“Told from a riveting dual perspective, this third installment in the series follows Tris and Tobias as they battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and their selves—while facing impossible choices of courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.”
The characters were back to being perfect fits for the story, leaving behind the angst that we saw in ‘Insurgent‘. Their actions and beliefs made sense. I did lack an emotional connection to them. I enjoyed seeing their relationships play out, even if there was the slight hint of a possible love triangle. I like to think about where the stories of these characters could go. This is also the first installment in the series that is dual perspective.I really struggled with that, throughout, as Tris and Tobias‘s voices were so similar to one another that I would forget whose POV I was reading.
The atmosphere has definitely been my favorite part of the series. This installment answers all the questions that one could have about it. That being said there was info dumping galore. It was a lot to take in and to understand that information. That does make it immersive, but at the same time, it can make the reading experience tedious.
I was confused by the writing. There were bits that were very emotional. Other times it was clunky. It lacked clarity and I was confused by what the character was saying and what they meant.
The plot really surprised me. The main theme is systematic oppression and introducing it to young readers. I never picked up on that as a teenager, but with my current knowledge, I could not help but see comparisons to injustice I see in our own world. This is also a book that teaches you to think for yourself and not just accept things as they are. I do think those are important themes and definitely worth picking this book up as an adult or introducing it and having conversations with the young readers in your life.
I do believe the book did go on a little too long. It was a lot to take at times, but overall I was pretty gripped and wanting answers to everything that we have learned so far in the series.
The characters went back to the way they were in the first book with their motives being believable. There are full circle moments and I really understand how the character arcs got there.
I had fun reading this one. I do think it had some flaws being clunky and confusing, but the story itself made sense and was a rather immersive one. It is definitely worth the time to reread this book if you read it back when it first came out.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Izzy Reads 