Review: Allegiant

Allegiant

(Divergent, #3)

Veronica Roth

 You guys, I didn’t love this book and that’s a damn shame. I actually loathed it, and that’s a freaking tragedy! I originally rated this two stars but as I sat down to write this review, I asked myself ‘what did I like about this book?’ And the only answer I came up with was ‘at least it’s over’. I can’t give this book two stars, and it pains me that it has come to this.

Let’s start with the dual POV. This is becoming a popular thing, and I’m fine with it as long as it is done well and there is a reason for it. I was actually kind of excited to hear Four’s take on things. Or I thought I was anyway. This reads like what not to do if you attempt dual POV. Tris and Four ended up sounding so much alike that I would be reading along and then it would refer to something Tris did across the room and I’d be all- “wait-whaaat I thought we were Tris this chapter *flips back* oh. We are Four, oops”. This didn’t even just happen once or twice, it was constant.

The character growth in this book was non-existent. I’d go so far as to say some of them regressed and a few went bat shit crazy for no apparent reason whatsoever. Four has always been a strong, level-headed character but after hearing some news he doesn’t like he suddenly completely ignores everything Tris says and does a bunch of stupid shit without thinking twice about it. Umm, isn’t he the one always getting on to Tris for being reckless and not thinking things through enough? 

Guess what’s outside the wall? Swiss-cheese plot that makes no sense! I’m not a geneticist or even Bill Nye for that matter- but this is not how it works. Did these scientists graduate from the University of Looney Tunes?

Everybody is freaking out about the ending and I am too but not at all for the same reason. I thought it was just ridiculous. I do not understand how what they did would even fix the issues except for temporarily. What they did affects one place, when we learn early on this is a national issue. This is also not how government works.

Some of the “bad guys” are foiled with what is possibly the stupidest shit I have ever heard in my entire life. This is apparently how you change power hungry, evil people:

A) Offer them something they gave up willingly before and seemingly never wanted to do in exchange for giving up what has been their entire life goal.

B) Tell them they are not the boss.

I decided to experiment with this before I condemned it as completely worthless. So I tried these tactics out on my seven year old, my two year old, my hubby and our pack of dogs. The seven year old listened intently then proceeded to choose to continue exactly what he was doing in the first place. The two year old (a tiny, much prettier Napoleon really) enjoyed the ‘I’m the boss!’ ‘No, I’m the boss!’ game but ultimately continued to color the table with her markers instead of the coloring book. The significant other blinked at me a few times then asked if I was getting enough sleep. The dogs just tilted their heads and kept looking at eachother. I’m no Cesar Millan but I’m pretty sure they were making fun of me. You know what didn’t happen? No one magically decided to do exactly what I wanted. I now, officially, proclaim these tactics bullshit.

The final crime of this book is that it was written so shoddily that I felt nothing when the big shock came. I didn’t cry or even tear up and that was the point when I realized how much this book had killed what was previously a much beloved series.

I don’t know what happened to her writing between the first two books and this one, but this felt like really bad fan-fiction. I’m just glad it’s over.