A review by melsage1823
Allegiant by Veronica Roth

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. 
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.
In the words of Tony Stark even though this might get a bit spoilery not everyone gets a happy ending and that's ok.
 The first and second book especially the second book had been building up to this ending for Tris and I felt like she definitely had earned it. Just my opinion but if you dislike it thats completely valid. 
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. 
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