Book Review: Allegiant; Veronica Roth.

While I didn't end up enjoying this read nearly as much as I should have done, I do feel a certain amount of relief now that I've finally finished this series. It's been a long read in progress of mine and I'm not proud that it took me so much time. At least I can enter it into the 'Monthly Motif' challenge this month!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Allegiant
AUTHOR: Veronica Roth
SERIES: Divergent (#1)
PUBLISHER: Harper Collins Children's Publishers
PAGES: 526
GENRE: Dystopian, Young Adult, Romance

RATING: 2.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
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 to complexities of human nature - and of herself - while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

What I Liked:

• I felt that Roth stayed true to her own style in this book, despite the fact that there were so many things I didn't like about it. Her writing was good and the story was full of twists and turns and remained as action-packed as I remember the previous series entries. It's clear that Roth has a lot of imagination and huge ideas about this series, so it was a shame that she didn't quite make it all fit comfortably.

What I Disliked:

• Tris and Four were my biggest problem in the last book, and here they only got worse. Tris got more stubborn, insensitive and reckless while Four became more hypocritical, possessive and controlling. Tris continued to be consistently angry with everything, and Four kept on being moody and unlike-able. It's a shame because I loved them both in Book One, but the constant arguing followed by kisses to attempt to persuade the reader that they're actually in love made me roll my eyes.
• I already thought that Roth had too many side-characters (and most of them were pretty two-dimensional and forgettable) but nevertheless she decided to add a whole bunch more to the mix, just to really test my memory to the limits. In fact, for me the 'outside world' was too overwhelming. There was so much info-dumping it gave me a headache and Roth used it as an excuse to include a bunch of unnecessary sub-plots that she'd cut short whenever she felt like. It was so frustrating!
• I've seen so many complaints about the ending, and while I hate going over old ground, it needs to be said. Potential spoiler here for those who haven't read it, but Roth's decision to kill of a main character might have been brave in a sense, but it was also gratuitous. It served pretty much no purpose other than to make sure that the ending was filled with drama and grief rather than any answers or closure for the huge amounts of loose ends that Roth left with the book. Basically, nothing seems to get resolved except the 'immediate problem', and we all know that in the world of 'Divergent' there are hundreds of 'immediate problems' so really we are no better off than at the beginning of the first book. Great.

Overall Conclusion:

It was my sister who told me that I would love 'Divergent'. She also told me I would hate 'Allegiant'. She was right on both counts. I know that many people are disappointed with this finale and I'm glad that I was not the only one but in a way, I kind of hoped I'd be one of the few who loved it because it's never nice to be disappointed. I guess it's not a terrible book with it's imaginative world and fast-paced thrills, I just felt that a series that began so well deserved a much better finish.