Allegiant
Veronica Roth, 2013
★ 3.60 from 1.2m ratings on Goodreads
In a fractured city, Tris and Tobias face what loyalty costs when courage stops looking heroic and becomes the work of getting through a day. Heavy with grief and questions of identity, it moves at a dramatic pace, with moments of quiet serenity between the strain.
Feels like grief, serenity and hope. About death, society and identity.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you have followed Tris and Tobias and want a story that takes their loyalty and courage seriously. Be aware that the ending has sharply divided readers, with many finding it disappointing or confusing, and some frustration with the romance and world-building.
Why read it
It is worth reading now for its unheroic view of bravery and its willingness to sit with grief, loyalty, and the cost of choosing a side.
A page from the book
The kind of courage no one hands out medals for.
There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.But sometimes it doesn’t.Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life.That is the sort of bravery I must have now. What readers say
Readers are sharply divided. Many felt heartbroken and furious over the conclusion, calling it disappointing, confusing, or betrayed; others found it raw, moving, and brave, appreciating the emotional risk even while acknowledging frustration with the romance and world-building.
Veronica Roth.Roth wrote Divergent while an undergraduate at Northwestern and sold the trilogy before she graduated.
Books that feel like this
More by Veronica Roth
Divergent
Veronica Roth, 2011
A girl raised to put others first joins the faction that prizes bravery, and learns how much of herself she is willing to risk.
Insurgent
Veronica Roth, 2012
In a city divided into five virtues, a young woman hunted for being all five must decide what she will sacrifice to stop a war.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Allegiant for me?
- You may like it if you have followed Tris and Tobias and want a story that takes their loyalty and courage seriously. Be aware that the ending has sharply divided readers, with many finding it disappointing or confusing, and some frustration with the romance and world-building.
- What is Allegiant like?
- Heavy with grief and questions of identity, it moves at a dramatic pace, with moments of quiet serenity between the strain. Feels like grief, serenity and hope. About death, society and identity.
- What should I read after Allegiant?
- If you liked Allegiant, try Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins), The Maze Runner (James Dashner) and New Moon (Stephenie Meyer).
A taste of the feed
What it costs to stop believing your own species deserves to survive.
I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despite being one myself. I think that Peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences.
Mockingjay · Suzanne Collins
The faces above him are only boys. His heart doesn't get the message.
And then, as if the lens of a camera had sharpened its focus, the faces cleared. They were boys, all of them—some young, some older. Thomas didn’t know what he’d expected, but seeing those faces puzzled him. They were just teenagers. Kids. Some of his fear melted away, but not enough to calm his racing heart.
The Maze Runner · James Dashner
Grief keeps its own clock, and it does not keep good time.
Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.
New Moon · Stephenie Meyer
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