Allegiant (Divergent, #3)

Posted Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Actual Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Allegiant wasn't the resolution I was expecting or hoping for. I won’t say I am dissatisfied with the Divergent Trilogy overall, but I am disappointed with the ending. There was a great amount of potential for the overall story, but it was somehow lost after Insurgent. Insurgent set up a lot of room in the realm of possibility for Allegiant and the story could have developed in a number of ways which would have had better resolutions than what we were given.

There is so much to say about Allegiant and the Divergent Trilogy overall…I am finding myself to be both overwhelmed and underwhelmed simultaneously in regards to my completion of it. This happened for a number of reasons which I am going to discuss in more depth, namely: discussion regarding human nature, Tris’s character, and the writing style. Out of respect for anyone who comes across this review prior to reading the novel, I will hide my analysis behind a spoiler tag.

Human Nature

In case you didn't know, each and every person on this planet is a unique individual. Yes, all of us will share certain characteristics, certain features, certain likes/dislikes, etc. but regardless of this truth, it is important to keep in mind that each and every person is different not only due to their genetic makeup but how they are shaped by their environment as well. I know and understand there have been a number of leaps and bounds in the field of genetics over the course of many years, but the entire idea that certain genetic sequences are the overall cause/reason for all of the evils of Tris’s world is mind-boggling. This is discounting the entire notion of individual accountability and responsibility allowing for all of the wrongdoing by any individual within the story to be blamed upon “damaged” genetic makeup which is something that the individuals in question can’t help. We as humans and individuals are not subject strictly to our genetic makeup, while it forms the basis of who we are it isn't what defines us overall. Rather, we are defined by our actions, we are defined by how we choose to live our lives every single day regardless of our genetic makeup, regardless of the environment in which we were raised, and in the face of adversity.

Tris - Our Lovely Protagonist

One of the items which brings me the most joy in a series of books is following the protagonist in their adventure and truly finding who they are along the way, growing and developing. I think that this was a serious issue because Tris’s development was incredibly stunted over the course of the entire trilogy, and here is why.

Tris in Divergent
Tris chooses to remain true to herself and leave the Abnegation faction in favor of Dauntless and is taught by Tobias the overwhelming similarity between the Abnegation’s idea of selflessness and the Dauntless’s value of bravery. Thus begins what becomes Tris’s martyrdom complex. Instead of staying out of it, Tris took Al’s place in front of the target and stood there idly while Tobias threw knives around her. Then, Tris was willing to go about sacrificing herself when working to break Tobias out of the serum controlling him during the Dauntless attack on Abnegation. It was her first choice and she didn’t even hesitate.

Tris in Insurgent
Tris is riddled with PTSD in addition to extreme amounts of guilt at Will’s death and grief due to the death of both of her parents. When the Erudite send their warning by killing individuals able to still be controlled with their serums Tris goes against her own word to Tobias and sacrifices herself to Jeanine and the numerous tests. Then, as fate would have it, when Tris is about to be executed by the Erudite she is rescued only to then sacrifice herself for the sake of another mission by helping Marcus find the Amanda Ritter video and show it to the public.

Tris in Allegiant
Tris in her final moments of this book truly upset me. She had no sense of self preservation, one of the most basic of instincts in human nature, and instead just decided to sacrifice herself. Granted, Tris went into the vault unsure whether or not she would live but then once inside she found herself to be resistant to the death serum. Basically, there was absolutely no reason for Tris to have died inside that vault except that in her stubbornness or haste, for whatever reason, she didn’t think to reach for her gun. Tris got overly confident in her own divergence, in her own uniqueness, to the point where she forgot the basics of self preservation. I honestly think that had she kept her weapon, there is no way that she would have ended up dead and a martyr. Her death was entirely unnecessary and did nothing to further develop the story in any way. I am of the opinion it was done for two reasons; placing more weight upon the issue of equality for genetically pure and genetically damaged as something worth dying for and for nothing more than shock value.

Tris had moments of great promise in her character and I truly enjoyed her regardless of her flaws because they made her seem that more authentic. However, this need for martyrdom and therefore stunted development in Tris’s character ultimately leading to her death was truly disappointing.

Writing Style

I had some severe issues with the writing style which Roth chose to utilize for Allegiant, specifically, I had an incredibly difficult time dealing with her change to dual-perspective. After reaching Tris's death in the novel, I understood the entire reason for this switch to dual-perspective. However, regardless of her reasons for doing so, I still find difficulty in dealing with the perspective shifts for two main reasons.

1. The point of view changes were too quick - I felt there were times when we would switch between characters without a solid understanding of what had just happened or without any seeming reason for doing so. If you are going to use multiple points of view, then you should ensure that the character point of view changes are reasonable and necessary for the facilitating of the reader’s understanding. I also felt that utilizing this format for only the final book in a trilogy made the book incredibly difficult to read, which I will continue to explain in my next point.

2. Tobias and Tris had the same mental voice - There weren't any noticeable differences between the mental voices of Tobias and Tris. Yes, I was able to tell them apart via different mannerisms/character interactions/dialogue, but their mental voices were utterly similar. Tobias’s mental voice was overly romanticized and was reminiscent of a female’s attempts to figure out what a male is thinking, rather than a male’s actual thought patterns. I feel rather cheated by this, I felt it was an incredible disservice to Tobias’s character because in the previous two novels he wasn't portrayed in this manner at all. It is almost as if there was some attempt to make Tobias more likable to readers, especially after his choice to follow Nita, disregard Tris’s warning, and ultimately cause Uriah’s death.

Overall, I just think there were some critical mistakes on the part of Veronica Roth which made this novel incredibly difficult for me to read. I have commended her writing of Tris in the past and while she continued to do an excellent job writing in Tris’s point of view, I think that ultimately she did herself a disservice by attempting to utilize the point of view shifts of Allegiant between Tris and Tobias.

I don’t want to say that I am dissatisfied with the Divergent Trilogy overall, but I am disappointed with the ending. I truly feel that there was a lot of potential in the story overall, but that it was lost after Insurgent. Insurgent set up a lot of room in the realm of possibility for Allegiant and the story could have developed in a number of ways which would have had better resolutions than we were given.

Originally posted on my Tumblr.