Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Summary from Goodreads:

One choice will define you.

What 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 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.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Review:

I loved this book! I’m going to work super hard to not spoil important things. I also worked hard to not read any reviews for this book until after I finished it. The only thing I heard about the book was that some people were not happy with the end. And hopefully this isn’t spoiling it for others who have avoided reviews. But seriously, not everyone can be happy when a series comes to a conclusion. And I respect authors who write what they need to write, knowing they can’t please everyone.

That said, this book was a whirlwind of revolutions, knowledge, and courage. Part of me had no idea what to expect with the world outside Chicago, and there is something incredible about not knowing what to expect in a YA novel. Part of me kept thinking zombies might come in…Weird, I know. And just so you know, there were no zombies. I’m just weird and used to certain plot devices. And I guess Roth not only knows these plot devices, but also knows how to twist, bend, and surprisingly defy them.

There were a lot of revolutions in this book! Seriously, I think there were like 3-4 revolutions. There was a lot of war and suffering (but what book in this series didn’t include these things?). There were some sizzling romantic moments. And then there were some classic, “how far are you willing to go to save the most people” dystopian moments. This book had a lot of science in it too.

One of my only qualms with the series before was its lack of believability. My favorite thing about dystopias is how plausible they tend to be. Like, I can see the world turning as bad as it was in the Hunger Games and I can kind of see society taking the shape of the world in The Giver. But, I never really believed that a world divided by these factions, by people’s personality traits could ever seriously exist. Like what would ever make society turn that direction? I couldn’t think of a thing that would.

And then finally, Roth explains how this could happen. And I am so grateful. I feel like my only problem with the series was addressed, answered, and karate kicked out of the building. Yay for final installment explanations! We learn a lot more about Tris’ family. We learn about the outside. We learn about how the factions react to learning that there is an outside!

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine (I’m talking about you, Emma!) about the series as a whole, and how we think this book kind of blew the whole series out of the ballpark. Insurgent for me (and Emma) was a little bit of a let down. We talked about how the series could have happened with two books (this one and the first one) and maybe we could have had a few chapters either in Divergent or Allegiant about Four’s parents and about the other factions. And the series would have been just as strong, if not stronger. Though, book 2 had one crazy ending I wouldn’t want to miss out on.

I don’t want to talk too much about the story cause it is full of surprises that I don’t want to ruin for you. But, just know that questions are answered, people get closure, other people get blown up, there’s an insane amount of revolutions, there’s power struggles, broken factions, and a ton of action in general. And I seriously can’t see the series ending in any other way. Thank you, Veronica Roth, for writing these insanely addicting books that I know I will re-read and pass on to other people over time. This so gets a 10/10.