I’ve tried writing this several times now. But to be honest,
I really don’t know what to feel. I may as well start from the beginning...
About a year ago I first read Divergent and Insurgent.
Fast-paced and intriguing, it tells the story a Tris who makes the choice to
change factions, jumps off buildings, falls in love with a boy of four fears, shoots
guns, reveals government conspiracies and searches for some sort of truth. The
highly anticipated conclusion to this dystopia increased on the release of the
Divergent movie trailer. There was a lot of squeeling when I first saw the book
on the shelves. Literally, squealing and skipping towards it in Target.
Brief combined reviews of Divergent and Insurgent:
In Chicago, the
government is controlled by members of factions. Factions divide the citizens
into groups who have certain mental and moral structures. For instance, members
of Abnegation- Tris’ original faction- dress in grey and are in charge of
helping the city’s homeless as they prize selflessness. There are also other
factions such as of knowledge and bravery. A person’s faction is usually inherited
from their parents however when a person turns 16, an aptitude test reveals to
which one they belong and a choosing ceremony forges their future. Tris’ examination
reveals an anomaly, that she could belong to more than one faction. Tris is Divergent.
Special and dangerous to the government. She commences the Dauntless initiation-
the faction of bravery and dare I say, psychosis- where she meets friends,
enemies, knives, tattoo artists and a cast of terrifying and fascinating
characters. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Tris’ journey
continues in Insurgent as she deals with the aftermath of death, killing,
deception and knowing the truth when you don’t really want to. The concept of
how different characteristics war in us – the good and bad, selfish and
selfless, brave and complacent- is consistent in all three books and makes for
a fantastic message in the finale. If this sounds appealing then please stop
here. You really don’t want to be spoiled on such a fantastic series. When you
read the books, feel free to come back and discuss. Ciao...
Okay. They’re gone.
Allegiant Review and Discussion
The novel begins a little while after the Edith Prior revelation. The whole city is a controlled experiment. I’m glad that’s cleared up but this opens up a wave of new questions. What is beyond the fence? Is it time to send out the Divergent to complete their original ‘mission’? Will Evelyn let them? It becomes obvious that the city is in danger of another uprising, this time of the Allegiant – a new rebel group dedicated to preserving the factions, overtaking the factionless and going beyond the fence. Tris, Four, Christina, Uriah, Cara, Caleb, Peter, Tori and Johanna head out of the city. This is where it gets interesting (straggling spoiler seekers, please leave. It’s for your own good and the rest may not make much sense).
I’ll get my critique of the book out of the way because let’s
face it, I loved it. I felt that I was wading through information for long
lapses. There is a difference between passages being interesting and
captivating and this book was definitely slower than the previous two. I was
not really swept into the story –like I-have-to-eat/pee/sleep-but-I’ll-wait–
until the bomb went off right behind Uriah. As a general rule, bombs are good
triggers for book drama and how the characters react to such events highlight
their true colours. Oh Four, why did you believe them?
On the other hand, the character development in this novel
was phenomenal. Series are an amazing way to see significant changes in
characters (I’m planning to reread Divergent soon for comparison). I
particularly admire Roth’s dedication to minor character development. Don’t get
me wrong, Tris carries the series but the story is made richer through her
final interactions with Caleb (“I would
never deliver you to your own execution”), Peter’s decision (He is afraid that he will not be able to put
in that work... And I understand that feeling- I understand being afraid of
yourself) and Christina’s unconquerable soul (“I’m holding on for... the moments that don’t suck,” she says. “The
trick is to notice them when they come around”). Veronica Roth understands
people and through her writing, I can too.
Moreover, who doesn’t love a good romance? Tris and Four are
not cute, they epitomise love and interdependent strength. It is not love of rainbows
and magic, it’s pain and choice. I got goosebumps when Tris describes their love
in this passage:
“I
used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they
landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward. And maybe that's true
of beginnings, but it's not true of this, now.
I fell in love with him. But I
don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me.
I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that
we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and
over again, and he chooses me.” (p.372)
Now the ending. Before you go ripping up pages and having PTFA
(Post Traumatic Feel Attacks) may I just say that there is no other way it
could have gone. Can we all agree that Tris wasn’t going to let the experiments
be wiped? Let’s look at this reasonably.
- They had a time crunch, a set time for them to wipe the memories of the colony versus the the experiments. If the people of Chicago wanted to kill each other, they deserved a choice.
- Tris was a moral person. She couldn’t let Caleb –her flesh and blood- kill himself from guilt rather than love.
- There was no guarantee Caleb or his suit would be strong enough to survive the death serum and input the code. We can even assume that since Tris didn’t have time to put the suit on, neither would Caleb therefore he would have died immediately and what good would that do?
- Tris was brave. We knew it from the first book. That was the whole point of the first book. She is brave AND selfless. Although these two sides may have conflicted at her choosing ceremony, they were partnered in her final choice. Why were we even surprised?
I will not deny that I cried like a baby. It is true that I refused to even think about it for a few days, hence my late review/discussion. But we have to remember that Tris died for something and someone. We have to remember that Veronica Roth wrote Allegiant to share Tris’ inspirational story. We can deny that it ever happened or admit, like Four, that Tris was a person worth knowing even for this short time. Let me know your thoughts. Ciao
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