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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
My biggest issue is the jump in the end to Everything Working Out. There is a 2 year jump and we don't really know what happened. I guess it depend on who the story is really about. If its about Tris then it makes sense. If its about the liberation of Chicago then it doesn't. Other than that was a great ending to the trilogy.
I liked Insurgent better than Divergent, but Allegiant really didn’t do much for me. It’s fine as something to read after you’ve reread the Hunger Games, again, but it did not inspire any depth of feeling. The characters are not well drawn, and I really did not care whether they lived or died, whether the city went back to factions or stayed factionless, etc. I found most of the romance between Tris and Tobias trite and, frankly, boring.
I was glad to finally get some more background on how the society in this series came into being, and the author did make a risky plot choice I admire. (However, it reminded me strongly of why I prefer books with a narrator, rather than books told in the first person.)
Epilogues seem to be a thing these days, and this book would have been stronger without one. The best part about this series for me has been the Chicago area setting.
So, not terrible, I did not have a hard time finishing it, but neither was I captured by the plot, setting, and characters to the point where I didn’t want it to end. It’s not a series I will find myself revisiting in my head.
I was glad to finally get some more background on how the society in this series came into being, and the author did make a risky plot choice I admire. (However, it reminded me strongly of why I prefer books with a narrator, rather than books told in the first person.)
Epilogues seem to be a thing these days, and this book would have been stronger without one. The best part about this series for me has been the Chicago area setting.
So, not terrible, I did not have a hard time finishing it, but neither was I captured by the plot, setting, and characters to the point where I didn’t want it to end. It’s not a series I will find myself revisiting in my head.
Sigh, I really wanted to like this book. I read the other two because I couldn't put them down. I continued reading this book because I wanted to read the conclusion of the other two books- but honestly a lot of the time if felt almost like /work/ to read the book because it was so boring!
Roth's said that she didn't know where the books were headed when she started writing them- and it seems like she really didn't have any idea at all! When you write a book like this with a big reveal, you have to at least have some idea of what's going on the entire series so that the big reveal actually makes sense. The entire book just felt really lazy. Also, I agree with everyone that Four and Tris's voice sounded EXACTLY THE SAME. When I first started reading the book, I was hoping she'd do something interesting with the two voices...but nope. There was only one reason she needed his narration...
As for the ending- I'm going to go against popular opinion here. I thought the ending was actually the most interesting and well written parts of the book. Was it necessary, did it make sense for the situation to even happen, etc etc? Nope! But it's the only part of the book where I actually wanted to keep reading (the last 40 pages or so). The only part of the book where I felt some emotion. Only part where the character acted like the character would in that situation (though the character probably should never have been in that situation to begin with, because it made no sense, but I digress).
Basically, I think the only plan Roth had for the end of the series was that one big part. She didn't really think out any other part of the book. So save yourself some time, read the last 50 pages of the book (don't worry, it won't make any more sense what's going on if you actually read the whole thing), feel really sad, and move on.
Roth's said that she didn't know where the books were headed when she started writing them- and it seems like she really didn't have any idea at all! When you write a book like this with a big reveal, you have to at least have some idea of what's going on the entire series so that the big reveal actually makes sense. The entire book just felt really lazy. Also, I agree with everyone that Four and Tris's voice sounded EXACTLY THE SAME. When I first started reading the book, I was hoping she'd do something interesting with the two voices...but nope. There was only one reason she needed his narration...
As for the ending- I'm going to go against popular opinion here. I thought the ending was actually the most interesting and well written parts of the book. Was it necessary, did it make sense for the situation to even happen, etc etc? Nope! But it's the only part of the book where I actually wanted to keep reading (the last 40 pages or so). The only part of the book where I felt some emotion. Only part where the character acted like the character would in that situation (though the character probably should never have been in that situation to begin with, because it made no sense, but I digress).
Basically, I think the only plan Roth had for the end of the series was that one big part. She didn't really think out any other part of the book. So save yourself some time, read the last 50 pages of the book (don't worry, it won't make any more sense what's going on if you actually read the whole thing), feel really sad, and move on.
I thought it was good and still pretty exciting even though I heard from a lot of people that it sucked or rambled on, but thanks for the depression Veronica Roth. Tobias, I fucking love you so fucking much.
Plot: ⭐️
Characters: ⭐️
World Building: ⭐️⭐️
Twists: ⭐️
Enjoyment: ⭐️
Edit: There were some bits towards the end that helped bump this to a 2 ⭐️ book.
This was a very boring book that I had to force myself to finish.
The plot was terrible, the science was awful and the ending was lame.
Characters: ⭐️
World Building: ⭐️⭐️
Twists: ⭐️
Enjoyment: ⭐️
Edit: There were some bits towards the end that helped bump this to a 2 ⭐️ book.
This was a very boring book that I had to force myself to finish.
The plot was terrible, the science was awful and the ending was lame.
Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to it's predecessors. Roth seemed to lose focus as she went along. Too many plots that were not needed,too many conspiracies. She also chose to write from two different perspectives, Tobias and Tris; but there were no narrative differences between the two. I had to keep going back to check whose perspective I was reading from. I do give Roth credit for making a big choice regarding her lead (no spoilers) that many other ya authors would never make. I wish she had streamlined the story more, and continued to make it about Tris. It felt under-developed in many places and over-developed in others. Sadly, a disappointing end to what could have been a great trilogy.
I was contemplating giving the book 3 stars. After reading through the first two books, I found the third one truly frustrating. It was extremely rushed, there was never a moment in which a huge conspiracy was not being uncovered, a cataclysmic event looming, or one of my favourite characters being killed.
In the first two books I felt like I could not stop reading. Here I had to take pauses at times – the tension was just too exhausting, the reading too tiring... I find that making all parts of a book filled with action and never-ending thrill really defeats the purpose in the end – there is too little to ground those moments in, to set them against, to make them feel special.
Also, I really do not buy into the idea of constantly rushing from one rebellion into another. The plot felt very thin, sketchy, even downright illogical and disappointing in places. It should have been fleshed out much more; the book could easily have been split into two or even three parts. As it stands, there is a certain lack of substance to it, which makes it feel too much like a lazy attempt of the author to finally get the story over with. Almost as if at some point she took all the main plot ideas she had and hastily hashed them into a barely coherent story.
Furthermore, I think there are patterns that it is unwise to repeat too often in a book. If all that we believe about its world is turned upside-down once, that is indeed a neat trick on the part of the author. However, if it keeps turning upside down every ten minutes or so, the joke is prone to becoming rather stale.
In any case, I was ready to give the book 3 stars. What made me change my mind and add the fourth star was, strangely enough, its ending. It was devastating and I hate the author for it with a passion. But it was also great in so many ways. In the first two books we were confronted with several very different kinds of nobility and bravery. The ending of the third one portrays yet another kind, which may be the greatest of all. The bravery to go on when everything around you falls apart and it seems like there is nothing you can hope, or live for any more.
I say that for this unlikely and most unwelcome feat, the book deserves an extra star, if any book does.
In the first two books I felt like I could not stop reading. Here I had to take pauses at times – the tension was just too exhausting, the reading too tiring... I find that making all parts of a book filled with action and never-ending thrill really defeats the purpose in the end – there is too little to ground those moments in, to set them against, to make them feel special.
Also, I really do not buy into the idea of constantly rushing from one rebellion into another. The plot felt very thin, sketchy, even downright illogical and disappointing in places. It should have been fleshed out much more; the book could easily have been split into two or even three parts. As it stands, there is a certain lack of substance to it, which makes it feel too much like a lazy attempt of the author to finally get the story over with. Almost as if at some point she took all the main plot ideas she had and hastily hashed them into a barely coherent story.
Furthermore, I think there are patterns that it is unwise to repeat too often in a book. If all that we believe about its world is turned upside-down once, that is indeed a neat trick on the part of the author. However, if it keeps turning upside down every ten minutes or so, the joke is prone to becoming rather stale.
In any case, I was ready to give the book 3 stars. What made me change my mind and add the fourth star was, strangely enough, its ending. It was devastating and I hate the author for it with a passion. But it was also great in so many ways. In the first two books we were confronted with several very different kinds of nobility and bravery. The ending of the third one portrays yet another kind, which may be the greatest of all. The bravery to go on when everything around you falls apart and it seems like there is nothing you can hope, or live for any more.
I say that for this unlikely and most unwelcome feat, the book deserves an extra star, if any book does.