Allegiant by Veronica Roth

The Divergent Trilogy Reviews
Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant
The Divergent Film Review 

Published: October 22, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series: #3 of the Divergent Trilogy 
Website: Author’s Blog

Introduction:

The last installment in the Divergent series revolves around the consequences of the bombshell reveal that ended the last book. The city has learned the truth and the Divergent have been called to leave the city, to meet whoever created their city. However, the Factionless have declared that leaving the city is forbidden. First, they must escape the city. Then they have to survive and comprehend the new world.

Tobias and Tris

            Again, I was rolling my eyes at the arguments erupting between Tris and Four. As the pages were turned and terrible things happened, I was like, Whoa, what is this? Actual conflict? Turmoil that could easily tear two people apart? And it makes more sense than Katnis and Gale in Mockingjay?

            I was thrilled that they had stopped fighting. After all, when two people break up, they find new partners, and the world goes on after heartbreak. I wanted them to make up or break up. I was tired of the constant fighting.

            Then Tobias participates in a plan that Tris doesn’t trust. It goes terribly wrong. The conflict that arose was realistic, and I had fireworks inside because finally, their relationship wasn’t going through artificial turmoil.

From this point forward, there will be spoilers!

Story:

            The story of Allegiant, at its simplest core, is about genetics. The people of the past discovered the genes that made people “bad” and they sought to fix it through genetic modification. Turns out, it made people worse, and they sought to fix it again. They classified the people as Genetically Pure (GPs, or the Divergent) or Genetically Damaged (GDs).    

However, I can’t help but feel that the premise is flawed. If you wanted Genetically Pure people, why didn’t they make a breeding program? How about taking genetic material from two GPs, or the best you got, and make “test tube babies”? Or using the genetic modification methods they already have and try again? Creating walled cities so the genetic damage will “heal” itself through the generations is not the best way to achieve their goals. Also, the science behind this theory doesn’t exist. You pass the genes you have to your children. Let’s put it this way: if cancer runs in your family, the genes will (probably) be passed to your children. It doesn’t just “dilute” in your children. We can’t heal ourselves. It would be nice if it did work this way, but it doesn’t.   

I feel that The Chemical Garden trilogy did genetics better. Not that the CGT should be a comparison, but at least I wasn’t rolling my eyes at the genetic talk.   

Length of the Book

            This book was too long. Not that I have anything against books that are 500 pages. The conflict with the Factionless and the faction loyalists was interesting, but ultimately it bogged the book down. Insurgent was guilty of the same thing, and it lowers my opinion of the book.   

The Theme of Self-sacrifice and Interesting Discussion

            An interesting point of discussion is Caleb’s choice to sacrifice himself. The tagline of Allegiant is “One choice will define you”, and this happened to Caleb’s when he betrayed Tris by working with Jeanine. So, is it “right” of Caleb to go on the vital suicide mission? Who else would do it? Would you have let him?

            On the other hand, should Caleb have let Tris go? The theme of the selfless act is glorified at the climax of the book.

            Caleb was looking for redemption, and he loved Tris as his sister. Was it right of Tris to take that away from him?

The End

            The Dauntless are all about being brave. I think it was brave of Roth to end the book as she did. The climax reminds me of the film Kickass – the good guys don’t always win. They put themselves in highly dangerous situations and risk their lives for what they believe in, and they don’t always walk away with minor wounds.

            Yet now that she is dead, I don’t think I want to read the books again. I’m like, That was stupid.

            I hope the spirit/hallucination of her mother after the hug was like, What the heck, Beatrix?! Caleb is supposed to be here. We made him a cake with his name on it and everything. Caleb defined himself, and what has he got going for himself? He needs his own redemption, and you took it from him!

            It was stupid of Tris to go. I can’t stress this enough. Just because it was bittersweet doesn’t mean I have to like it. Like other parts of this book, the logic is flawed. Of course, it was Tris’s decision. Fine. People make stupid decisions. But from a story writing perspective, it overshadowed the resolution of the book. In the epilogue, I wanted to know how the world/society/the genetic healing was going. You only get a brief taste of it because the book shifts its focus to grief. Funny thing is, tons of people died in this series. We are supposed to care, but Roth introduced too many characters without developing them, so when they died, I didn’t care. Plus, what did she actually die for? If she failed in her mission, then the people of the Bureau would still have their memories and other random people in the city, who were not related to the main characters, would have forgotten everything. She didn’t die to save lives. She died to…make it “fair”. Except the book got extremely preachy on the morally grey areas, like if it is right to take away their memories because they were going to take away the memories of the people in the city.    

Final Verdict

            It was a fun experience, until I realized how convoluted the plot was. And how the genetic healing stuff was illogical. And how long it the book was. And the end killed it for me. I think Roth had a good idea for the first book, was roped into make a trilogy, and had to grasp for something in the third book. If you have read the first two books, of course you’ll read it. However, if you didn’t even like the first two, I’d recommend you go read something else.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

The Divergent Trilogy Reviews
Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant
The Divergent Film Review 

Published: May 1 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Series: #2 of the Divergent Trilogy  
Website: Author’s Blog

Introduction

                Unrest is sweeping through the city and war threatens to tear apart what is left. The factionless emerge from the shadows and complicate the balance of the factions. Tris, Four, and their allies are looking for a solution to the conflict caused by Erudite’s Jeanine Matthews. However, the bond between Tris and Four is tested as well.

Story

                Yes, my introduction is lacking here, because the story is more or less obsessed with talking, waiting in rooms, and arguing. There are some truly invigorating and moving moments in the book, if you can get by the boring chapters. Even if you are bored, I implore you to at least read the book through to the end, then decide if you want to finish the trilogy.

Tris and Tobias

I feel like Tris and Tobias are only together because of their Divergence. He knew she was one, and as far as I have read, there were no other people who were openly Divergent. Perhaps it will be unpolitically correct of me, but it reminds me of the episode of South Park entitled “Cartman Finds Love”. You don’t match people together because of one common interest or how they were born. If there was another love interest for Tris, I’m inclined to say that she should go for it. History isn’t everything. Yet, I appreciate that Roth didn’t take the easy route and insert a love triangle just because that’s what YA does.

On the other hand, in Insurgence, Tobias becomes a jerk, and Tris makes some of the dumbest and most illogical decisions I have ever read. Instead of being the strong, badass female protagonist, she is extremely angst-ridden. She does have reason to be, but we have way too much reflection that tells us what she is experiencing instead of showing us. Tris gets more angst-ridden than Katniss in Mocking Jay, and Katniss’s mopy depression is a tiring and boring experience (for me, at least).  

If Insurgent gets a movie, I can’t wait until film makers try to make this connect with the audience. Reading it was so alienating and uncomfortable it would be painful to watch on the screen.  

Tris (mild spoilers!)

                Tris has a problem holding guns now. Ok. But she is ok stabbing someone? Yeah, sure, Roth. Characterization fail. She’s depressed so her behaviours are dissimilar from the first book, but she doesn’t make sense. She is torn between wielding a Taser or a gun. She chooses a Taser because it won’t kill people. And then she stabs to kill. Whatever. I can’t take Tris very seriously. I am praying to all the invisible beings that the third book fixes the mockery that has become of Tris.   

The Writing

                In my review of the first book, I mentioned that the writing irked me at times. In this book, I took some notes of the sentences that have poor grammar. If I can spot it, you have a problem. To avoid spoilers, I have only included two safe examples:

                “Unfortunately it’s also the best plant we have,” she points out. (Page 429)

               

A sick feeling in my stomach, I follow Marcus and Christina out of the control room and towards the stairs. (Page 480)

The End

The end was traumatic because there was one and my copy of the next book, Allegiant wasn’t with me, and I couldn’t get it for two days. I don’t know if I will like where the final book is going, but the ending of Insurgent is cruel. However, I do want to point out that the explanation about what the Divergent are, and what their city is, is boarding on illogical. I am now waiting for the third book for this to make sense to me. If Allegiant doesn’t make this clear to me, I’m going to destroy metaphorical cities in my rage.   

Final Verdict

                Despite all the bickering between the main characters, and the constant, useless meetings with the other factions, I enjoyed the book. I look back and realize that there were enough boring parts to make other people put the book down. For me, I felt that even the “boring” parts were hinting at new plot and excitement, so I read them without much fuss. Allegiant has a big job to fill because Insurgent left off with some large questions.   

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Divergent Trilogy Reviews
Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant
The Divergent Film Review

Published: May 3 2011

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Series: #1 of the Divergent Trilogy

Website: Author’s Blog

Introduction

Society is divided into five factions. Once you turn 16, you are forced to choose which faction you will join for life, or risk being factionless. Beatrice has always been part of her family’s Abnegation faction, living a quiet life of selflessness. When she turns 16, she surprises everyone, including herself, by choosing to leave her family permanently to join the wild Dauntless faction. There’s one problem: her faction test was inconclusive. She doesn’t belong to any single faction. She’s Divergent, a problem in their system, and if her secret comes out, she’ll be at the mercy of those who made the rules. Of course, she has to survive the Dauntless initiation process, where the mysterious instructor Four is trying to keep her safe by throwing her into danger.  

Beatrix’s Character

                The story is engrossing; it is easy to forget about other aspects of the novel, such as the characters. The protagonist, Tris, is one of those characters I have to defend. Yes, she has very little personality. She has desires (that surprise even her) and motivations, but what are her personality traits? There are actually surprisingly few character traits you can pin to her, though there are reasons why this makes sense.

                Abnegation is a faction that is selfless. They strive to be invisible by dressing in bland, grey clothes. Their children do not speak unless spoken to. They are taught to help whenever help is needed, to give what they have to others, and they are committed to community service. Their faction strikes away the idea of having an individual image. The adults have a private image, as they can do fun things like talk at home. The kids are meant to be perfect and quiet.

                Whether it was a well-planned move by the author or not, Beatrice, who grew up in Abnegation, lacks a definitive personality because she wasn’t allowed to explore her individual self.  Additionally, teens fluctuate in their personalities almost daily as they are still trying to define themselves. When it is her time to choose her faction, she has to do some soul searching. Children of Abnegation parents generally stay in Abnegation; their parents are in Abnegation, and they are raised to be obedient to them and not stand out in any way. Leaving Abnegation would cause a fuss and it would sadden their parents.

                What Beatrice does have is uncertainty, feelings of not-belonging, and a desire to break free and be an individual. The Dauntless are reckless in physically and psychologically. They also have the bravery aspect, and Beatrice wants to be brave enough to break free of her Abnegation ways.     

The Problem with Factions

One problem that I have is that the factions run on your personality and your job prospects. In my situation, I like community service and helping people, but I don’t want to be in the government. I am creative and peaceful, so I would also like Amity. Yet all Divergent shows them doing is picking fruit. While I am sure I would have fun picking fruit, it isn’t what I want to do with my life. I enjoy studying, learning, and teaching, so Euridite is probably the best for me because I could probably be a librarian with them (yay!), but there are aspects that I dislike about that faction. And what do Candor do? As far as I can tell, they are lie-detectors. Aside from prosecutors, what are the jobs they are supposed to be suited for?

The Society

                I want to know how their society came into being. The Hunger Games’ Panem is explained, and it is central to the plot. Since I have read Divergent, I have spoken to a teen who has read the whole trilogy, and she has informed me that the later books do explain it. However, I would have liked to hear about it in the first book. That is standard world building that has been missed. As I was reading, I wanted to know if the city has always been like this and if it is just this city or the whole world. I wondered what is beyond the city’s walls. Is it full of monsters, murderers, radiation in the soil? Something that drives the plot of the video game Resonance of Fate is the mystery of what is outside of the tower, Basel, that they live in. Finding out was an amazing experience, and I was confused when I read the last page of Divergent and closed the book. I want to know more about the world they live in! Yes, apparently I’ll get to read all about it in the next books, but there is a huge gap in world the building in the first book that aggravates me!

The Government

                What I do like about this dystopian is that the government is not immediately evil, like in 1984 or Brave New World. After all, when people set out to create new governments, they do not purposefully intend to create a dystopia; the people who set the rules believe they are doing the right thing. I can see why you would want to group like-minded people together for an efficient society. It is when the details of the society come to light that you realize that you don’t want to live there.

The Writing

                The writing works, though it is nothing special, and the lack of commas pesters me to no end. Since I started writing this review, I began reading Insurgent, the second book, and there are also moments when I noticed that Roth really should be using commas and she isn’t. I don’t have access to the first book at the moment, and if I catch any more while reading Insurgent, I’ll flag them so I can post them in my Insurgent review.  

Final Verdict

                I hate to jump on hypes, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had a lot of questions regarding the history of the city, why Tris falls for Four (perhaps because no one else is interested in her?), and the grammar quality is sometimes lacking, and this brings my critique down. But should everyone and their moms read this? Yes! Regardless if you believe running a society this way would work or not, Divergent has a story that unfurls and keeps you reading.

The Movie

                I admit, I didn’t read the books until I saw the first trailer for the film during the previews at the theatre for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I had access to the books, but I hadn’t gotten around to reading them. So, here are two trailers, in case you haven’t seen them, and I personally haven’t seen any on T.V.:

                The actress that plays Tris, Shailene Woodley, doesn’t reflect the image in my head. In the book, Tris is very small with a boyish figure. The actress is very pretty, but I didn’t envision Tris to look like that. I also pictured Four to look more tough, angrier, and gruff.

And WHY does IMDB state: “When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late”? It isn’t like this in the book. *Cries hysterically in a snow bank*   

With that said, I am still planning on seeing it with someone. If I were forced to go alone, I wouldn’t; I’d wait until it came out on DVD. I’m interested in how this will turn out, though. 

Edit: Movie Trailer Reaction

I, and some other people, are concerned that Four doesn't appear to be the Four that we know from the books. The best reaction to the movie trailer has been (and I'm paraphrasing), is Four saying: "Welcome to Dauntless. We're all about free love here."

Edit: Tattoos

In the book, Tris gets three crows tattooed along her collarbone. Has anyone noticed the popularity of bird tattoos on collarbones? I wonder if the popularity happened before the book, or after. It's unfortunate that they are overdone now, because I have a soft spot for bird tattoos.