Allegiant starts off with one the most visually impactful scenes of the entire series (which is a little weird to say about a novel, but it works). We know that the city is a rough outline of what present day Chicago once was, and we can see it in the buildings and the trains. As the group drives beyond the gate, Tris can see the shadow of the past in the crumbling buildings hiding in the trees and the pavement worn down by roots and weather. There were once humans here, but they are definitely long gone.

Beyond the scenery and - of course - the big reveal of the city’s secret, it was the characters that really stood out to me in this book. Tobias continues to be one of the most intriguing characters. I think it was a fantastic development and change in character motivation for Tobias’ fear landscape to change him into the monster he’s feared for so long. In fact, there was a point in the story where Tobias got angry, like scary angry, and I worried for a second that he would end up killing Tris in a fit of rage. Luckily, that didn’t happen, or I would have rioted.

However, Tobias isn’t just getting angrier. That would be too simple of a plot line for our complicated hero-adjacent boy. We also see him caught in the gray areas between groups and struggling to do what he thinks of as right.

One moment in particular that stuck out in Tobias’ narrative was when he realized his actions had inadvertently killed Uriah. The devastation he feels is almost palpable. Maybe it was just a misstep in the writing, but it tells you a lot about his character that Tobias was more fearful of facing Uriah’s family than any of the fighting going on around him.

I think having characters reflect on what they thought was right but ends up being hurtful is important for their growth and realism.

Another character whose story line was enriched in Allegiant was Peter. First, we come to know him as an evil initiate. Then, we learn he’s just looking out for himself and will do whatever he can to make sure he’s ahead in life. We see a glimmer of hope for the cruel boy in Insurgent, when he does what Tris thinks is the most Dauntless thing by telling her the time.

I thought Peter was included in the story to show how people just looking out for themselves can become cruel or just apathetic. Then, he was given so much more when Roth gave him his chance at redemption. Peter has the chance to just leave the city behind, but he asks to take the memory-wiping serum. More than that, but he want to know nothing about his former self, to become an entirely new person.

Last in our remarkable character line up is Tris herself. I really felt like Tris came into her element in this book. She was constantly learning from those around her and skeptical of every viewpoint presented. She toiled with the grief and stress of everything that had happened over the last two novels.

As readers, we learn that the thing that makes Tris special is that she’s completely normal, near exactly like us. This is the book where you’re really able to see the good and the bad in all groups. From the corrupted factions to the factionless to the people running the city behind the scenes, there’s merit in almost every view point presented. There is also their belief in what they’re doing is right. Tris has the empathy to see the world through different eyes and consider different options, which is basically a super power in a world of genetic handicaps.

I feel like my notes for this one are really general, but that comes from being so immersed in the book that I really only stopped to take notes when I had to stop reading for one reason or another. In fact, I didn’t take any notes for the last 100 pages because I was just engrossed in the story.

In this last book, Roth really drove home some of the major themes of the series without making it too heavy handed. It really laid out the struggle of finding your identity and belonging,

from the abolished factions to the GD or GP.

We see how the labels can divide, but also how they provide community. While I wish it had been a bit better paced, Allegiant was a satisfying end to Tris’ story.

Starting Insurgent was starting into new territory. While I knew the story of Divergent (though not as well as I thought I did), I have all sorts of information to discover in this new volume. One such piece of information was the exact specifications of Tris and Tobias’ relationship. It might have been addressed in the first book, but this was when I first examine the age gap between the two. At first, I was a little put off (and maybe I still am), but I decided it wasn’t much of an issue since their society treats you as an adult by age 16. Similarly, they’re both in Dauntless, where I can see a similar relationship timeline to those who join the U.S. armed forces.  

Insurgent allows the first look at the factionless as a legitimate group of people. The factionless exist as the city’s lowest class and they’re described as essentially homeless. They were the people those in factions did not want to look at and, I bet, no one understood the scope at which that population had grown. Thrusting that many people into poverty has to be a surefire way to create some government-toppling motivation. I also appreciated how the book took a look at how revolutions can get extreme and trade one evil for another.

Roth continues to give readers little hints that something isn’t right. I don’t want to call it foreshadowing exactly because I never feel the same sort of stress as I do with other instances of foreshadowing. I may not know what to call it, but I do know that I’m a fan of Roth for doing it.

The specific instance in Insurgent that I love is the offhand way Tris says she thinks the bread tastes weird. Having grown up in bland Abnegation, you wouldn’t think it would be a problem. Then, we learn Amity is drugging their bread in order to promote peace among their people.

Another secondary character I wouldn’t have expected much from was Tori, the tattoo artist. I originally thought she was playing the part of the wizened wizard, a person that would guide our hero (Tris) but stay out of the primary fighting. However, she’s emerged with a quick wit and I would bet a quicker draw. Also, she arguably has the best one liners out of the entire series; not funny ones, the ones that cut people to their core and make them realize they’ve messed up.

As the struggle for power gets more twisted, so do the choices our heroic group has to make. There’s a lot of gray area they have to navigate and morals they start to question. When they hatch a plan almost exactly like what the Erudite did to the Abnegation in Divergent, they have to question if that makes it evil to begin. This made it feel like a warzone without having to gruesomely describe any carnage or bloodshed. However, it’s still overwhelming and heartbreaking when Tris does take in the casualties.

It appears no aspect of Tris’ life can escape this tangling, because her relationship with Tobias is also becoming harder to navigate. Sitting next to my weird feelings about their age, the rapid acceleration of their relationship to a very mature level is something that kind of irked me, but not enough that I couldn’t make sense of it. I ended up deciding it was the more logical way of living given their society as well as the war zone that’s more or less centered on them; they don’t just have to consider themselves in their relationship. I did have to wrinkle my nose at the behavior they showed towards one another at some points, but it clears up in a more or less good way (for their situation, at least) as the books continue.

As their relationship grows, readers also get a less perfect idea of who we think of as Tobias. Specifically, I’m thinking about how Tobias is so concerned with not letting the past rule him that he won’t even consider the possibility of Marcus actually having important information. He won’t even listen to Tris, who he’s differed to on a number of occasions as being the brains of the two (though, I would argue Tobias is the common sense, so it’s even worse that he’s acting this way).

The information we learn in Insurgent completely transforms the story I assumed we were getting in just reading Divergent. Nothing has a clear-cut answer and you feel the dire circumstances of the situation without it being over dramatic. Insurgent has drawn me entirely into the story Roth is telling. I am eager to know how such a complicated mess will resolve itself.

Before I begin, I must confess that I had read Divergent by Veronica Roth before. It was a high school wide assigned reading in the summer of 2011. I read it, I liked it, I didn’t read the rest of the series. It was the timing more than the book itself. It became a hit following The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which is precisely why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have. At the time, the stories were too similar; the only change I detected was how a person could choose their affiliation (factions) rather than being segregated simply by location (districts). Other than that, Roth’s trilogy didn’t strike me as special enough to pick up the rest of the series.

One - pretty basic - thing that I enjoyed on this second reading was how the characters referenced the past. Setting the story against a futuristic Chicago was an interesting decision, one that allows for the city to feel as expansive as its own country. Roth provided just enough detail that we could draw up mental images of the city, but it was also shrouded in enough history that it wasn’t like the city was an exact copy of its current state. It made the present feel like a distant past, one that the people of the future had forgotten.

I picked up on a number of things I probably would have skimmed over as a younger reader.

The one that sticks in my mind the most was the teasing of political unrest. Right there, on page 6, Roth tells readers the Erudite are stirring up public opinion. It was a small detail that let us know Tris did not cause the city to go into upheaval, and that the average citizen was aware of the tension in the city. I usually see dystopian stories where the group opposing the government is brewing in total secret when I don’t know if it could work like that in reality. 

I also enjoyed the diversity in Tris’ inner monologue. While you could say it was to underline her divergent nature, but I just found it realistic. In particular, I like how she noticed Tobias; she wasn’t hyper focused on him at all times, but did spend some time on him if something caught her attention. Speaking of Tobias, I also appreciated how Tris was shown as uncomfortable with intimacy. I would probably be freaked out by casual touch, too, if I were raised to only expect it in private between married couples. While her Dauntless friends (and enemies) may have ragged on her for it, I didn’t read the story as ascribing any value or judgement on Tris’ hesitance. I appreciate it being a simple fact with as much cultural value as Tris having blonde hair.

Additionally, Roth draws a valuable comparison between Tobias and Eric. They were shown as extremely similar, but there were the key differences of motivation and worldview. They portrayed bravery versus cruelty, pride versus understanding. In fact, I think the only character I can’t empathize with to some degree is Eric. It think he’s the only legitimately evil person.  

The last thing I want to touch on is this one line that I think was really important in understanding the Dauntless: “The point isn’t to become fearless.” It’s a common occurance to reduce groups of people down to some simplified versions, and it’s especially easy to do that to groups in novels. It’s been done to Hogwarts houses, Panem’s districts, and other segregations like them. However, this line explicitly denies that being brave is equivalent to being fearless. I also think that is was just a novel idea to include for the readers as well. I’m thinking particularly of the young readers that might draw strength from the books they read. My controversial opinion would be that if there were only one lesson from the series I could ensure would stick in reader’s minds, then I would pick this one.

As for now, I am pleased I decided to return to the Divergent Series. Now, that I’ve had the time away from The Hunger Games, I was able to notice the things that made it different and truly enjoy Roth’s novels. Roth’s realistic characters and event progression were able to shine as they should. I am eager to learn more about this previously abandoned story.