alsoiread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abandonment
misslexisaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I'm so glad I read the books after discovering the series through the films. I am so in love with these books. The characters are so complex with real struggles, Roth does an amazing job of avoiding "good vs bad" and really explores the idea of good people bad choices and the difficulties of knowing what the right thing even is in such hard situations.
I cried my eyes out for the last several chapters!
I cried my eyes out for the last several chapters!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Homophobia and War
katelynnreads's review
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
ghostisalive's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
god, i don't have words. i'm happy i read such a great series however i'd be lying if i said i'm not sobbing over that ending :(( i love that it was something unexpected and not what everyone wanted just hate that it destroyed me
<3
<3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime
Moderate: Child abuse
melsage1823's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm going to keep this review spoiler free but let's just say that I have so many mixed feelings due to my love for the first book and dislike for the second book. It made what I hated about the second book way more enjoyable.
First I'll quickly get my spoiler free dislikes out of the way. I think this book should have been longer as I only cried at the major character death at the end of the book because it had been earned and developed. The rest of the deaths were so random when we had barley anytime with those characters. It felt like Roth was trying to trim down the cast for the sake of it.
Secondly I really disliked the random lengths of the chapters. I always say this but in order to make your book accessible its important to have the book printed in a large print and that the chapters should be an even length. Some of the chapters especially at the end could have been squished into one chapter definitely.
I like consistency in story and chapter lengths in my book and this certainly didn't have that.
I like consistency in story and chapter lengths in my book and this certainly didn't have that.
Finally I feel like the revelations in this book have been plucked out of thin air from the second book. I was shocked and the revelations but it felt really cheap to whip up this Bureau compound plot out of thin air.
Apart from that I found this book mostly an improvement from the mid second book in the trilogy. I was hoping that after the second book this third book would have me more enthusiastic and apart from the beginning it mostly kept me hooked.
I adore the pov switches between Tris and Tobias in this book as it helped bring forth a lot of impact to the story and made things less one sided. Looking back I think doing multiple Tris and Tobias povs for the second book would have made it better for me. It also helped develop Tobias and made him more than the typical love interest as we get to see his relationships and emotions more.
Now I actually loved Tris's controversial ending in this book as its such a contrast from the stereotypical we overthrew a government let's live in peace and celebrate.
Spoiler
In the words of Tony Stark even though this might get a bit spoilery not everyone gets a happy ending and that's ok.Finally the messaging was extremely heart warming. The fact that just because people tell you that you are broken doesn't mean you are. This is what I have had to learn in a world that hates me as a neurodivergent person. It's so important to share that difference is important and that Eugenics rhetoric is completely wrong.
Overall an improvement from the second book in the trilogy that will definitely leave you feeling emotional despite its flaws.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Murder, Death, and Grief
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The writing is better in this one than in the previous too, you can see the growth, but this one is far less exciting than Insurgent and Divergent.
This one is the farthest off from the movies and I think the book is slightly better than movie where I’d disagree with the previous two. There is more character development, a variety of characters, and I think where the characters end up is better than the movie. However, the lead up to it was very boring. I think the author could have done more to make the Bureau grander and more descriptive so it felt exciting rather than just another location that had similar living conditions.
With the switching POVs, I know why it was done, but I felt like there wasn’t a distinct change between Tobias and Tris. I had to keep checking which POV I was in because I couldn’t remember or tell the difference. Their thoughts tend to be very similar, even when they have different opinions. They process emotions similarly, sort of bouncing between several different emotions and thoughts so it never feels distinct and cohesive. I don’t have an issue with a variety of thoughts but it didn’t help trying to know which POV I was reading.
I will say, that although I have harsh criticisms, I cried a lot. I don’t know what it is but despite me not liking these characters all that much I still end up caring about them. What I will also say is there are elements in here that are uncomfortable because of relating to real life, like Pure genes and such, and I know it is a critical take, but I imagine some communities will take a bit of an offense to it. Aside from that which I feel some uncertainty about, I think Veronica Roth was ahead of the times in a lot of her writing. Given the queer rep, although not great by today’s standards, and disability rep, and not being fatphobic or such in the stories. I feel like a lot of authors at that time had so many incredibly offensive things in their books because it was more “acceptable” to be in books, but this one is a bit easier to stomach than most. That is not to disregard some other issues in the book, but I think it did fairly well in terms of comparison.
This one is the farthest off from the movies and I think the book is slightly better than movie where I’d disagree with the previous two. There is more character development, a variety of characters, and I think where the characters end up is better than the movie. However, the lead up to it was very boring. I think the author could have done more to make the Bureau grander and more descriptive so it felt exciting rather than just another location that had similar living conditions.
With the switching POVs, I know why it was done, but I felt like there wasn’t a distinct change between Tobias and Tris. I had to keep checking which POV I was in because I couldn’t remember or tell the difference. Their thoughts tend to be very similar, even when they have different opinions. They process emotions similarly, sort of bouncing between several different emotions and thoughts so it never feels distinct and cohesive. I don’t have an issue with a variety of thoughts but it didn’t help trying to know which POV I was reading.
Spoiler
Some major differences in this one to the movie were how immediate things became, like the development of the Allegiant with Cara and Johanna in charge, Uriah having a much bigger character arc, more characters in general like Amar and George, Tris’ mom’s journal and her journey and relationship with David, Tris being directly aware of what the Bureau had done and their involvement with Abnegation’s demise, Four being involved in a plan behind Tris’ back and them nearly breaking up, Tris going to the fringe, Peter wanting to reset, and just the entire ending being so different. Once again, I found Four to be less tolerable in this one than in the movies. Especially with telling Tris she was jealous of Nita because she’s pretty. I didn’t care for that.I will say, that although I have harsh criticisms, I cried a lot. I don’t know what it is but despite me not liking these characters all that much I still end up caring about them. What I will also say is there are elements in here that are uncomfortable because of relating to real life, like Pure genes and such, and I know it is a critical take, but I imagine some communities will take a bit of an offense to it. Aside from that which I feel some uncertainty about, I think Veronica Roth was ahead of the times in a lot of her writing. Given the queer rep, although not great by today’s standards, and disability rep, and not being fatphobic or such in the stories. I feel like a lot of authors at that time had so many incredibly offensive things in their books because it was more “acceptable” to be in books, but this one is a bit easier to stomach than most. That is not to disregard some other issues in the book, but I think it did fairly well in terms of comparison.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, War, and Mental illness
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Homophobia, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Suicidal thoughts
theespressoedition's review
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I could probably just write UGH and that would sum up how I feel about this book. But I'll go slightly more in-depth, I suppose.
Okay, it's been nearly ten years since I read this the first time, and I only raised my rating by a half-star. I think that's a pretty good indication of how I feel about this conclusion to the series. Ms. Roth - WHY?
There are countless people who haven't even read the trilogy who know what happens at the end because of how damaging it was to the original audience. Ground rules for writing a story: you don't kill the protagonist. If you decide to break those rules, do it in the second book, not the final. If you choose to break THAT rule, at least do it at the beginning of the book and not with only a handful of short chapters left to wrap things up, for goodness sake.
This book drags on. It really does. Nothing exciting or illuminating happens within the first three-quarters of the story. We learn about an experiment that has a ton of holes in the explanation. Tris and Four have the worst communication skills of all time. It's heavy and depressing and then SHE GOES AND KILLS THE MAIN CHARACTER AT THE END. There's no feeling of hopefulness as you end this book. The epilogue is pathetic. Four's response is pathetic. I can't find a single good thing to say about that finale.
I will never get over how scarring this ending is - and clearly, it didn't age well.
Okay, it's been nearly ten years since I read this the first time, and I only raised my rating by a half-star. I think that's a pretty good indication of how I feel about this conclusion to the series. Ms. Roth - WHY?
There are countless people who haven't even read the trilogy who know what happens at the end because of how damaging it was to the original audience. Ground rules for writing a story: you don't kill the protagonist. If you decide to break those rules, do it in the second book, not the final. If you choose to break THAT rule, at least do it at the beginning of the book and not with only a handful of short chapters left to wrap things up, for goodness sake.
This book drags on. It really does. Nothing exciting or illuminating happens within the first three-quarters of the story. We learn about an experiment that has a ton of holes in the explanation. Tris and Four have the worst communication skills of all time. It's heavy and depressing and then SHE GOES AND KILLS THE MAIN CHARACTER AT THE END. There's no feeling of hopefulness as you end this book. The epilogue is pathetic. Four's response is pathetic. I can't find a single good thing to say about that finale.
I will never get over how scarring this ending is - and clearly, it didn't age well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
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