Veronica Roth’s highly anticipated conclusion to her trilogy, “Allegiant,” hit bookstores Oct. 22.
Fans of the Divergent trilogy will be very excited to read Roth’s conclusion to the series. Once they buy the book, they won’t be able to put it down and will end up finishing it in two days. The excitement, however, won’t be able to mask the sadness when readers know it’s going to be the last time they’re going to have adventures with Tris, short for Beatrice Prior, and Four, also known as Tobias.
In the first book, “Divergent,” we find that Roth has placed readers in an futuristic Chicago that is enclosed by a gate and split into five factions. Each faction contains people who show a certain human virtue. When a person turns sixteen, they take an aptitude test to help choose what faction they want to be in. It is fine, yet controversial, to switch from the faction you were born into another faction.
The basis of the trilogy revolves around the factions and how the populations try to change the way they live or keep it the way it’s always been. There is a fear present in each of the factions regarding the mystery of what’s outside of the gates because they are not allowed to leave. The society struggles to keep their crumbling world from falling apart but ultimately destroy each other along the way.
The “Divergent” trilogy can be compared to the very popular “Hunger Games” trilogy. The idea of society being split up into different sections for the good of the people, the one rebellious protagonist that sparks a change, sacrificing yourself for the people you love, and wanting to change the way society is present in both of these series.
“Allegiant,” unlike “Divergent” and “Insurgent” (the first two novels of the trilogy), is told in the perspective of both Tris and Four, alternating almost every other chapter. The back-and-forth mindset allows the reader to get an insight of what is going on in the two protagonists’ heads. The alternation is very helpful since the two preceding books never gave readers substantial information about what was going on in Four’s mind.
“Allegiant” continues the discovery of hidden secrets found in the second book and how the characters act toward them.
This book really was something else. There’s going to be times when readers will want to throw the book against the wall and just yell, moments when they will want to hold it up the sky as if it were Simba because it was so brilliant, and times when they will want to hold it to their chests and sob.
Despite it all, Roth’s writing skills never cease to amaze. Her ability to make this fiction book as realistic as she could goes beyond explanation. The series might be over but the impression these characters left will be on readers’ minds for years to come.
