Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant (Divergent #3)

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Release Date: October 22, 2013

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

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 Tobia 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 chance 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 bestselling 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. 

SPOILERS AHEAD, KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I was away from home when Allegiant was released. I had to wait a week in order to be able to read the book, and as a result, all I saw were people freaking out over the end. And that made me beyond nervous to read Allegiant. But I should have just trusted that Veronica Roth knew what she was doing.

Showing the video was supposed to change things. It was supposed to help get the city back. But Tris soon discovers that she may never get her city back. Now that the Factionless have taken over Chicago, there is very little Tris and Tobias can do to fight back. There only hope is to set foot outside the fence, to discover what really lies outside the city limits. But what Tris and Tobias find outside the fence is even more troubling than what they left behind in the city. Now it's up to Tris and Tobias to make impossible choices, ones that will change everything forever.

BE WARNED, THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END OF THE TRILOGY SPOILED, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU STOP READING NOW.

There's so much that can be said about Allegiant and I'll try my best not to ramble too much. Here's the thing, there's only so many ways this story could have gone that would have made sense and that would have resulted in a satisfying ending. From the start, I knew that it would be a painful story to read. Not because it would be a bad story or because it was poorly written, but because I knew what had to happen…or at least I had some inkling of it. It didn't help that I had witness all the uproar over the ending for an entire week before I was able to read Allegiant. So I was majorly apprehensive and maybe a little scared when I started reading. But I really shouldn't have been. As much as there were moments when my heart was ripped to pieces, I knew why it was happening, and that it would be for the greater good (not that it made it any less painful). And that brings me to the ending of the story. Veronica Roth knew what she was doing when she wrote Allegiant. In hindsight, the alternating points of view between Tris and Tobias should have been a big tip-off as to what would happen (or that line about Tobias having found someone he was terrified of losing--maybe I was just in denial about what had to happen). But it still hurt when it came down to it and all of a sudden there was only one point of view left. But if you want my honest opinion, I don't think that the story could have ended any other way. Don't get me wrong, I was bawling when Tris was killed. But it wouldn't have worked any other way. Knowing what I knew about Tris, I would have been more frustrated if Tris had let Caleb go and sacrifice himself (not that I've forgiven Caleb for what he's done). In ending the story this way, Veronica Roth was true to her story and true to her characters. Yeah, it was painful (ask my roommate, she found me crying in the kitchen over breakfast while I was reading), but it was a satisfying ending, one that showed me that there was still hope for the characters. And it was finally a story with an epilogue that didn't piss me off.

I've loved Tris from the start. Even when it didn't seem like it, she was the strongest more courageous person in that story. In Allegiant, that strength and that courage shone through. Admittedly, that's especially through in hindsight. And though I love Tris for that courage and strength, there were still moments where I wanted to smack some sense into her. But she wouldn't have been the Tris I knew and loved if she hadn't been that person who was both selfish and selfless, who sometimes could have used someone to talk some sense into her. And that was especially true in the moment when she made the decision to sacrifice herself in Caleb's place (admittedly, I'm still not sure if that was Tris being selfish or selfless, to be honest). What I loved about Allegiant though, was getting to be inside Tobias's head. I found it so interesting to see that more often than not, he wasn't that strong and powerful leader everyone saw him as. I could tell that there were many times when he was still that younger boy being abused by his father. And in those moments, I just wanted to hug Tobias. And reading Tris's death from his perspective simply broke my heart. The way he just shut down. But I was also happy to see that he was able to start to move on, knowing that the pain would never go away but that it could eventually become easier. The person that surprised me the most in Allegiant was actually Peter. Before this book, I always saw him as a sociopath who cared about no one and nothing but himself. But in Allegiant I was able to see a different side of him, and find out that he knew he had a tendency to be a despicable human being and hated himself for it. I just found that aspect of his personality to be so different from what I expected, and it surprised me. And the same can be said about a lot of the other characters in Allegiant.

This is my very long-winded way of saying that, despite what a lot of people have thought, I might actually have loved Allegiant. I loved that Veronica Roth wasn't afraid of making choices for her story and her characters that not everyone would like. Allegiant really couldn't really have gone any other way. It was a powerful story, one that at times broke my heart and left me in tears, but it was also the satisfying ending I was hoping for.