Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant is the third novel in the Divergent Trilogy, or should I say series now that a new book, Four, has been released.  I read the first two novels, Divergent and Insurgent last summer and literally couldn’t put them down.  I found them to be an exciting tale of a dystopian future with a great female hero and an interesting mystery of how exactly the different factions of the society in future Chicago were created.

Allegiant attempts to explain this mystery with Tris, Four, and friends becoming part of a new group, the Allegiant, that wants to return society to the old way of life that includes the factions.  This group escapes beyond the City walls and finds out what is in the world beyond.  Tris finds herself once again called upon to save the day.

Honestly, I had a hard time getting into this novel and unlike the previous two, I could easily put it down and didn’t feel the need to pick it up and finish it.  Part of the problem to me was the dual narration.  Tris and Four both narrated this novel; Tris was the sole narrator in the first two novels.  I didn’t see the point of the dual narration as the two were in the same place for most of the novel and didn’t have a distinctive voice.  I often had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to remind myself who the narrator of this particular chapter was.  I also thought the mystery of the factions was a bit of a letdown and that there was no clear story for this one.  The sacrifice at the end didn’t seem reasonable or that it was really needed.  I didn’t feel like Tris had a clear goal or direction in this book.

Overall, Allegiant was a poor ending for the Divergent Trilogy with a shift in format and no clear direction on the action.  I felt like the first book was a great idea, but that the background for the idea had never been thought of until afterwards.

Book Source:  A Birthday Present from my Husband