Allegiant by Veronica Roth [Review]

Something went terribly wrong with this series and that something goes by the name of Allegiant. Never before have I been so grief-stricken by the complete self-destruction of a series, but then never before have I read a book series that went into such an illogical tangent.

Alarm bells for Allegiant went off when I heard it would be narrated by both Tris and Tobias. All I could think was "Why? Why are you doing this?"

Now this isn't an inherent issue with books that have more than one narrator, this is an issue with changing up the writing style of a series at its conclusion. It seemed, at the time of the announcement, so unnecessary. If you start a series with one narrator, you stick with one until the conclusion. Simple.

That Tobias is stepping up to narrating duties gives you a hint, pre-Allegiant, that Serious Business is happening. Do I still feel the dual narrative was unnecessary, post-Allegiant?

Oh God yes.

There are many reasons the split perspective didn't work. The simplest is this: it was very difficult to tell the difference between Tris' and Tobias' narrative. 

Sure, Roth put the names of the narrating MC at the start of the chapter, but without that marker, there is literally no discerning difference in their voices. One chapter I was convinced we were following Tris' POV and only realised otherwise when the narrator mentioned their parents Evelyn and Marcus.

The inability to tell the difference between Tris and Tobias made Allegiant very confusing to read. Plus, it highlighted very poor characterisation that went unnoticed in the previous two books. There really are no quirks or idiosyncrasies to Tobias, or any other character for that matter (except, perhaps, for Tris). Surface details are all you get, which makes for a very dull cast.

So, the dual perspective was a big no-no and clearly didn't exist to add layers or enjoyment to Allegiant. It was a very obvious Plot Device, so contrived that it never sat naturally within the story arc. It also gives the reader an insight to Tobias' inner workings that effectively destroy him and any positive perceptions of him.

Yes, Tobias goes from being a competent eighteen-year-old with four fears, the ability to be a successful leader, to a bumbling eleven-year-old who hides behind the skirts and legs of bigger, more confident people. He crumbles throughout Allegiant into a pitiful shadow of his former self, believing every lie he is fed without question and getting narky with Tris every time she calls him out on his questionable choices.

So it comes as no surprise when their relationship crumbles too. In one sense this is a positive. Tris and Tobias act maturely and discuss the matters bothering them carefully so they can move beyond them. But, the issues that their relationship keep snagging on come up time and time again. There are trust issues, honesty issues, issues about respect ... the list goes on. By the middle of Allegiant I was convinced they were a bad fit for each other and that they should call it quits. Gone is the organic relationship from Divergent. Gone are the two respectable characters who keep each other sane. In their stead are two strangers with a huge chasm between them. And it is a true shame, and it takes away from the way Allegiant ends. 

But what of the plot and explanation for Divergence/factions? How does that pan out?

Badly. 

It is pretty clear from the start that Roth hadn't finished building her dystopian world before publishing Divergent, because the explanation for factions is so ludicrous it could only have been made up on the spot. It is safe to say that Divergent and Insurgent both focused on psychology as opposed to biology, so why Allegiant sees the sudden excessive appearance of genetics will remain a mystery to me. It is so unnecessary, so riddled with plot holes that it over complicates the series and makes all we've learned prior to Allegiant redundant. 

The reasoning behind the experiments/factions is nonsensical, even within the realm of sci-fi. It is confusing. For a huge portion of Allegiant I didn't understand what the characters beyond the city limits were yammering about. Their research did not make sense. Nothing made sense, which is so damn upsetting because Allegiant could have been something. It could have been the defining moment of the whole series, if only Roth had thought out a darn good reason for factions and seclusion from the off-set. 

Instead we get a world riddled with gaps, poor explanations, built on illogical choices. 

And let me tell you this. It fails. It falls flat on its face. And, as the reasoning behind factions fails, so does the entire plot of Allegiant, rendering all the decisions the characters make from thereon in ridiculous, wasteful and pointless. 

Allegiant could have been fantastic. It could have examined eugenics carefully, cautiously and warned us all of the dangers that come along when you tamper with human nature. It could have been clever. Instead, it assassinates its characters, dismantles its world and produces some of the most ridiculous reasoning known to man.

Avoid, lest you ruin the series for yourself, forever.

2/5 stars