Liz Loves Books.Com.

Be Aware: Whilst I do not exactly give away the ending this review could be said to contain minor spoilers. And possibly major ones if you read between the lines.

Blurb : Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Yeah. But no. Sigh. Pfft. Oh where to start. Darn it, I try and build up a reputation for being able to find the positive in everything and here I am actually struggling. So again I say Pfft.

Ok, having given myself a few minutes there are positives. I won’t have to read it again. Oops thats rather an ironic positive. Lets go for a more positive positive. The quality of the writing has not diminished. Ms Roth can still put words together into sentences and make them jump off the page. Great. Thats one of the things that made Divergent and Insurgent so compelling. She’s a damn good writer. Characterisation is (was?) top notch and the world is (was?) well imagined…thats why many readers have been holding their breath for the promised “stunning” conclusion of the series. Well job done. It WAS stunning. Although perhaps not in the way one might have hoped…

For the early part I kind of enjoyed it…I disliked the dual points of view especially because I worked out fairly quickly why we were going to need such a thing, and despite my hanging on in there in the hope that I was wrong – I was not. Which in and of itself left me uninspired – a writer of the calibre of Ms Roth really should be able to surprise me. After all she has done it once or twice over the course of the first two novels.  Then shortly after Tris and Co hit the “outside” world it started to annoy me..then I started to swear at it.

The whole “genetics” thing seemed illogical given what had gone before. It was also a terribly dull explanation considering the lead in and the inspired writing that gave us Dauntless, Erudite et al and how the ending of “Insurgent” hinted at the possibility of something unique and wonderful to come. The new characters were a bit wooden – possibly because, this being the last novel, there was nowhere really for them to go – so yes. Uninspired. Thats me.

Now I’m back to this. Sigh. Pfft. Disappointed.

Final thoughts.  Some people have called Ms Roth brave for the ending she gave us, others have called her cliched, others still have said she has betrayed her loyal following. Me I sit here. This is her story, her vision, her ending. So in that sense it is what it should be. For me though it felt wrong. I disliked it intensely and I’m not afraid to say so. Ms Roth has not betrayed me, she wrote her ending and its my choice to not like it.  I would agree there is some cliche, and I would also agree it was kind of brave….I also wonder if the movie trilogy (assuming they all get made) will have a different ending. I imagine it will…

Happy Reading Folks!