Allegiant by Veronica Roth
This is the third and final book of the Divergent trilogy, and it is similar to its first two predecessors in being a thrilling, fast-paced read full of action and good, sparse writing. It took me a couple tries to jump back in, however, because the author does something in this book she didn’t do in the two previous–she splits the chapters into those narrated by Tris and those narrated by Tobias. There was nothing wrong with the quality of the writing, it just threw me off because it was different, and as a creature of habit, “I fear change.” But I soon discovered that this split allowed the author to do different things, such as show the perspective of two people when they had different opinions, beliefs, needs to act or wait. This book also takes us outside the city walls, which has been a long-awaited venture, built up with much reader suspense. I assure you, you will not be disappointed, it was worth the wait. Roth has consistently proven her ability to write with huge scope and vision. Even if the reader only sees a microscopic view, we can know with confidence that this author has skillfully woven her world out to the macroscopic spread. One last thing that needs to be said, and that’s this–if you do not like character death, this series is not for you. Throughout the three books the reader is introduced to character after lovable character only to watch them get ripped away by the unforgiving jaws of death. Seriously, you can’t get attached to anybody without fear. And while I commend the realistic, gritty approach of looking truthfully at war and its consequences, again I must warn you if you don’t like sad stuff, you should probably look elsewhere. And finally: it seems like a trend lately to write a series and follow it by “something else” in the same universe. Stephenie Meyer wrote that novella about a minor character; Roth wrote a book of short stories. And while I’m not knocking this newish approach, there’s something to be said for the closure of the end of a book or book series. So I’m unsure as to whether I’ll check out the fourth companion book. Maybe I’ll come back around to it if I start to miss the characters or the writing style.
Reading Challenges
Here are the reading challenge updates:
- PopSugar 2017 reading challenge I marked this book as No. 14 a book involving travel
- Book Dragon’s Lair Audiobook challenge Nope
- Book Dragon’s Lair Pages Read challenge This 526 pgs brings me to 4,704 pgs
- My Reader’s Block Color Coded challenge n/a
- Read It Again, Sam Nope
- My Reader’s Block Mount To Be Read (TBR) and Rock My TBR challenge Yep!
- For the Diverse Reads challenge (here and here) I was curious if the main character would sustain any major injuries as a result of her dangerous life, but that was not the case. Two much more minor characters did sustain injuries that put them in wheelchairs.
- The Book Date Full House challenge This book was “more than 500 pgs”
- The Book Date Read the Books You Buy challenge Yes! I am currently at 3 read of 10 purchased, “Making Inroads”
- Whatever I Think Of Memoir Bingo challenge Not a memoir
- The Worm Hole’s What’s In A Name challenge Doesn’t fit any of the categories
Below are the hashtags of the challenges that had them:
#popsugarreadingchallenge
#rockmytbr
#diversereads2017
#whatsinaname2017
Thanks for reading.
Love,
Jobe
J. Jobe 