Allegiant: My Spoiler Filled Review

So.. I finished Allegiant (book three in the Divergent series) and now I feel a very strong need to TAAAAAALK about it.  So, similar to other book series I have been obsessed with (cough, cough, Outlander, Harry Potter, Twilight, and maybe Everything I ever read...) I am going to give you a post on all my deep thoughts and feelings on the conclusion of the Divergent series, along with some GIFs, just to make it more fun.  So read ahead if you have finished the book.  Be warned... SPOILERS ABOUND.

******SERIOUSLY.  DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS LINE UNLESS YOU WANT THE ENDING RUINED*****

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****LAST CHANCE....****

Only people who have finished the book (or don't care to read it) still reading?  Are you sure?  REALLY SURE?  OKAY.  So, my feelings on Allegiant in one GIF:

I just... I can't even...

Okay, let's start from the beginning.  I spent the week leading up to the release rereading Divergent and Insurgent, and I was COMPLETELY into the series when Allegiant was released.  That kind of excited that usually only happens when you are a complete nerd who sorta believes all books are true stories and these people are you FRIENDS and you are FINALLY going to get to talk to them again and catch up , except you know this time will be the BEST TIME because it might be rough and emotional, but they will have like the greatest, happily ever after news at the end which will make it all okay.  And you aren't even embarrassed by your nerdiness...

And then I started reading, and I was completely addicted.  I actually loved huge chunks of this book.  I  thought the beginning was much more engaging that the beginning of Insurgent.  I know some people are complaining about how it skims over things, but I actually enjoyed the pace.  I was glad they didn't drag out the goal of getting out of the city and finding out what was OUTSIDE OF THE WALL.  We all knew they were going, just go. 

Then they get outside and I was a little... overwhelmed with how far the story steered off of it's original track...

I mean, yes, I wanted the story to move forward, but not at the expense of the original story we had been invested in for two books.  All of a sudden we are totally switching gears with a a Bureau of Genetic welfare and the new fight over genetically damaged versus genetically pure individuals... and I actually enjoyed it, but I felt like I kept reading hoping to get back to the central story.  The factions, the factionless, the war INSIDE the city. 

But as the book moved forward I was completely sucked into the new story (of course I was).  I actually liked the alternating points of view between Tris and Tobias, even though I frequently read the Tobias chapters and would forget it wasn't Tris.  I really liked their dynamic in the book, but I mean... I adore them.

How could you not?? 

So all in all, the first 75% of the book I would give a strong four stars... maybe five because I am a fangirl.  BUT THEN...

I saw where she was taking us, with the need for one person to sacrifice themselves for the good of the world.  I could tell Tris and Tobias were too happy... that all the "I will see you tomorrow" and "We get to start a life without constant war" and all that... I could FEEEEEEEL it coming.  But still, I hoped it was a red hearing.  I mean, surely. SURELY she is not going to kill one of them, right?  RIGHT. 

Wrong.

So Tris dies.  And as it's happening I am like "Surely, you aren't doing this..."  And you know she makes it through the death serum, and then she is shot, and then she is shot again, and then her mother is there...and I am like:

 BUT I STILL HOLD OUT HOPE.  Like a fool.  Because like, they didn't SAY she died.  So we flip back to Tobias, and he is off quickly wrapping up the faction vs factionless war, which in my opinion was WAY to easy to just quickly solve, only to have him come back to hear "Yep.  She died." 

...

THE MAIN CHARACTER DIED.  And then everything was just tied up.  Like, war sucks, people die. But it's brave to die for those you love, and it's brave to keep living.  Ooooookay.

I get it.  They didn't want to be the same as so many other series that have war and tragedy but miraculously the main characters survive.  I GET IT. 

BUT.

BUUUUUUUUT.

I feel like there was the much more obvious solution of LETTING CALEB DIE.  I mean, he needed to redeem himself!  AND he was also Abnegation!  AND now he has to live with the GUILT and Tobias and Christina have to live with the loss, and DAMN IT, IT IS JUST NOT OKAY.  I mean, she SURVIVED the death serum. WHY MUST A GUY BE ON THE OTHER SIDE WITH A GUN? WHHHHHY? What is the POINT of it??  If it's just to make people talk about the story, at the sake of the characters, I am just not okay with it.

So, that's it.  My feelings on Allegiant.  I am on the fence.  In a lot of ways, I loved it, but the end killed it for me.  I am okay with books ending sad, but this felt like it was sad for sads sake, not because there were no other options.  There were other options.  Ones that to me make more since.