I finished this book some time ago, but I was so tired of being mad about it that I have put off this review. This a garbage book, ending the series on a low note.
Throughout the previous two books, the story was told through the perspective of Tris, the most special snowflake that ever snowflaked in a snowstorm. In this novel, having run the well dry of shallow drama, Roth alternates between Tris’s viewpoint and that of her boyfriend, Four. His personality is not really distinct from hers, so the only advantage here is to be able to place them in different places and times, thereby increasing the world building possibilities. As with the previous novel, it is difficult to get a good grasp of time passing, and a lot of political machinations and disasters occur without anything being even remotely interesting.
The characters remain shallow, with no evident growth, still mired in guilt and demands about trust and loyalty. There is a lot of nonsense about genetics and conspiracies and it is all just such a sterile mess. I am so disappointed. I really liked Tris in the first book, and thought she had a lot of potential as a character, but the characters remained so shallow and boring. I don’t know what else to say, but blergh.
I’ve heard many people complain about the last book, so I’ve opted not to even start the series. Still, I’m sorry you had such a disappointing experience.
I knew it going in, so there was nobody to blame but myself.
This review, particularly the snowflake bit, made me laugh-snort. I couldn’t even finish this, so thanks for taking one for the team.
I finished out of sheer obstinacy, but my primary thought once I was done was that they were all competing in an asshole contest. There are no winners in an asshole contest. My head-Oprah just kept saying “YOU’RE an asshole, YOU’RE an asshole, EVERYONE’S an asshole.”
Her big sacrifice at the end? I don’t even think she even needed to do that. I remember thinking in my head,”wait you’re going to do what because of reasons why now?”
EXACTLY. There were no whys for anything, except to demonstrate Tris’ rightness and nobility and blah blah blah. It was infuriating.
There was no reason for ANYTHING to happen at the end. The whole thing about them breaking in to get the anti-serum and then getting it out to inject into the lucky few so they wouldn’t end up dead by mass-poisoning (my details are fuzzy but I think this is the gist of it?) IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY because the book already spent precious time explaining how the poison was going to be airborne or aerosolized or something and that’s how it was to be mass-distributed. But… the anti-serum couldn’t be delivered by the same?