Goodreads Review: "Allegiant"

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While there were definitely some things I liked about "Allegiant," the final chapter of the "Divergent" trilogy by Veronica Roth, this book just didn't quite work for me.

"Allegiant" finishes the story of Tris Prior, who, with the help of her boyfriend, Tobias, tries to save the people of dystopian future Chicago from the people who want to tear it apart with war.

When I read "Divergent" and "Insurgent," I really liked the world but I feel like it suffered quite a bit when everything was explained. Part of it was that Roth likes to info-dump. I understand the temptation, especially when there is a lot of information to try to jam into a book, but it led to some pretty dry passages, and made the overall flow of the book uneven. I still like the idea of the world, but the execution left something to be desired.

The whole feel of "Allegiant" was just kind of off. Part of the big problem was that this book had chapters from Tobias' point of view, rather than telling the whole book from Tris' point of view. I see why Roth structured the book that way, because Tobias and Tris were separated and doing a lot of important things away from each other, but it made the book kind of confusing. It was hard to tell who was talking in what chapter, because there wasn't much of a stylistic change between Tris and Tobias. I would find myself saying, "Why is Tris ... oh, this is Tobias' chapter!"

I also felt like there was a lot of rehashing in "Allegiant," while other parts (specifically the ending) were really rushed. I could have done without Tris and Tobias talking in circles about things, and instead given a little more time for the book to wrap up properly.

I didn't hate "Allegiant" though - in fact, I read several hundred pages in one sitting. The plot was still exciting, when it moved forward (which it did in fits and starts sometimes), and I like the relationship between Tobias and Tris. I felt like their romance was very natural for older teens, and it was a bit steamy besides. I also have to give props to Roth for a brave plot decision near the end of the book that I wasn't expecting. It was a bit contrived, I thought, but it was not something that every author would do.

I'm not sorry that I read "Allegiant," or the other "Divergent" books, but I have definitely read YA dystopian novels that were much better (*cough*HungerGames*cough*). However, there were some spots where "Allegiant" really held its own, and it's definitely worth a quick read sometime.

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