Allegiant by Veronica Roth | Rating: ★★★★★

"There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater."

Allegiant, the final book in the Divergent trilogy, is equal parts the best and the worst book in the series. It’s definitely an improvement from Insurgent, which realistically wasn’t even bad at all, but it was a much stronger addition to the series. Which is wonderful.

We’ve got all the familiar themes we’ve come to know in this futuristic, dangerous, Chicago: love, bravery, loss and more. We witness the warmth between Tris and Tobias’s relationship, in spite of any rocky roads, and we see the inclusion of the Allegiant.

And with this conclusion to the series, we see a shake up in narration.

Tris still holds her own as the series narrator, but her voice is moved aside to welcome Four’s thoughts. It’s nice seeing the world through his eyes as well, but it also signals of the changes to come in the series as the two navigate their dangerous world and attempt to leave Chicago for the outside world. My only issue with the two narratives is that they sound too similar and it often gets annoying.

I understand why Veronica felt she needed both to have POV in this conclusion, but I felt there could have been a much smoother translation when it came to who is who and all that jazz.

That being said…

Allegiant picks up right where Insurgent left off in regards to all the controversy and changes in the world our characters live in. We see a little interaction between various characters before the plot, and action, takes off and we come face to face with the death of one character who has been there from the start.

During this point, as they’re leaving, we see Tobias break Caleb out to bring him with and it’s a really funny scene. It’s definitely one stage of payback for the way Caleb Prior betrays Tris and overall is just a solid scene of darker comedy. I loved it.

(I also loved when, later in the book, Tris gets some revenge of her own and targets her brothers face. Tris is so badass, I love her.)

Characters we’ve come to know throughout the course of the trilogy, right off the bat, make the journey to leave Chicago and discover more about their world, as well as what resides on the outside. Nothing is as it seems and the world they know, the factions, is all — well — an experiment. A lie.

And it’s possible that Tobias isn’t divergent.

There’s a lot plot twists and turns and action in this one.

Fortunately, we get a small amount of information on these experiments, the society and a glimpse off who Tris’ mother was before the life the Priors had together in Abnegation. A lot of these plots may surprise you, others may not shock you even in the smallest bit — but it’s an interesting read and as usual, Veronica pens the perfect combination of suspense, romance and struggles. It’ll break your heart and make you laugh and make you swoon all throughout its pages.

As you know, due to spoilers or having already read the conclusion, this trilogy ends in the death of the first narrator, Tris. I’ll be honest that this rubbed me the wrong way when I heard of it, and nearly ruined the story for me, I have to admit that it was a satisfying end. Tris is brave and such a strong voice, I couldn’t see her going out any other way. Her final moment summed up who she is as a person and although it was heartbreaking, she went out in true Tris Prior fashion.

I cried like a baby the second she was losing grip on reality. I was mad and sad and frustrated and my poor little Fourtris heart broke into a million pieces. But it lead us to some jems: Tobias has a solid final few chapters, a change in their world, the sacrifice doing all it was meant to and more, Tris being free. I’ll miss Tris as if she were a friend, but you have to admire a girl as strong as she is.

While Tris is reunited with her mom in death, Four has the opportunity to start over again with his — and best of all, she seems to want the same.

A series that started with loss ends in it — but it shows us the ability to move on. Christina, Tobias, Caleb and the rest of these characters suffer the loss of both Tris and Uriah in Allegiant but are able to show their strength in moving on in their own unique ways. In our final chapter, we see the greatness bloom in Christina and Tobias’s friendship: both have lost their significant others in such a short amount of time, and since Tris was close to both of them there is some serious common ground between the two.

I wouldn’t take that in the romantic sense, but the two are very good for each other and I really enjoyed their final scenes in the book.

Overall, it had its flaws (re: rotating narratives, Tobias not quite acting like himself) but still remained a strong conclusion to this well loved series. I have a feeling I’m going to reread it in its entirety again soon.