Happy Monday everybody!

Today is time to do another book review, the final and BEST Divergent Trilogy book: Allegiant. I’ve seen reviews saying it was an excellent book to others saying it was the worst book ever. I think is one of those controversial books. It doesn’t mean is bad is just different than usual so the people tend to react in more diverse ways. For me was amazing and I’ll explain more later.

The story starts in the same place where it ended in Insurgent. Edith Prior video was shown to everybody to see asking to let the Divergents to go out of the city and save the populations from outside the fence. They face an immediate problem with Evelyn and the factionless gain the power over the weapons to control the population. At the same time a new group of rebels try to take down Evelyn and reestablish the Factions again as well and to let some Divergents out of the city – AKA Tris, Tobias & co. – to see what is behind the fence, they are called Allegiant. They face a bunch of problems to be able to escape from Evelyn and to finally see what has been hidden from them their all life.

On a small curiosity, I read the book in Portuguese and in the translation was lost a big part. I haven’t realised yet the sense of the book name and only now as I write this review I search a bit to get the names right so we can talk and understand each other. And I was searching for the name of the group lead by Johanna Reyes and Cara. For my biggest surprise in English – and original name – is called Allegiant the same name as the book so the title makes sense but that doesn’t happen in Portuguese. The book name literally translated is “Convergent” and the group led by Johanna is called “Loyal”. The meaning of the name (loyal and allegiant) are related and was drastically changed because probably there isn’t a specific word in Portuguese to do a literal translation but the relation with the title is lost in the process. Sorry to border you with this but is just a small curiosity about the translated editions.

This is the must beautiful stories I’ve ever read! And I don’t mean amazing, lovely or awesome, I mean BEAUTIFUL! Is such heartwarming despite all the sadness. Veronica did a great job with the end, she was capable of bringing closure to the readers – at least she gives to me – after such shocking ending. She wasn’t scared to leave the usual happy ending everybody expects to break us down and do such emotive finally. So if you still need to read this book – which is probably no one I came later to the party – is mandatory to have a big box full of tissue papers because you are going to cry like a baby.

Now in an overall view of the book, was interesting to finally know what is behind the fence and the back story of the factions and other characters as well. It made me sad although to know they kinda live in the same world as we currently live in just with other problems. Also, a nice detail was the fact of Tris & co. didn’t know the meaning of some words they never heard before and made me think there are still people on Earth in the same situation as they were so the books are about a different world not so different from ours – was it too confusing?? Hope not!

This book for a change is written in the perspective of Tris and Tobias and was amazing to finally be inside of Tobias’ head for a change and to know his deepest feelings. I couldn’t avoid  switching the little voice in my head to a deeper one which I believe was – for me – his voice all the time but I never realised. It was a great experience to read a story in set in the same timeline and apprehended from two points of view.

Also, with the last chapters I’ve just realised the story was about Four the whole time. Tris was the protagonist in Divergent and was great to see her grow up and become an amazing, strong and pure woman capable of lead and make wise decisions. But when we start to know more about Tobias we see Tris is the only one capable of changing him to be a better person to eliminate the pain from his heart and the men his father created. And when I started reading the stories of Divergent the fourth book, Veronica starts by saying she originally intended to Divergent be about Tobias but wasn’t able to continue so she changed for Tris and that way she made an approach to Tobias leaving Tris story where she was already grown up and able to take care of herself. There is a time when Tris stops making bad decisions and feel insecure about herself and that time is when we start fully realising is time for Tobias to grow up more.

SPOILERS!!!
This part of the post is when I’ll go deeper into some details that contain major spoilers. You have been warned!

I knew from the start she was going to die. Unfortunately, I had it ruin for me but one thing I said was I don’t care if that happens if it is well justified and it was. The point of sacrificing yourself is to do it to show you love the other person. The same way Natalie sacrifice herself for Tris survives and end the simulation. With that act, she died showing how much she cares for Tris and rather give her life instead of his daughter one.

I was scared she died by the serum. If there was a good way for her to die it should be with bullets and fighting for what was right. I also was scared if Tris was the one entering back to the city and Tobias was the one keeping in the complex and watching everything from the monitors and watch the moment Tris died with him incapable of doing anything to stop it. It didn’t happen that way but was quite similar they weren’t together and he only knew it when we got back to the complex. Poor Tobias.

I also read online the sex scene from the Insurgent movie would only happen in the third book which is a lie. They have an intense and romantic moment before Tobias goes back to Chicago but nothing else happens and thank god because it would be done in such preacher and not realistic at all. Since the simulation they didn’t have the time and opportunity to do it, after all, was the first time for both it wouldn’t be fair if was done before Tobias went to Chicago and Tris probably losing his brother. It wouldn’t be the time. So I’m thankful it didn’t happen, was the best choice. Although I was very curious how Veronica would write it.

End of spoilers!

For me, Veronica wrote three different books all related to each other. Divergent was a love story, filled with romance and was the time to know this “new” Chicago and the Factions. Insurgent was violence, war, betrayal, lies and not much love. And Allegiant changed up once again introducing the two point view story and was a mix of the previous ones, again war and only some small romantic chapters but with full on descriptions to let the reader know this actual world they live in outside of Chicago and the Factions.

Also, she starts the books quite softly to let the character breathe – and the readers as well – and connect to each other, sometimes is a bit exhausting but is so worth it. If Veronica just jumps into a fight scene straight away in the beginning it would be nerve wracking and we would be trying to learn new information but at the same time worried about the characters we all love.

The only disappointment I had was the story of the others characters. She tried, to sum up in the end but there were a few of them they never talk about them anymore and I would love to know more about one of them was Myra I really thought she would be found outside of the fence. In Insurgent Tris and Christina talk about her but they say no one knows where she is. They are just some details to satiate my curiosity – after all, I have a part of Erudite inside of me.

So, in the end, I don’t have any down notes to Veronica’s writing, I loved the book and I totally understand her choices throughout the story and I think they were the best. I’ll definitely buy her new book Carve the Mark, for sale on January 17th.