SPOILERS EVERYWHERE. YOU WERE WARNED
Sigh. You guys. It’s time. I’ve given you a month to think about it, but it’s time to finally discuss the elephant in the room. (I mean discuss it in in writing and not just during #TNBookClub where I was drinking wine & may have been more honest than I meant to be. Oops)I didn’t like Allegiant.
And you didn’t like Allegiant.
In fact, as I’m writing this, I can name 4-5 Divergent fans, Thrusting Theo Fans and Fans who are/were excited about the movie, who haven’t finished Allegiant.
So there are a couple things we need to address:
The Ending
It was the best part. It redeemed the book for me. Did I want Tris to die? No- who wants a character they like to die?
But someone had to (other than the many people she killed off in the last 2 books). And it was going to be Tris or Four. I rather it had been Tris. It made more sense. In justifying the ending on her blog, Veronica Roth said,
In Allegiant, she asks her mother, “Am I done yet?”
And her mother says, “Yes. My dear child, you’ve done so well.”
Also it wasn’t until WHEN it happened, and Tris saw her mom, and Tris realized she was dying, and I accepted (because I flipped through 10, 15-20 of the next pages quickly) that it WAS real, I realized I KNEW that was happening all along. Subconsciously, the moment Veronica announced the book would be told from both Tris & Four’s perspectives, I knew Tris was dying. We ALL should have known. Why else introduce another narrator on the last book? (The Matched Series did it, but in that book’s defense there were THREE people- a love triangle- so it made sense).
But the ending. And Four’s response to the tragedy. It was real. It was raw. It was the best part of the book. If Four hadn’t grieved the way he did, if he hadn’t struggled and then chosen to move forward, I would have hated Allegiant. But what he went through was so real..
Four says,
Christina says,
And the book ends with Four saying this beautiful line:
The epilogue made me wonder what Veronica went through to be able to write that. I don’t think that’s something you learn from talking to a friend who experienced a loss. That came from somewhere personal.
Come here girl
Different Perspectives
It’s been interesting hearing different perspectives to Allegiant over the past few weeks. I can sum them up in a few ways:
- The likers because it’s Divergent or Veronica Roth and she can do no wrong
- The legitimate likers
- The haters because of the Ending
- The haters because they were bored
If you think Veronica Roth can do no wrong
I struggle with this perspective the most. Sure, you’re entitled to that opinion, but it doesn’t make you less of a fan of a thing if you don’t love everything an author or creator does. It is okay to be a fan of something or someone & disagree with it. Kinda like when Rob Pattinson looked like a dinosaur at Comic Con. I definitely didn’t agree with that terrible, horrible, no good decision, but I still salivate anytime I see the GQ photo-shoot.
If you’re a legitimate liker
I say, whatever floats your boat (And I’m trying not to judge you for your bad taste. KIDDING!)
If you loved it, SAY THAT PROUDLY. Tweet it to Veronica Roth- she needs the encouragement.
If you’ve hated it because of the ending
I’ve found that people who hate the book solely because Tris is dead are.. young. I honestly haven’t found an adult who hates the book because Tris died. I think if Tris and Four had a happily every after, these people would start a religion with Allegiant as their Bible.
The haters because they were bored
This is where most people I know fall. And most people I know are grown-up women who love YA. So this category favors them most. And I wonder… why were Grown-woman who love YA bored? The science lessons throughout most of the book (do they kids love science these days?) Was it the fact that a whole new story was introduced with new characters we had no connection to? Was it that every 5 seconds someone new was dying and we couldn’t remember who was even alive anymore? All of the above?
What was up with the sex?
This book was more sexual than any of the ones she wrote before. It seemed like every 5 seconds Tris & Four were either fighting or making out up against the wall. I knew it was coming. I knew they were finally going to “do it” and when they did… I had to ask if they actually “did it!” Not exactly how you want to write a love scene.
I get it if Veronica wasn’t comfortable talking about “throbbing members” and stuff (it IS YA.. although I can name 7 books right now that do YA sex well), but to write something that had us questioning whether they just slept on the couch with their shirts off or if Tris actually got to touch Four’s throbbing member, well, as we said in book club, this was “Fade to Sad” to the umpteenth level. Veronica’s sex scene made Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn look like erotica.
I mean, are we supposed to assume sex with Four was forgettable?
Four was a whiney little girl
Besides that it felt like a science-text book for the majority of the time, what I disliked the most about Allegiant was that Four was so whiney. What happened to the strong, confident, dark & mysterious Four we loved from Divergent? When did he become this guy:
Maybe that’s why the sex scene was questionable. Who wants to have sex with a whiny, awkward dude? Not to say Four can’t have weak moments- he can. But the Four of pages 1-442 is not the same Four of the ending of Allegiant. His strength at the end is not consistant with the guy we see before Tris is gone.
So after all is said & done, I had every emotion Beth talked about the other day with this sequel. And ultimately I was disappointed. I think that’s why I was so excited to see the Divergent Trailer (59 Selfies excited) because it looked good after the epic disappointment of the book.
I think Veronica Roth is a great author & fabulous storyteller. I haven’t written her off for all future books, but, Allegiant wasn’t for me. It wasn’t because Tris died, and it wasn’t for the lack-luster sex scene. Allegiant was just not what I hoped for for the final book in the Divergent trilogy.
What do you think? What camp do you fall into? Did Tris & Four have sex? Was Four a whiny annoying boy to you in this book? Anddd discussss:
