Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Allegiant by Veronica Roth // And a PSA Regarding Spoilers





First, a public service announcement:
PLEASE PUT SPOILER WARNINGS WHEN YOU ARE SPOILING BOOKS ON THE INTERNET. The big twist in Allegiant was SPOILED for me because someone DIDN'T PUT A WARNING before writing about it. Granted, it was in a comment, but there was no disclaimer in the post like: "You can write spoilers in the comments." Thus, I glanced at the comments and THERE IT WAS STARING AT ME. Not even a tiny spoiler alert. NOTHING. Not cool, Miss Commenter, not cool. SO for the good of everyone involved, please PLEASE REMEMBER TO PUT SPOILER WARNINGS especially when they involve huge twists like the one in Allegiant. Or I will find you and find out which book you are reading next and tell you EVERYTHING about it. HA.

Okay, enough of that. But if you've read Allegiant, you'll understand my frustration. And spoilers are bad no matter what.

On to the book.

I don't care what people say about this book, or all those hashtags like #AllegiantBrokeMe and whatnot - Allegiant is, probably, my favorite book of the three in the series, or at least in a tie with Divergent.

After finishing this book, my respect for Veronica Roth as a writer and as a person increased by a lot. There are multiple reasons why but the main ones are these: risk taking and strong morals.

A kind of twist like the one in Allegiant only comes up every so often in this kind of literature. It is the most unexpected  thing she could have done, and because of that I highly commend her for taking that king of leap.

On the other hand, it is not that unexpected. (Highlight for spoilers.)
Given Tris's character, and what we've seen of her, self-sacrifice is a huge part of who she is. Tobias keeps trying to protect her from that part of herself, and only when he realizes that he doesn't need to protect her and can let her go, does she make the greatest sacrifice. IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE.


Also, I love that Veronica Roth's morals come out. My favorite part is when Tris and Tobias figure out that love is a choice. You can fall in love, but to stay in love requires you to make that decision and that effort. This is something I have believed for my whole life, and to see it reflected in a book makes me love that book so much more.

Though I loved this book, there were some parts that weren't the greatest.
Firstly, the alternating POV between Tris and Tobias. It's cool to hear the story from Tobias's POV, but for me, I couldn't find a huge difference between their narrative styles. Tobias's was maybe a little more terse and less descriptive and lyrical, but it was hard to identify who was speaking based on style alone.
(Highlight for more spoilers.)
Of course, there was no other way that Roth could have done it, given Tris's death. BUT I'm not even sure if she was planning to kill Tris from the beginning, because if she was, I would have thought that she would have done the dual POV for all three books. It would have been more consistent that way, and given away even less about the twist.

Secondly, Tris and Tobias KISSED A LOT. It was a little bit too much. Every time they met (except when they weren't on the best of terms), they would kiss passionately. The rest of their relationship was realistic and raw. But the KISSING - it was overdone.
But that's not that big of a deal and can be overlooked.

Overall, I really liked Allegiant. I know that there is another book coming out called Four, with short stories about Tobias's life before Tris, and I'm not sure if I'm going to read it. I may read it some time in the future, we shall see. Allegiant had a fine sense of completion, and is a fine place to stop for now.

Have you read Allegiant? What did you think? Feel free to put spoilers in the comments but make sure to WARN so nobody else gets spoiled! :)

~Sophia

3 comments:

  1. Omg, I'm so so happy you liked it! AFDSKAJD;SA THIS BOOK IS MY FAVOURITE. I couldn't be happier with it and it breaks my heart that so so many readers loathe it...and bash it. I hate the book AND author bashing. It's so wrong. :( The twist at the end made complete sense to me and I will love the author forever. Seriously. I'm floored at how good that book was. *flails around in happiness because you liked it*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YAY! I'm glad you like it too! :)
      You know what, though? I think that us being writers and not just readers helps, because then we can appreciate risks that writers take (like Allegiant), and not just base it off of pure emotion. OF COURSE my reader brain went AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! But that's just half of the equation, and sad emotions doesn't necessarily mean that I won't like the book.

      Anyway, I'm glad to see you agree with me on this one! :)

      Delete
  2. I'm so glad you read it!
    ALLEGIANT SPOILERZ

    One thing I didn't like was Divergence equalling normal. Divergence was the cool thing!
    And all that scientific and world discoveries in one book was too much for me.
    I do respect Veronica Roth so much more since she did that. It caught me totally off guard. In kid's books the main characters are supposed to be safe! That's the ONE assurance! I was pacing in circles trying to reconcile it with my feelings days afterward. (that sounds like I'm okay with it. ha)
    My thing I do whenever a much-anticipated book comes out is (until I've read it) I don't go anywhere near that fandom. It's been exactly a month since the last Mortal Instruments book came out, and I've yet to read it. I haven't been spoiled yet!

    ReplyDelete

Book discussions make the world a better place! Write me a comment - I respond to each and every one, I promise. So check back!

(YES! I LOVE TAGS and I do them! So tag away! But no bloggerly awards, though, like the Liebster or the Sisterhood of World Bloggers. Thank you!)