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.

Divergent Movie

The Divergent Trilogy Reviews
Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant

The Divergent Film Reviews

Divergent, Insurgent

Yesterday, March 29 2014, I went with someone else who enjoyed the book Divergent, and we saw the movie at the theatres. This article will be different from what I usually write. The essence of this post is to get my thoughts down and out there to readers. I’m not trying to analyze this film or talk about adaptions. I’m just here to gush and gripe. I reviewed the first two books of the trilogy (Divergent and Insurgent), and for the price of the ticket and some popcorn, the money was well worth it.

Major spoilers ahead!

The film had some amazing scenes of the city. It really gave me a sense of what the city looks like. I can’t recall if I had the feeling that this is what the city looked like in the first book.

The factions are more segregated than I expected. Their clothes made it really stand out. The picture I have below is when they are standing in the faction lines, so yes, it is obvious, but there were scenes of these clustered colours moving through the streets that were neat to look at. Except in the beginning of the film, I swear I saw a woman with an orange shirt and a blue/white dress.

Story wise, the key moments are there. It is the small details that were left out. These small details pile up to a noticeable mountain, but the main idea of the story is still there. 

 The small differences:

• Beatrice’s mother does not tell her daughter that she was Divergent too.
• Christina and Will are not in a relationship, or at least they had not made it public knowledge.
• There was no day that the parents could come see the initiates.
• Tris doesn’t have a victory in the fighting ring against Molly or anyone.
• Peter barely leaves any marks on Tris after their fight.
• Al doesn’t like like Tris.
• Tris has to find different ways to defeat her fear landscapes to keep her Divergence hidden.
• During capture the flag, they use darts that simulate the real pain of being shot instead of paint balls.
• Tris doesn’t get her towel removed by Peter and his lackeys.
• Abnegation families hug and let their kids talk at the table.
• Tris only got the bird tattoos, nothing more.
• Four never tells Tris why his name is Four.
• Dauntless HQ is smooth grey stone, not black rough stone. 
• Jeanine (Kate Winslet) shows up all the time. Hey, you have a job to do, stop hanging around so Tris can “accidentally” bump into you all the time.

Go away, Jeanine.

The big differences:

• The butter knife incident is gone! (But you can see the deleted scene on youtube)
• Peter is just annoying and a little mean about her former faction.
• Tris and Four don’t have a lot of time together. Then suddenly Tris tells Four that she loves him. Maybe she like likes him, but love?
• Tris doesn’t identify that Peter was one of the men who assaulted her. When she shoots him later, I couldn’t help but think she’s overreacting to someone who was just a jerk to her.
• The sexual aspect of the assault isn’t obvious. Her shirt is torn at her chest, but she doesn’t actively say or imply that it was sexual. In the book, they grab at her chest.
• When Tris lost to Peter in the ring, she was cut from Dauntless. What the hell movie?
• Tris got the flag for Dauntless; there was no conflict with Christina.
• The ending had a fight between Jeanine and Tris.

Note: Very few people understand about how I feel about the removal of the butter knife incident. It portrays Peter as the psychopath that he is, and Edward is somewhat important in the second book.

Note: Four tells Tris that you can’t change your name once you make up a new one in the net. Except that he must have, because he didn’t know he only had Four fears until his fear landscape training, several weeks into initiation.

Update September 13, 2014

After some thought, a concern I had with this film was how well this film told its story to people who hadn't read the book(s). Cinema Sins made a video about the "sins" of the film, from the perspective from someone who hadn't read the books. I can definitely see where the audience who read all the books filled in the information gaps in the film, but the rest of the audience would be confused. Below is the video (but be warned, he uses crude language and occasionally adult humour:

 

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.