Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are no actually stated spoilers in this review, yet they can be inferred. I devoured the first two books in this series when they were released by Harper Collins 18 months ago. They are both wordy and overlong, but I loved them anyway. They were amateur, but that's okay. I enjoy plenty of "amateur" books. You know the ones, the ones where the author is untried, hasn't quite found her groove, isn't quite sure how to get her point across. One of the things I loved the most was that the typical formula in YA dystopian books was that the heroine is depressed in the third book and it's painful to get through. Why is that good? Because Insurgent was that book for the Divergent Trilogy. Tris was a wreck in that story. She made foolish decisions, put herself in danger, teased death at every turn. It was depression, hopelessness, recklessness. It was painful, but I was hopeful because if we saw that behaviour in book 2, then book 3 was something to be excited about. There would be growth. Then I was even more excited when I saw that this story was categorized as Teen Romance. So, not only would we see Tris' emotional growth, but there would be relationship growth for Tris and Tobias. After all, romances have "rules". They may be unwritten, but they are understood. And people who read romances are ticked if those rules aren't followed. I read the first 12 chapters of Allegiant before I pottered off to bed. I was enjoying it. Getting inside Four's head was a lovely surprise and it seemed that he and Tris were going to figure things out. Before I had a chance to come back to the book I started hearing about negative reviews for the book. One or two and I don't think much of them. But that number was rapidly rising as my morning continued forward. While at the grocery store I stopped before the wall of hardcovers and couldn't stop myself from nabbing one off the shelf. I thumbed to the epilogue, skimmed enough to tell me what was going on, put the book back on the shelf, and then my emotions warred between anger and hurt. Miss Roth broke one of the cardinal rules of romances. And she broke my trust. I don't care about realism. Life is emotional and sucks as it is. A story can be written where it's realistic in some areas, yet still allows us to hope in others. Quite frankly, life isn't worth it without there being hope. Can hope be argued in this story? Sure. Was the final scene poignant? Yes. I GET it. But that doesn't make it enjoyable. When I read a single book that drags my emotions through the mud, I want a payoff at the end. Something to make it all "worth it". Well, that goes triple when I'm dragged through a trilogy. As a reader, you're waiting for that moment. That payoff. Those words that leap off the page as if the author is saying, "See? You just had to trust me. I made you sad and hurt and ache before, but it's all worth it! See? See!" Yeah. This book? Not worth it and makes me feel as if I wasted my time rereading Divergent and Insurgent this last week. Wasted my time being excited for MONTHS for Allegiant to come out. Wasted my breath when I told my family and friends about this series. And I never want to feel as if I wasted my time on a book. Do I always like the final installment in a series? No. I can name several where I wasn't thrilled with how a series ended, but Allegiant trumps them all. If you want realism, look out the window and at the world around you. I returned my Kindle copy before getting past chapter 12 and I sure as heck don't want my daughters to read this. I'm deleting the other two books. I will not be watching the film when it's released in the spring. And I will not buy or read another book by this author.