Ain020596's Reviews > Allegiant

I may never be happy ever again.

The fun and laughter is over. I have finally read Allegiant, and I feel empty inside. Empty but accepting, and understanding.

This book makes Mockingjay feel like Dr Seuss. I had a few problems with it (mainly that it spelled out a bit too much for the reader, lacked finesse with the handling of themes, and was sometimes pretty predictable) but the character development was breathtaking, the plot was heart-pounding and since it's a young adult novel, I think Veronica Roth did a pretty damn decent job:)Most readers are going to love it.

You know what? Who gives a shit about the technicalities. We're all here crying (read: sobbing our eye sockets dry) because of that ending. Veronica whispered threats into my ear, aimed a gun at my head, looked away for a moment to lull me into a false sense of security before SHOOTING MY PUPPY IN THE FACE.


(this is basically me throughout the last half of the book)

Don't misunderstand, this book was great! READ IT NOW. But it's like half of me wants to worship this majestic object and the other half wants to fling the beast into the faces of my enemies.

Just like the characters in the book, the grief wipes away any deep philosophical mulling I might have about what happened in the plot. All that matters is the grief and the death in the end. Veronica makes that point pretty damn clear. War is never romantic. Period.

Hell, the lesson I've learnt from 1984, V for Vendetta, Hunger Games and Divergent? Romance and anarchy do NOT MIX, 0/10, WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. Going against your government? STEEL YOUR HEART AND VAGINA GIRL, TOO DAMN BAD. Because the subsequent grief... man. I'm still crying.



To all those currently reading the book, see you in hell, comrades. And to those crying and limp on their beds now, welcome my friends.


This part is for those who have read the book. I disagree with a hell lot of complaints made about this book, and this is why:
(view spoiler)[

Okay, straight up, I know most of us are upset (read: brutally slaughtered) by the character death at the end. However, I don't think that just because we hate the death doesn't mean that this book "totally sucks". Veronica Roth, unfortunately, does not owe us a HEA. I'm perfectly fine crying on my bed yelling "you HORRIBLE HORRIBLE WOMAN YOU RIPPED MY HEART OUT HOW COULD YOU" while sobbing into my pillow, but inside, I'm able to distance myself from my personal bias and see what this book is trying to say. Because of this, I just want to put my thoughts out there about what some people are saying.


The genetic project that created the genetically damaged people is legitimate

A dystopia is the complete opposite of a utopia, which is a perfect society. More fundamentally, dystopias form as a result of utopian societies gone wrong.

Looking at our world right now, it's easy to see the flaws in people. We look at the government and see selfishness. We look at people around us and see pride. In fact, everywhere we look, we see the flaws in humanity. And most of us are not at peace with it. During the American government shut down of 2013, the approval ratings for the republicans was an astoundingly bad 12%. We as a society see that selfishness, that irrationality and pride and it makes us angry. 47% of people said that congress would be better off if nearly every member was replaced. This is our real life response.

It is not difficult to see a society dedicated to getting rid of these traits. In fact, it's shockingly, astounding easy to. That's Veronica's point. That's her utopia going bad. The failure of the genetic experiment is her commentary on human beings non acceptance of human nature. We do not accept selfishness, stupidity, pride, as part of us. We want to get rid of it. We vilify it. And when faced with the chance to be rid of it, we would probably take it.

And by essentially playing God, in our rejection of the darkness in each and every one of us, we created bigger monsters.

The forming of the factions were a perfectly valid solution to the problem caused by the genetically damaged.

This is absolutely crucial to understand.

"This doesn't solve the problem at all! Doesn't it just breed MORE genetically damaged individuals? It doesn't make any sense!"

This train of thought is exactly Veronica's intention. Put yourself in the shoes of one of those who were not genetically damaged. Who were still perfectly imperfect. The government is going to close off those twisted human beings and basically breed them in large labs, letting them multiply?

Why not just kill them all?

After all, they aren't actually human. They aren't God's intention. They are unnatural. Inhuman. Man-made.

Or are they?

As a result of human's tampering, human beings have have created unnatural versions of themselves. The reason why the genetically damaged are prejudiced against and disadvantaged in this society is because they are regarded as less human. All those people in those factions, in the eyes of everyone else who knows of their unnatural state, are considered nothing more than experiments gone wrong to so many.

The Civil Wars were to eradicate the experiments.

However, human beings have a conscience. Most of us know, deep down, that the genetically altered deserve a chance to make their own choices. Society had made a mistake in playing god once, and suffered horribly for it.

Society would not make the same mistake again. The American Government in Allegiant would not make two wrongs in hopes of getting a right. And eradicating an entire generation of living breathing beings is most certainly playing god, and most certainly on par as wrong.

And if they could not kill the genetically damaged, they sure as hell would try and find a way where the genetically damaged could survive, thrive and find their own humanity. These subsequent projects involving factions were society's grappling apology. They are trying to fix what they have done. You do not get to erase the past.

Correlating with this thread, society would NOT try and correct these genes again. Firstly, you cannot CREATE genes when they have been removed. Secondly, to alter the genes AGAIN would be playing god, would be being foolish. Why would a society which has already suffered the repercussions of playing god repeat the exact same thing again? And if they could not fix them, and they could not kill them, what other choice did they have?

This entire book revolves around the question on whether the gentically damaged were less human, and it left YOU to decide for yourself.

How could they expect the genetically damaged to just fix themselves by creating random divergents?

This concept is more difficult to grasp because it requires knowledge in biology. Populations can fix themselves as a result of natural selection and selective pressure.

Basically, the genetically damaged are less likely to survive, while the divergent are more likely too. As a result, the divergents would be more likely to survive into adulthood, reproduce and eventually there will be a larger proportion of divergents as compared to the others.

The Divergent themselves crop up as a result of genetic mutation or genetic healing. Your genes can change. The world didn't start with one basic template for every trait that ever existed. The different hair colors, different physical traits today more likely began as mutations and then thrived under natural selection and selective pressure.

This should have been explained better in the book, absolutely.

The whole shebang with the memory serum raises a hell lot of important questions and are not supposed to be a pretty solution wrapped in a silk bow.

The conflict Tris faced with the morality of the memory serum is real. Is it right to remove one's memory? Removing one's memory brings with it dozens of ethical issues.

Does it remove Free Will? Are the memory-altered the same people as they were before then? Can you convict a person who has done a crime even if they don't remember what they have done? Who has the right to alter someone's memory? Is it playing God? Has technology gone to far today, and should society limit what it could do? Do the ends justify the means? And does the "Greater Good" even exist, or are things either just right or wrong?

These questions are for all of us to think about. It's not just a problem-solution thing here guys. We cannot look at it simply, or we'll be missing the point completely. It's not about leaving them to kill themselves: It's about giving them a choice to make their own mistakes and staying true to who they are. Personally I don't feel like Veronica Roth handled these themes with as much finesse as I would like, but for a YA novel I'll let it go.

Evelyn's decision to choose her son over everything she's worked for was monumental.

Again, if you look at it simply, you will not see what is trying to be said. For me, I think Veronica is trying to show you the power of maternal love (a very strong theme in Harry Potter as well), the complexity of humanity, the ability to change your decisions and actions, the effect of abuse and how the abusee can turn into the abuser, and finally the sharp contrast between Evelyn and Marcus.

Both Evelyn and Marcus are genetically damaged people, aka deemed less human or inhuman altogether. For Marcus, he is the perfect example of how the genetic alteration experiment has created monsters. Marcus is twisted and rid of humanity. He, we can easily deem as inhuman. But one man's twisted character does not determine those of his kind. Evelyn is just as genetically altered, and yet she overcame her genetic deficiencies. She made herself. Her genes did not determine her actions despite the fact that she was designed and made that way. Her decision to choose her son was not simply a cheesy act of love. It was an epic bitchslap to her genetic makeup. Evelyn defied her supposed destiny and carved out another on her own.

(Actually, I was pointed out in the comments that Marcus was Divergent, something I completely forgot! That just draws an even sharper contrast between Evelyn and Marcus which better questions just how much control our genetic makeup has over our actions. Evelyn, despite being inherently inhuman, was indefinitely more human than Marcus, who was altogether healed. This just shows us how evil can exist in any of us, just as good can.)

This raises one more big question. Is Caleb's betrayal justified because he was genetically altered? Are any of the actions of the genetically altered justified? Or were they just as much their choices instead of simply their genetic code?

More questions.

And finally, Tris' death. Hell on roller skates, mop my tears for a sec.

To be honest, I don't want to ponder too much about her death because its purpose feels highly subjective to everyone's personal interpretation to me. However, I feel like it was right that she died as who she was and not a shadow of herself. Tris' ultimate sacrifice for love and the greater good was who she is. If we were to have our Happily Ever After, we would have with us a false caricature of Tris. This is who she is, and we cannot deny our loved ones their own choices and their very nature.

I felt that her seeing her mother at the very end was absolutely beautiful, and negates any argument that says that she died meaninglessly. She died still swinging and living life true to who she is, and she reunited with her loved ones. Hell, this means she probably reunited with Uriah too in the end, and that makes me cry all the more harder.

Well these are my thoughts, feel free to comment below on your own! This is a support group my friends, we're all in this highly-traumatized, post-Allegiant state together:) (hide spoiler)]


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*Here lies the memory of late happiness, aka the life I had before reading Allegiant*


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I AM SO EXCITED



2013 CANNOT COME ANY SOONER!

*Edit:*

It's already 2013! WHERE IS MY COPY? We don't even know the title! WHAT IS THIS HELL?? WHY DO YOU FORSAKE US VERONICA???

WHYYYYYYYYYY??



*Edit*



THE TITLE IS HERE.



I LOVE IT! And I'm so bloody excited! AAAIIIIIYEEEEE--



*Edit on 20/10/13*

TWO. MORE. DAYS. GUYS.

Let us form a circle and dAAAAAANNNCEEE!!!