Allegiant: Divergent Trilogy, Book 3

I probably need to say that this review will probably be a jumbled mess. Bear with me please. I don't normally feel the need to state this, but with all of the controversy surrounding this book, I want to make sure you know this review is spoiler free.I’m sure you all have seen tons of press about Allegiant. This was probably the most anticipated book of the year for most people. It definitely was for me. So I’m sure you saw the Allegiant countdown widgets on everyone’s blogs. I’m sure you saw dozens of Waiting on Wednesday posts about this. There was a mishap with some supplier somewhere and some people got copies super early, which means spoilers were leaked. And then release date finally came. Now normally, I go to my local book store and pick up books that I’m highly anticipating so that I can have them on release day, but the last one I bought was almost half price on Amazon compared to my local book store on release day. (Yeah, yeah, Amazon’s the devil. Well not to me. I heart Amazon.) And so this time I preordered Allegiant through Amazon instead of picking it up on release day. This meant that tons of people got their hands on Allegiant a couple of days before me. Enough time for spoilers to begin amassing, comments to begin piling up, and opinions began to be formed.And well, I say all of that to say that I was extremely nervous going in to Allegiant. I’m not normally one of those people who dreads reading the last book in a series just in case it doesn’t go the way I want it to. I’m more of the type that dives in head first because I can’t wait to experience it whether good or bad. But all of the hype and comments had me stressed to the max about this book. Let me be clear, I didn’t read any spoilers, but I did read some where others had read spoilers and based off the spoilers decided not to even pick up the book. All of this buzz and conflict had me a bundle of nerves. (Didn’t help that I was already having some anxiety over some real life things as well.)Ultimately I picked up and finished Allegiant. The beginning was going just fine. I wondered to myself “what are all of these people complaining about?” And then I hit the middle and I started getting frustrated with these characters *clears throat and cuts eyes* (**FOUR!!!!!). I really wanted to pop them him over the head. And I don’t know if it was the negative hype, my personal frustrations with characters making some really dumb decisions especially when those characters are supposed to be smart, or if it was my general anxiety, but during this part of the book, I really just wanted to throw the thing across the room. The ending wasn't the part that frustrated me the most. It was the middle. But nevertheless, I moved passed the frustrating middle business and things got better for me. And then the ending happened. I probably would have been frustrated with it had I not been warned that many people hated it, and therefore I lowered my expectations. But the ending really just wasn’t that big of a deal for me as far as getting angry or upset. It made me sad. I teared up, but I found the ending to be solid and acceptable.Four and Tris start off Allegiant in a rocky kind of place. She lied to him about several things in Insurgent, and so he’s got some trust issues based off that. But they have a talk about how they both need to do a better job being honest with each other, and so things get better. They find themselves on more stable ground.My favorite relationship oriented quotes:“We’re not people who touch each other carelessly; every point of contact between us feels important, a rush of energy and relief.” - Four“I Feel the urge, familiar now, to wrench myself from my body and speak directly into her mind. It is the same urge, I realize, that makes me want to kiss her every time I see her, because even a sliver of distance between us is infuriating.” - FourI was as I mentioned above extremely frustrated with Four at one point. He made a decision that was contradictory to a conversation that he and Tris had. Then he semi-rectifies it and talks about it with her. But he doesn’t listen to her. Turns out she was right. I know that’s a sticky place to be—situated between your own judgment and the judgment of someone else that you highly respect and trust. Truthfully I felt like the Four from Allegiant, and even Insurgent really, wasn’t the same person from Divergent. He felt like a completely different person. His mannerism. His speech. His attitude. His decisions. They all felt like they were coming from two different people. Maybe that was supposed to be the difference between him being Four and him being Tobias (I hate that name by the way). But I would think that Tobias would be a more complete person and Four would be just one side of himself—just the Dauntless side. But that wasn’t the case at all. Maybe the Tobias part is the part that carries the baggage from his past which weighs him down and causes him to question and doubt. Whatever the cause, and not just because of the name, but Four is a much more likable and understandable character than Tobias for me.One of my favorite aspects of Allegiant, and something that I don’t point out in books that I read enough, was the quotable moments that seem more like life lessons. Here are a couple of examples:“I need to deny them the power to control me. I need to know that I am stronger than they are.” – Four, discussing his fears.“And as I stare out at the land, I think that this, if nothing else, is compelling evidence for my parents’ God, that our world is so massive that it is completely out of our control, that we cannot possibly be as large as we feel.” – Tris, which makes me think of Romans 1:20 (NKJV) – “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”“I feel like what I have become is halfway between my mother and my father, violent and impulsive and desperately afraid. I feel like I have lost control of what I have become.” - Four“So how can I hold Tobias’s desperation against him, like I’m better than him, like I’ve never let my own brokenness blind me?” – Tris, forgiveness—something this world could use a little more of.“I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward. And maybe that’s true of beginnings, but it’s not true of this, now. I fell in love with him. But I don’t just stay with him by default as if there’s no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.” – Tris, love isn’t just about how someone makes me feel, it’s more, it’s deeper, it’s harder than just that. Yet it is utterly simply at the same time.Other memorable quotes:“I sigh. I may like to run, but I hate climbing stairs.” –Tris, a throwback to the Abnegation days of climbing to the choosing ceremony from the very beginning of Divergent.“There’s no need to giggle...” – Caleb (you need the context to find this funny)“Be brave.” - FourUltimately I think that the Divergent series reminds me a lot of The Hunger Games series not just in concept, but in how I felt about both series as a whole. I LOVED the games. And I LOVED the Dauntless initiation process. But I hated the political part of both of these series. I disliked the whole war idea and taking down the corrupt government. While I do really love the idea of how much one person can make a difference, this side of the series—the war and politics—wasn’t what I fell in love with. I wanted more initiation. I wanted more Dauntless. While I love Tris and Four, I think I would have been happier with the series if we’d followed other characters through their initiation process rather than follow Tris and Four through the rise and fall of multiple corrupt governments. Whereas with The Hunger Games series, I loved both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire because both of these had a the games in them, I didn’t really like Mockingjay as much because it focused on the politics. Unfortunately for the Divergent series, Divergent itself was the only book in the series that focused on the initiation process. And therefore, both Insurgent and Allegiant felt lacking to me. I don’t typically read reviews before I write my own, but I broke my own rule in this case and I can’t think of a better way to describe this than she did. Jen from YA Romantics said in her review of Allegiant on Goodreads that Divergent felt more Dauntless and Allegiant felt more Abnegation. That’s the perfect way of describing these two books.The ending of Allegiant was very Abnegation—true Abnegation. I strongly wish I could discuss this is greater detail with you guys, but I can’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it. I’m surprised I haven’t spoiled anything in this review as it is.Anyway, I think Allegiant gets 4 Stars. It’s still a well written book. It still sparked emotion within me—even if mostly anxiety. Have you read Allegiant? If so, what did you think? (Please keep comments spoiler free!)**I refuse to call him "Tobias" except when referring to the differences in his personality.

First off, I just want to say that I absolutely loved Divergent and Insurgent. Even though I didn't like Divergent for the first few chapters, I started to like it more and more as I read on and ended up loving it. I've been waiting for the past few months for Allegiant to come out since I finished the first two in July and with the huge cliffhanger in Insurgent, I was hoping that Allegiant was going to be even bigger.I was a little wrong. I thought that it was very slow, kind of boring at times, which I wish I didn't have to admit to that. it was really hard to distinguish whose POV I was reading. I had to keep going back to the beginning of the chapter to see which one it was. As much as I love Tris and Tobias, their actions were somewhat the same at times. For some reason, Cara was always touching her hair. Most of the storyline just seemed unrealistic and hard to believe. It was much more convincing in Divergent and Insurgent, which is why I do feel like this book was kind of a let down.The ending. -----SPOILERS!!!-----I think most people, knowing how Tris truly is, probably expected her to sacrifice herself for her brother, Caleb. She may not have realized it until the very last minute since Caleb was supposed to be the one to go in the Weapons Lab, but she comes from Abnegation where you are to be selfless. She always thought that she was selfish, but as it turns out she never really was. Even Tobias saw it the minute she dropped to the net in Dauntless HQ.What gets me (and that someone else had mentioned in another review) is that Tris lived through the death serum, when no one can survive through it because it seeps into your skin and kills you, but Tris who is Divergent, lived through it, only to have David waiting for her. You'd think as obsessed as he was about GP's and GD's that he'd want to experiment on her to figure out how she survived the death serum, but then we know what he does next.I've read a lot of reviews about how everyone is pretty upset about the ending and I am in a way not too happy ether. - how Tris dies, how sad and depressed Tobias is and oh yes, it is truly depressing. I've cried and cried and can't seem to stop. The main character that we've grown to love has died, has left behind the one person who she loved and he claimed to be her new family in Insurgent after her parents sacrificed themselves for their only daughter, while Caleb betrayed all of them. I could not stop crying the last 30 pages of the book. It is truly heart wrenching. After waiting so long for this book you only want Tris and Tobias to finally have a nice happy ending to live their lives how they've always wanted to, which is very upsetting to find out that it doesn't end that way.I've read people complain that it leaves you with no hope, but I think in a way it does and I'll explain that in just a minute. I feel like I can somewhat relate to Tobias' grief in problems in my own life. After Tris dies, he wants so badly to just take the memory reset serum and to forget everything that has happened, which I and I'm sure other people would like to forget things in our past as well, but Christina convinces him not to because it would be just like Tris never happened. The good out weighs the bad even if the bad is so hard to get through day after day. We know that Tobias is brave, but as he says on page 509 - "There are so many ways to be brave in this world...." -- "Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. That is the sort of bravery I must have now."Two and a half years later shows the hope in Tobias. His life has continued even though he's without the one he loved the most. He's reconciled with his mother and hope it all goes well. He has a job and is gun-free to try to live a better and safe life. He faces his fears by going on the zip line (something that Tris loved to do but Tobias was afraid of heights) and does it all for Tris, the one he will always love and never forget, in memory of her by spreading her ashes. He has his friends and Tris' friends by his side and to always have the memories together. "Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can't escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other." This is the hope.Lastly, I just want to say that this has been one of the hardest reviews I've ever written on anything. I can't stop crying. I'm giving it a 4 star rating even though the story wasn't as good as the first two books and has a terrible tragic ending that will be very hard to forget anytime soon, I would recommend it, especially if you've read Divergent and Insurgent. I just want to warn you if you do decide to read it. - Be brave.

I'm not one to usually write reviews for books but 24 hours after finishing Allegiant and I am still so annoyed with this book that I feel like I need to vent. All I can say is what a major disappointment. This book had major flaws and was basically just a huge mess. Having read all three books in a matter of days I just can't help but feel like the story isn't actually finished yet. I feel like I have so many questions that I still want answered that I don't have proper closure and since that was the last book, those questions will not be answered. I really enjoyed Divergent and although there were lots of similarities to other books I did find it interesting and I enjoyed the storyline. Insurgent just wasn't on the same level and without the factions the book did lose something, although it did have some strong moments like Tris being fake executed or offering herself to Jeanine as a sacrifice only to have Four come and save her. Allegiant however just felt like more of the same. Tris continually trying to sacrifice herself and more people you didn't really care about dying. I might have been able to overlook those things had it not been for the very confusing storyline. All of the science explanation was very boring and was repeated far too often throughout the story that I found myself skimming through it or even skipping parts entirely. Hardly the sign of a gripping book. Not to mention all the new characters that were introduced who the. Disappeared once they had served there purpose.The confusing storyline wasn't helped by having the split narration between Tris and Tobias. Although it was interesting to get some of Four's perspective, when you've spent 2 books reading about a person and knowing all of their thoughts to then be left out of half of the final part of their story is just wrong. It's like Harry Potter suddenly switching to Hermione' perspective because Harry is going to die. It's just wrong. It also meant that I didn't feel as connected to Tris as in the previous books, which considering the ending meant that I didn't fully understand her choice. I also felt that the characters of Tris and Tobias sounded exactly the same and halfway through a chapter I was having to check was actually narrating. Considering Tris is a 16 year old and Tobias an 18 year old man, they really should not sound the same.Tobias also seemed to have a complete personality transplant, where the strong, smart, assured guy we knew became insecure and whiney. All Tobias and Tris seemed to do was disagree and argue and it got tothe point where I was wondering why they were actually together. I did think in Divergent they got together too easily and in Insurgent they just kind of kept going. By Allegiant they spent most of the book apart or arguing and disagreeing when they were together. I felt like their relationship needed more obstacles to it to make me feel like they actually cared about each other and wanted to stay together. By halfway through Allegiant I was wondering if they actually liked each other and actually wanted Tris to end it with Tobias just to see a little more drama between the pair.Spoilers AheadAs for the ending, I completely hated it. As a reader when you invest so much time in a series and so much time in a character for them to just meaninglessly die, it is a real let down. On some level I think it was a brave move by Veronica Roth and definitely not what I was expecting, but then for a YA novel I am expecting some sort of happy ending, or at least for the main character to survive. If anything Tobias or Caleb should have been the one to die, not Tris. I just feel like Veronica Roth seemed so determined to kill off Tris that all the characters acted out of character to make it happen. For a start Tobias , who's main fear was losing Tris, kept leaving Tris, even though she had on previous occasions attempted to sacrifice herself to save other- how did he not see this coming and go with her to make sure that she didn't try it again, or at the very least try to protect her and keep her out of harms way. Also Tobias left Tris to erase the memory of one of his parents which he ended up not going through with which makes him leaving Tris in the first place even more pointless. And as for how Tris died, I understand her going instead of Caleb as realistically Caleb could not achieve what needed to be done, but Caleb needed redemption for his actions and letting Tris go instead of him, again just lets down the story, Tris could have been willing to go, but Caleb could have come and saved her, therefore earning her forgiveness and his own redemption. Then the fact that Tris goes into danger armed with only a single gun to then conveniently lose that gun just seems too convenient to the story. Tris then overcomes the death serum by fighting to live, which is never really explained or explored in any detail, to face a man in a wheelchair with a gun. Tris with all of her dauntless training could surely have overcome him easily or at least have put up more of a fight. She didn't have a time limit to detonate the memory serum, so why she rushed forwards to the box only to get shot and die seemed like a stupid move for a girl who we know is a lot smarter than that.Overall I felt underwhelmed by her death. I didn't feel that her sacrifice was worthwhile and I didn't think it was in anyway emotional. Not a single tear. If Tris had thrown herself in front of Tobias or even Caleb to take a bullet for them I would have been more satisfied and I think the character would have been given the death that she deserved- a true sacrifice and then Tobias would have been able to say goodbye. As it is I feel that she died too needlessly and too willingly despite the fact that she kept saying that she had realised how much she wanted to live. Tris accepted death and even seemed to wish for it asking 'Am I done?' she had so much to live for so why would she accept death. She fought off the serum by willing herself to stay alive so why then did she just give up? Tris had things to live for. She had her friends, her brother and Tobias. When she was dying and asks 'but about about Caleb and Tobias?' her mum says they'll have each other and Tris just accepts it. Tris, who only a few chapters prior had realised that everyone in Tobias's life had walked away from him and needed someone to fight to stay with him, yet she willingly accepts death and choses to leave him. Hardly the act of someone who is in love with him. Also Tris's mum comes and leads her to her death. Yes I get this is a hallucination, but Tris's mum died so that Tris could live, she would hardly encourage her to stop fighting and to die willingly. I could maybe have accepted Tris dying if I felt like I knew what she died for and that it was a worthwhile cause and that she had actually put up a fight, but it was over so quickly with no real drama or reason. Not the way the heroine of your story should die. Not to mention the fact of why she had to release the memory serum in the first place. Tris was totally against wiping the memories of the people in Chicago because it is the wrong thing to do and yet she dies doing that exact same thing to the people in the compound. Very hypocritical and totally contradictory for the characters beliefs. Could she not just have revealed the truth to the people outside the fence that genetically pure people are not perfect and that the government were lying? If they had revealed that there were wars before the genetics experiments and fought to bring down the government to create a world where everyone was treated equally then I could have been happy with the ending. Taking away half the people's memory would hardly have solved the problem as people outside the compound would still remember. It seemed like a lazy solution and like Veronica Roth had run out of ideas.I guess I feel like this book had no real purpose. I didn't know what the motivations of any of the characters were and as a result I didn't real like anything was really resolved in the end. I didn't know what Tris was trying to achieve or what her version of the future was. The book is called Allegiant, meaning she was a member of the Allegiant that was headed in part by Marcus, the previous villain and they wanted the factions kept in tact. Yet in spite of the title it seemed that this wasn't actually what Tris wanted and believed that there shouldn't be any factions, meaning that she is on the side of Evelyn and yet she isn't and works against her for most of the second and third books. So then is Tris on the side of the people outside the fence who want to keep the experiments going? Well yes at the start and then no she turns against them. So what is Tris trying to achieve and who is she actually working against. If I knew that then I could have engaged in the book some more and maybe even accepted the ending if Tris had achieved whatever goal she was working towards. I feel like the whole book needed a clearer villain, was it David and the people outside the fence or Marcus and Evelyn inside the fence? Like with the Hunger Games the clear villain was President Snow and then at the end the woman who ran district 13, in Harry Potter you had Voldemort, in the Mortal Instruments you had Valentine. Who was the real villain in this book, because nobody seems to get their comeuppance and yet Tris is the one to die and was branded a rebel for her actions, not a hero. Talk about a confused moral.I feel really let down by this book and really wish that I had stopped after book 1. I usually read books over and over again and was actually looking forward to seeing the film as well, but now that I know how it all ends, i don't know if I'll bother. I feel like any excitement I had about these books has just fizzled out. Maybe I'm just too much of an optimist but I expect a happy ending for the characters in my book and I just feel let down. Tris died and Tobias ended up even more broken and alone than at the start of the series. A book should have a conclusion for your characters where they go on a journey and achieve something. Tobias seemed to go backward as the story went on. Veronica Roth's publishers should never have let her publish a book with so many obvious flaws and if it had taken longer to release then it would have been worth the wait. I guess here is an ultimate lesson to all aspiring authors- know exactly where your story is going before you start it so it doesn't end up in a huge mess like this has. A real disappointment!

Good condition

Good read

Normally I read books I like or love, even if it's a series like Schooled in Magic with currently 20 titles, multiple times.But with this unnecessary end the whole series is dead to me.I bought this series 3 years ago and never touched it again. To be honest I prefer the movie trilogy now because it has a better ending and even if many things are diverting from the books like the utter devastation of the surrounding land.Perhaps I'll read it again but will finish reading before the end of the book and create my own ending, that's for sure.

"...the Dauntless, brave but cruel; the Erudite, intelligent but vain; the Amity, peaceful but passive; the Candor, honest but inconsiderate; the Abnegation, selfless but stifling." (S. 123, Kindle-Pos. 1360-1361)Inhalt:In Chicago spitzt sich die Situation immer mehr zu: Das Fraktionen-System bröckelt. Tris und Four machen sich mit einigen anderen deshalb auf die Suche nach Antworten außerhalb der Mauern. Doch draußen ist es auch nicht so wie erwartet - denn auch hier gibt es Geheimnisse und Lügen...Die Buch-Abrechnung:(Diese Rezension ist spoilerfrei, deshalb kann ich auf manche Details nicht so genau eingehen wie es nötig gewesen wäre, um das Buch auseinanderzunehmen).+/- Das Ende ansich: Während sich die meisten wohl über das Ende ansich (bzw. ein bestimmtes Ereignis am Ende) aufregen, fand ich das gar nicht so schlimm. Es war konsequent und insofern schon i.O. - allerdings wurde es sehr knapp abgehandelt. Das fand ich wiederum etwas schlapp. Einem spektakulären Ende hätte man doch etwas mehr Seiten und Ausführlichkeit spendieren können?- Plot-Entwicklung: Leider hat mir der Werdegang der Story ansich nicht nicht gefallen. Die Verlagerung außerhalb der Mauern hätte ja einigermaßen vernünftig eingebaut werden können und Veronica Roth versucht es auch zu erklären. Dies kam bei mir aber gar nicht an. Teilweise ist es unlogisch, manchmal sogar uninteressant. Als positives Fünkchen lässt sich anmerken, dass Veronica Roth zumindest versucht hat eine Lösung und Antworten zu bieten. Aber das "Wie" bleibt recht fragwürdig...- Der Perspektivenwechsel: Normalerweise mag ich Perspektivenwechsel recht gerne. In Allegiant wird die Geschichte abwechselnd aus Tris und Fours Sicht geschildert. Dies ist der Autorin Veronica Roth aber leider wirklich schlecht gelungen, denn man merkt keinen Unterschied wer gerade an der Reihe ist. Wenn ich das Buch mal mitten in einem Kapitel beenden mußte, wußte ich beim Wiedereinstieg nicht direkt wer nun gerade dran ist. Schade, dass die beiden Persönlichkeiten so zusammengematscht wurden, dass ein Einheitsbrei entstand.- Unrealistisch: Da wurden über mehrere Bände Feindschaften, etc. aufgebaut - aber hey, ein kleines Gespräch im dritten Band und alle (über Jahre) entwickelten Hassgefühle sind wie weggeblasen. Die Vernunft siegt und man hat sich gegenseitig plötzlich lieb - ja nee, ist klar ;) Also so ein Quatsch! Wozu das ganze Tamtam in den Vorgängerbänden, um es dann in 1-2 Seiten unspektakulär zu lösen? Schade, wirklich schade!- Four / Tobias: Was ist nur mit dem anziehenden Kerl aus dem ersten Band passiert? Four ist im Abschlußband weinerlich - von sexy und anziehend kann hier definitiv nicht mehr die Rede sein. Er trifft einfach dumme Entscheidungen, verhält sich überhaupt nicht mehr verwegen und undurchschaubar. Der ganze Zauber ist verpufft. Schluß, aus, vorbei.FAZIT: Was mal so großartig anfing, endet leider richtig schwach. Alles was diese Buchreihe ausgemacht hat, wird zerstört oder ist so nicht mehr vorhanden. Schade. Wirklich richtig schade. Dennoch kann ich mir vorstellen, dass sich das ganze als Film evtl. besser darstellen lässt. Nichtsdestotrotz eine schwache Abschlußvorstellung.Ich vergebe nur selten 5 Sterne (4 Sterne ist bei mir eine gute Bewertung!), deshalb zur Info mein Bewertungssystem:1 Stern: Finger weg!2 Sterne: Konnte mich nicht überzeugen.3 Sterne: Ordentliches Buch. Nicht schlecht, aber auch nicht richtig gut.4 Sterne: Gutes Buch mit kleinen Schwächen – auf jedenfall lesenswert!5 Sterne: Lieblingsbuch – muß man gelesen haben <3