Divergent Trilogy – Overhyped Or Worth A Read? 🤔

The Divergent trilogy is a young adult science fiction series. The series follows the story of the post-apocalyptic dystopian version of Chicago. In the post-apocalyptic version of Chicago, people are put into factions as per their personality traits and attributes in order to avoid wars and conflicts amongst people. Survivors who do not pass the initiation test end up being factionless, which basically means being homeless. Veronica Roth debuted with the first book in the series that was Divergent, and then went ahead and wrote the two other books Insurgent, and Allegiant, to complete the series.

Divergent Trilogy [Series] (Review)

The Divergent series has to be one of those rare trilogies that have garnered both love and hate equally. You either end up falling in love with the series or detest it to bits. However, my experience with this series was quite balanced and moderate. I experienced both love and hate while I was reading this series. If I have to draw a graph for this series, then I will simply draw a downward slope because with each book, the story gets crazier and simply ridiculous. Now, don’t get me wrong, because I loved the first installment in the series, which is Divergent. I actually loved that book so much, and Divergent has to be one of the most fun books I have ever read. It’s a page-turner, and if you are going through a reading slump, you should definitely give this book a try.

Although I found the whole world-building part a little unbelievable and off, it was still fun reading the book. Yes, I would definitely recommend putting logic aside while you are reading this series because things are pretty messed up in the world of Divergent, and not in a good way. Nonetheless, at least it’s fun. Also, you will instantly fall in love with Beatrice (Tris), who is the protagonist. I really did fall in love with her character. Now, it’s not like she is a flawless character. She has her own flaws, and at times I found her to be pretty self-centered and rude to some extent. But Tris is strong, courageous, and extremely brave. And she completely charmed me with her demeanor.

The male lead in the series is Tobias Four, who I found a little off in the beginning. I mean it’s not easy to like Four. It requires time and digging inside those layers of character building to bring yourself to like Four. Four is a complicated character, and he is the one who needs a lot of love and affection to keep him sane. Although he will never open up about that. I mean, Four is quite a quintessential male character. And you may actually like him because people do like such characters. However, for me, such characters don’t do much. So, I wasn’t that invested in Four’s character. But with Tris, I was just so invested and so in love. Especially in the final book Allegiant.

Tris starts with a bang. I loved her in Divergent. But in the second installment, which is the Insurgent, Tris loses her spark. Although there are numerous reasons for her to be going through a tough time, she has PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), and it’s only obvious that she won’t be her usual self. But what I didn’t like was her emotional dependence on Four. Insurgent is also the book wherein we get to see more of Tris and Four’s relationship. But personally, I loved their story more in the first book. In Insurgent, things just kept getting messy and unnecessarily stretched. However, I did enjoy reading Insurgent. It definitely disappointed me because I was expecting much more. But I found it engaging nonetheless.

Now, in the last and final book Allegiant, Veronica Roth chooses to give her readers both the perspectives of Four and Tris. So, in Allegiant, the POV keeps juggling between the two. Now, I feel this was a great idea. However, very poorly executed by the author. After a few chapters, both voices become the same. It’s hard to find any difference between the two perspectives.

Roth’s writing doesn’t help at all. It’s like she completely forgot that she was writing two very different characters. Also, Allegiant is extremely boring. I mean, the most amazing thing about the world of Divergent is that it’s interesting and fun. But with Allegiant, Roth killed the fun altogether. And I just don’t understand why she would do this. Because, Insurgent finished with a huge cliffhanger, and I picked up Allegiant the moment I finished reading Insurgent.

That’s how interesting it was for me, and I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. The cliffhanger was just way too strong. And yet, Veronica Roth completely messed it up with Allegiant. Honestly, I am still surprised at the way she destroyed the final book. The story had so much potential, and there were so many possibilities. Yet she chose to make the book boring with stupid descriptions of experiments and whatnot. Ugh! Writing this review is making me so angry right now; it’s not even funny.

"Divergent has to be one of the most fun books I have ever read." Share on X

The only thing good about the Allegiant is Tris. After seeing Tris being sad and burning in angst in the second book Insurgent, it was a breath of fresh air to see the brave Tris all over again. And I feel Roth did a good thing by showing us Four’s vulnerable side as well. I actually appreciated that. However, I would have been happier if Tris and Four weren’t fighting all the time. I mean, their endless arguments did annoy me a little. And don’t even get me started with the ending.

I was devastated when the series ended. Like, I had my very own conspiracy theories and ideas of how the series would end. But what Roth did to the series was completely unprecedented. To me, it felt like Veronica Roth was trying to prove a point. And I don’t know if the point is proven or not, but I know this much that the series is ruined. Well, at least for me, it’s destroyed. The author didn’t need to be so cruel after all. But I understand it’s her story, and it was her decision, and we just have to make peace with it.

After the final book Allegiant, Roth presented a related book called “Four: A Divergent Collection”. Four basically is a series of short stories from the perspective of the character Four. And I actually loved it. I think the author did a great thing by publishing this book because we get to know Four in a much better way. Because most of the series was written from the perspective of Tris, and although Roth tried to show us Four’s perspective in Allegiant she pretty much messed that up, which I already told you about before.

After reading the book Four, I could connect some dots and trace back to some points where I needed to know Four’s perspective. Veronica Roth also published “We Can Be Mended: A Divergent Story” in 2018, which is a short story that actually seems like an epilogue coming from five years after all the events that occurred in the trilogy. So, to put it in a nutshell, I loved the first book, “Divergent” in the series the most. The second book, “Insurgent” is pretty good as well. I liked that, all right. But the final one, “Allegiant” completely ruined the series and disappointed me beyond any measure.

So, do I recommend this series? Yes and no, both. It’s an interesting series. And the first two books are actually really fun. The mess happens with the final book. So, if you can handle a sad and disappointing climax, then you can actually give this series a chance. I mean, you never know, right? You may actually end up liking it. If you read the series, let us know your views on the same. We would love to hear from you. You can get the books here! 📖