This past Tuesday, the “Divergent” book trilogy by Veronica Roth came to a close with “Allegiant.” The series surrounds a dystopian society where every person is required to pick a faction, which is essentially a neighborhood, based off of their most prominent virtues. The values to choose from are selflessness, peacefulness, intelligence, honesty and fearlessness. The sequel closed with a gigantic reveal that the factions that have consumed the characters’ lives are actually just an experiment. “Allegiant” opens immediately after this development, where everyone is still confused and baffled by the truth.

The novel is written in a different format from the last two, which is very uncomfortable to read. While “Divergent” and “Insurgent” were written from the first person perspective of the main character, Tris, this concluding story takes on two different points of view – that of Tris and of her boyfriend, Tobias. In most stories with such point of view jumps, such decisions are made because the differing characters are in different places, à la “Game of Thrones.” In contrast, Tris and Tobias are almost never separated from each other, so oftentimes, the perspective jumps occur during conversations.
This breaks up the dialogue of the narrative and additionally makes it more difficult to connect with the characters’ emotions. Roth consistently has to tell the reader what the characters are feeling, rather than showing it, because she spends more time focusing on the constant switches than the further development of an amazing main character. By the end of the novel, it is revealed in a tumultuous plot turn why this perspective was used, but there were so many more effective ways of conveying the final message in a better manner. The repeated switching viewpoints feel like more of a cop-out on account of book production time rather than the best work Roth could have completed.

Though the first novel, “Divergent” was spectacular and interesting in its complex presentation of society, the later novels have begun to stray from their initial path. The entirety of the series focuses on reminding people to make decisions for themselves and promote a healthy cultivation of many virtues rather than just one. Despite Roth’s intentions, the culmination of “Allegiant” was unfulfilling. In an insane twist at the end of the book, a main character is killed off mercilessly, taking every single lesson that was exhibited in the book and disvaluing it. Throughout this series, the character has been working to reconcile his or her warring virtues, but in the end, the book throws away the personality changes the character has undergone for a completely unnecessary martyrdom.

For all the popularity of the young adult dystopian novel in this day and age, Roth most likely wanted to create a story that would be memorable because of its ending, yet the conclusion seemed unlikely and lacking in plot development. This coming year will hold the release of the “Divergent” movie on the silver screen, but after such an end to the series, its popularity will not hold up as well because the readers now know the tragedy that faces them ahead in the final film. It is always hard to live up to the acclaim of a first novel in the series, as Suzanne Collins experienced with the creation of “The Hunger Games” series, yet Roth’s “Allegiant” cannot even hold a flame to its predecessors. The world that was created in the last two books is ripped away, and with it departs many of its characters’ development, yielding an unfulfilling product.