Book Blog #72: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
# of Pages: 526 (ebook)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Rating: ★★★☆ ☆
Synopsis: The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.
Review: Jeez. I don't even know how to say what I want to say. But somehow, I'll manage.

Let's just say that I STRONGLY disliked the first half of the book. The cover is a beautiful, of course, but everything else is so...meh. There's a lot of kissing, too much, in fact. And I usually LIKE romance (although it might not be apparent from what I've said in other reviews).

And I nearly died from a heart attack when I saw that there was POV switching. POV SWITCHING!!! In case you don't know, I hate POV switches. With a passion. The reason; a lot of authors can't pull it off. It makes the writer seem indecisive and lazy because he/she can't decide which POV do. If you can't decide, write in third person!

HOWEVER! I can also understand why Roth wrote from both Tris's and Tobias's point of view. Tris's death would be hard to write otherwise, though Roth could have done the whole book in Tris's POV and then switched to third person or Tobias's POV for the epilogue. So although Roth's use of POV switching is partially justified, it still does not hide the fact that this book wasn't written as well as Divergent (and even Insurgent). I found myself having to go back to the first page of the chapter a lot because I couldn't remember who's POV I was reading from (unless there was a context clue, like talking about Tris/Tobias in third person, if that makes any sense at all). That alone is concerning to me as a reader because it's telling me that both characters are behaving in a similar way. This wouldn't be a problem in some cases, but the fact still stands that the two characters are of OPPOSITE GENDERS! They should behave differently, even if it's only slightly.

Tris's death came so suddenly, it didn't quite sink in until the epilogue. And at that point I was like, "Oh, so she really IS dead!" I was slightly surprised because Roth doesn't seem like the kind of author to kill off her beloved main character, but I didn't feel anything else. That was a little disappointing; I would have appreciated a really big, heart-wrenching moment.

One thing that probably contributed to my reaction to Tris's death was how Tobias learned of it. Cara said is so simply and quickly, I almost missed it. And I didn't feel a lot of emotion from Tobias, maybe because Roth was trying to convey emptiness? But I couldn't feel that either.

Allegiant is barely hanging onto it's third star. I was extremely tempted to give it two. But I decided to be generous since it's the last book and all. Roth shouldn't have made Divergent into a trilogy. The first book was wonderful; I really enjoyed it! But the plot went down hill from there. It really should have ended where it started; Divergent. So for everyone who has made it this far, read it, but expect to be disappointed. If you haven't read the series yet, I would recommend reading the first one and then walking away. Don't even bother with Insurgent and Allegiant.