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A review by andrea_ruth
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
3.0
I got hooked on the first two books in this series - there was a lot of action, and I found myself struggling to put them down, wanting to know what happened next. Allegiant did not give me the same experience as it focused more on the Tris's and Tobias's personal/emotional growth. That said, I appreciated the shifting perspectives (though I agree with other reviewers who have said that it got confusing because their voices were so similar towards the end. I don't know whether to blame that on writing or if the goal was to show that they were developing such a strong bond that they had a similar mindset).
I also appreciated Roth's attempt to address the issue of marginalization, but I think it was unsuccessful. This topic just came up too late in the series for her to really address it as a social justice issue. Even worse, the novel's "solution" for eliminating the split between GP's and GD's (or whatever -ism you take this for) was to wipe everyone's memory and start over. Honestly, this was a huge disappointment. If you're going to include a commentary on marginalized populations, there needs to be some sort of realistic struggle (yes, it's a dystopian ya novel, but still). The potential conflict in Chicago was completely resolved by Tobias with no violence or other crazy, unrealistic response. I wish that Tris or Tobias had come up with this idea, though, since Christina had played zero role in any brainstorming along the way. This made me really like Christina and wish she'd been a better developed character since she turned out to be the rockstar of the series.
SPOILER ALERT
I had conflicting feelings about the ending of this book. On the one had, I really appreciate Veronica Roth's boldness in killing off Tris. It was definitely unexpected and shocking. To help me process this ending, I read Roth's own blog post about Tris's death. I understand that to her, this had to be the end result of Tris finally coming to terms with her Abnegation/Dauntless conflict, but it bothers me that she had to die. I think there could have been a much stronger message had Tris come to terms with who she was and all the pieces she needed to balance and used that personal growth to make the world a better place (or something super cheesy along those lines - actually serve as the leader she was becoming along the way). Tobias clearly needed her to continue his own personal growth, and she seemed to be the only person who could appreciate that GD's were no more damaged than someone with brown eyes and articulate that clearly. There are a number of directions this story could have gone, and I understand the value of having Tris sacrifice herself for Caleb, but I still held out hope that she'd survive. Having David appear in the Weapons Lab just to kill her off seemed a bit over the top, but it's not my book. Overall, I was disappointed by this book, but I'm optimistic that Hollywood will do a better job with this story..
I also appreciated Roth's attempt to address the issue of marginalization, but I think it was unsuccessful. This topic just came up too late in the series for her to really address it as a social justice issue. Even worse, the novel's "solution" for eliminating the split between GP's and GD's (or whatever -ism you take this for) was to wipe everyone's memory and start over. Honestly, this was a huge disappointment. If you're going to include a commentary on marginalized populations, there needs to be some sort of realistic struggle (yes, it's a dystopian ya novel, but still). The potential conflict in Chicago was completely resolved by Tobias with no violence or other crazy, unrealistic response. I wish that Tris or Tobias had come up with this idea, though, since Christina had played zero role in any brainstorming along the way. This made me really like Christina and wish she'd been a better developed character since she turned out to be the rockstar of the series.
SPOILER ALERT
I had conflicting feelings about the ending of this book. On the one had, I really appreciate Veronica Roth's boldness in killing off Tris. It was definitely unexpected and shocking. To help me process this ending, I read Roth's own blog post about Tris's death. I understand that to her, this had to be the end result of Tris finally coming to terms with her Abnegation/Dauntless conflict, but it bothers me that she had to die. I think there could have been a much stronger message had Tris come to terms with who she was and all the pieces she needed to balance and used that personal growth to make the world a better place (or something super cheesy along those lines - actually serve as the leader she was becoming along the way). Tobias clearly needed her to continue his own personal growth, and she seemed to be the only person who could appreciate that GD's were no more damaged than someone with brown eyes and articulate that clearly. There are a number of directions this story could have gone, and I understand the value of having Tris sacrifice herself for Caleb, but I still held out hope that she'd survive. Having David appear in the Weapons Lab just to kill her off seemed a bit over the top, but it's not my book. Overall, I was disappointed by this book, but I'm optimistic that Hollywood will do a better job with this story..