MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE DIVERGENT TRILOGY BELOW!!!!
Well, That's one way to end a trilogy. The third and final installment is by far the weakest and basically undoes everything I loved about the first two. The books faults lie largely in execution and not in the plot details itself. I got a lot to say, so let's get started.
1. Page 1 of Allegiant essentially spoils the plot of the book if you have half a brain. The book starts by doing something that didn't happen in the first two books: the narration is divided between our two main characters. Given that the first two books showed an impressive lust for killing off major characters, separating the narrative basically shouts to the reader, "HEY! HEY YOU! THE MAIN CHARACTER IS GOING TO DIE!" Yes, it's true. Tris dies toward the end of this book. Don't worry, it's not sad, just dumb. I'll come back to this in a minute.
2. The division of the narrative hurts the plot and exposes Veronica Roth as a mediocre author. After following Tris' story for the first two books, suddenly having to follow two first person narratives becomes very jarring. This issue is compounded by the fact that the writing style does not vary between Tris and Four. There were a number of times where I had to return to the start of the chapter just to figure out whose story I was following. Because the two characters could not be separated, I suddenly lost my interest in Tris as a character. She lost all uniqueness and I no longer cared about her motives. Likewise for Four. It's very difficult to suddenly get inside the head of a character we've been viewing from the outside for the first 800 pages of the saga, especially when we find out that the inside life of said character is identical to the outside life we've been seeing. Seriously, the guy turns out to be saying everything he thinks at all times. So now we've wasted half the book with a pointless narrative that does nothing to further the plot in a meaningful way. We split the narrative and learn nothing new.
3. The story covers too much plot in too little time - The world of the first 2 books is a self-contained distopia. The revelation at the end of book 2 that the city is just an experiment run by the outside world explodes the universe that the story is built around. While the expansion is exciting and give the book plenty of places to go, Veronica Roth's book tries to expand too fast. The enlargement of the world would sustain several more books in the series. Instead, we get a very rushed introduction to this new world and all the political forces and characters in it. David, the new main antagonist, is introduced mainly has a former love interest for Tris' mother. We simply don't get enough of his motives or back story to keep the narrative engaging.
We are also introduced to all new cultural dynamics that we are expected to have a stake in, but we don't really get a proper examination of the difference between the genetically damaged and genetically pure people, nor do we get a sense of the motives behind hiding human history. The themes become very muddled because non of the characters or themes are fleshed out enough to give the impression of a real world.
4. The story exacerbates issues with the first two books - The speedy pacing of the first two books worked well because we were following one character's chaotic journey through a world falling apart. The worm's eye view gave an impression of greater things beyond Tris' understanding. In Allegiant, the split narrative shows us that, no, nothing is really happening behind the scenes. The books never get at anything below the surface of the events. Suddenly, the pacing of the first two books feels sloppy and rushed as well.
5. Tris' sacrifice has no impact - Tris has a very complicated relationship with her brother. In the end, she sacrifices her life to save him, but we never get a satisfying explanation for his actions. Bad or good, we never really understand why he did what he did. Because the relationship isn't well defined, her choice to sacrifice herself is muddled and loses impact.
The way she dies also raises more questions than it answers. First, she is the first person to survive the death serum, which begs the question, "why is she so powerful." This is essentially a supernatural act by all the rules established in the series. Instead of some sort of explanation for this amazing feat, she is promptly shot to death right afterwards, denying the audience any reasoning for the feat. It would be like Neo surviving the gunshot at the end of the Matrix only to have his head chopped off 30 seconds later. It's ineffectual storytelling.
I don't think this book was completely useless, but it did feel like the first draft of a better story. It think the death of Tris could have been much more effective if Veronica Roth had saved the splitting of the narrative until after her death. Also, recognize when you have enough material for an long running series and don't cram a bunch of half-assed garbage into the third book just so you can stick with the trilogy format. Probably don't read this book though. Enjoy the first two and pretend the third book was never finished.
3/10
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