayed true to her characters, whether or not they diverged from who they really were at some point in the story. They came back. Her decisions are what redeemed the whole series for me. Her decision allowed me to go from "This series is a let down, don't bother reading anything after the first book" to "Just read it" as I thrust the book into open hands. It sucks that its the beginning and end to the story that really made it and everything leading up to it was basically filler, but I'll say it was worth it. I'll say this series is worth reading. I still managed to take something from these books, morally, ethically, and emotionally which is why I'd go as far to say that I liked these books way better than The Hunger Games (I haven't read HG in a while but I stand by it!).

Decide whether or not you liked what Veronica Roth did after you read the story, because it is worth it. Trust me!

My spoiler-y thoughts:

Ok. Let's work our way through the book. I had a feeling near the end of Allegiant at what kind of society we were looking it. My thoughts were confirmed after the first few pages of Allegiant and I was  very disappointed.  I wasn't ecstatic about The Village-type story. Been there done that. The biological warfare didn't attract me much either, though I liked looking at the way she related the story to real life. The prejudice and privilege themes were obvious, but not in your face. Tobias and Tris' relationship was finally back at a better place and my little shipper heart was so happy. But Roth was a bit too around the bush. Their physical attraction to each other was intensifying throughout the series, as expected and finally, they had sex. Apparently. I wasn't sure, I just thought they were making out. Try again, Roth. Alas, I wanted to know about the crazy ending. My initial reaction to the kill off was shock. I couldn't believe she had done that! I've never read a book where the protagonist was killed off! I had to make sure that she wasn't about to come back from the dead later on, since she'd done that quite a few times. After all she had been through, this is how she would go down. I mean, was Veronica Roth taking cues from John Green's Peter Van Houten? So yeah, I thought it was so unnecessary and I was extremely angry. Tobias' reaction however, was beautifully executed. Yeah, ok, I had tears in my eyes. And when he wanted to drink that memory serum, I wanted him to do it! I wanted him to spare himself of the pain of losing her. Even if I couldn't, he could! But Christina's arrival did put things into perspective for me, and I healed with him. Ha. SO lame. The more we said goodbye to her, the more it hurt. The zip-lining scene was so well thought out. So beautifully written, and yesssss there were tears again!

As a reader, I hated Veronica Roth for not giving Tris and Tobias the happy ending they deserved after so long. I wanted them to live happily ever after, eternally devoted to each other. But of course, young adult novels never leave young adult hearts in one piece. I was angry at the book because I cared about these characters, something Roth had succeeded in doing. I think it would have been better for me to put the book down between the 2 years later mark  as I wouldn't have had such a knee-jerk reaction.

As a reviewer, as someone on the outside:I get what Veronica Roth did with this book and I applaud her for making such a big decision. Tris' character is strong and remains a memory in my mind to be brave and to be strong and I like that. Though I can't say I'll be re-reading Allegiant anytime soon.

Spoiler break over.

For those of you who haven't decided to pick up Divergent, I suggest doing so as soon as possible, spoilers will be everywhere with time. Whether or not you end up liking the sequels to Divergent, I'm sure that Divergent itself will be enough to compensate. I wish there were more than three books, as it seems like such a short series, but I'm...satisfied. I would have enjoyed more time with the fractions, and learning much more about them. But the story was satisfying.

To those of you who have read the book, how have you been coping? Reviewing Allegiant, was my first step in my 12-step program to heal from Allegiant, tweet me @MoodyLions and hashtag #12StepsAllegiant!

If I haven't convinced you enough to read Divergent, here is the trailer which is....aahahahahahahhah!!!!!!!!!!


5 comments:

  1. I just finished this and will post my review this week. I had the same feelings about the beginning of the book. It just kind of wallows until the last 100 pages. And I really liked the ending. I agree, it didn't HAVE to be that way, but it left me very satisfied.

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    1. It was a really unique way of ending a YA book and I appreciate it...not the sugar coated one I've come to expect haha! Thanks for stopping by!

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