Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins 10/22/12
Length: 544 pages
Series: Divergent #3
Overview
hat if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?
The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth’s #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergentand Insurgent.
My Thoughts
Long awaited and quite the great read. I actually saw Veronica Roth on the Today show when I was about 1/3 of the way through and what she said during the interview threw me. She was asked about the response to the ending and how she got there and she said that she felt that it ended stories for characters as they should have been. I DISAGREE!!! i won’t provide spoilers, but i felt like i was back in the Requiem world where the ending didn’t quite do it for me.
anyway, this third installment opens when we are in the midst of the factionaless overthrow and the factions all in chaos. We don’t know if it’s safe to believe Evelyn and what Marcus is up to. What we remember from the ending of Insurgent though is the video reveal by ‘Edith Prior’ and what that did to everyone. It meant that EVERYONE quickly realized that what they had been taught all their lives wasn’t true at all and they had to decide what to do next…and where to do it.
So, we quickly learn that the factions (not the factionless under Evelyn) start to create the Allegiant – their own group of rebels with a cause of their own. to restore order and make things less chaotic. Among those Allegiant are some folks that we’re constantly reminded of – Joanna Reyes, Cara among others.
They devise a plot for a group of Dauntless to get out of the fence, and see what’s on the outside – with folks that they have allegiances with out there. So Tobias, Tris, Tori, Cara, Caleb, Christina, Uriah and Peter plot to escape and do that. well, not all of them make it.
Once they are outside, they reach contacts who turn out to be past dauntless that were presumed killed for being Divergent who take them to the Bureau of Genetic Welfar where the group learns a lot more than they ever expected.
I’m going to tread lightly here because i don’t want to reveal anything too drastic, but here are the basics
1) What Tris knew about her family – completely different than reality
2) Jeannine Matthews couldn’t have been working on her own, she was provided with serums and what not for her uses (guided by what the Bureau wanted her to do)
3) Relationships that were sacred aren’t anymore and there are lots of changes among friendships and loves
4) No one knows who or what to believe – people spin stories in ways that make what they believe to be true true and what others are doing wrong
along this journey we meet David who is the leader of the Bureau and knows Tris’s mom. We also meet Nita who’s in with the Rebels. we meet Matthew who we’re not sure is a good guy or not, yet he leans towards good
What i can’t get past though is the way that this story went and where it’s going. We learn about the purpose of Chicago becoming a faction system and being what it is, yet we don’t see into other cities that were created like it. We hear about what goes on out side of the fence and in the fringe, but we also don’t get to see what’s really going on there either.
I’m let down by the ending for sure. i like how some of the story was resolved, but quite saddened by others. i’m sure you’ll know what i mean when you read it. LOTS of surprises and LOTS of anxiety. enjoy!