Publisher:
Harper Collins
Children’s Books
Release
Date: 22nd
October 2013
Edition:
UK hardcover,
review copy
The
faction-based society Tris Prior once believed in is shattered – fractured by
violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered
a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready.
Perhaps beyond the fence she and Tobias will find a simple new life together,
free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties and painful memories.
But
Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old
discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the
hearts of those she loves. And once again Tris must battle to comprehend the
complexities of human nature – while facing impossible choices about courage,
allegiance, sacrifice and love.
Told
from a riveting dual narrative, Allegiant,
by No. 1 new York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth, brings the
Divergent series to a powerful
conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has
captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.
While the rest of the
blogosphere was completely freaking out about the impending release of Allegiant, I was wracking my brains
trying to remember what had happened in Insurgent...
Now I adored Divergent. It was one of my favourite
reads of 2011, and then Insurgent came
along and I was a bit disappointed, but I still had my hopes up for Allegiant. I can honestly say that for
most of the novel my feelings about it could be summed up with a simple ‘meh’.
I really loved the dual
narrative as I remembered Tris irritating me in Insurgent. I was also really interested in seeing more of Four’s (I
just can’t see him as Tobias...) internal personality after reading a few of
Veronica Roth’s Four-orientated e-novellas, and he didn't disappoint. He’s such
a complex character; complex in a way you could never see from Tris’ point of
view. The only emotion I felt while reading this novel was through Four’s perspective
and yet I still felt that most of the spark between him and Tris was missing
for me. I didn't even really care about them as a couple anymore, and I wasn’t
bothered about the city or the outside world or what everyone was hiding about
anything anymore. I just wanted to get through it without being spoiled.
Allegiant
couldn’t make
me care about what was happening in Tris and Four’s world. I felt no shock, no
horror, no disgust as atrocious acts by people in power were revealed or when
Tris or Four announced stupid plans. There was just nothing there. The ending
saved this novel for me. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone, but what
Veronica Roth did was brave, unusual and true to her characters and I finally felt something! In fact, I got a
little choked up over the last few chapters. The visceral emotion and vitality
of the characters was back for me and I was so, so glad that it ended that way.
I think I would have completely forgotten about Allegiant otherwise.
I’m so disappointed in Allegiant. I really hoped that it would
pull back from Middle Book Syndrome but it didn't for me and it’s such a shame
as Veronica Roth is such a wonderful writer. I hope she’ll bring me back in
with her next novel.
Thanks to Harper Collins for
sending me a review copy.
Sophie
Oh that sucks that you didn't feel it. I'm about two thirds of the way through, so haven't gotten to the Big Ending yet, but I really like it so far! But I did re-read the last chapter of Insurgent before I started, so I could remember what happened, which helped.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same, I had such high hopes but it's fallen way short for me - partly blaming the gap between the books and not having the time to re-read them. Great honest review though!
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