Disappointed: Too Many Unbelievable Instances

[April]

Were you as disappointed as I was? So many parts of this book just seemed unbelievable:

- After Tobias participates in a rebellion uprising, he gets off with a short probation. What government would respond that way?
- Tris and the other Insurgents are not treated as traitors by Evelyn with one simple lie? I mean, come on!
- Tris is able to easily forgive Tobias for his participation in Nita's rebellion... yet she is unable to forgive her brother's earlier misguided actions. I think she would've struggled more with the decision to forgive Tobias.
- Evelyn is so quick to give up her power within Chicago, and for what? Oh yeah, for her son that she abandoned and never reached out to.
- The Allegiants just show up at this government compound, and they are basically given free roam (unrestricted access) throughout the place without close monitoring?

I could go on and on with examples. It all just seems so unlikely to me. Your thoughts?

[Emma]

I will admit that I wasn`t the biggest fan of Allegiant, but it did have some good scenes in certain chapters.

[Lauren]

Nothing in this book was believable.

[Emily]

I definitely see your point, but I find that books and movies frequently suspend reality for the sake of plot. For instance, the Tobias thing- yeah, in real life, he'd definitely go to prison...but in real life he'd just be a regular person and not the lead male character of a book. Tobias is such a character that you kind of know he's not going anywhere/nothing's going to happen to him until the bitter end, since he's one of the characters that moves plot forward. Same with your point about Tris & co. It's unrealistic, but this happens a lot. Look at horror movies- it's nearly always unbelievable that characters would stay in that situation and not just bail, but they stay, because otherwise there'd be no movie.

Not saying if that's right or wrong, exactly, just something that I've noticed especially with lead characters in books. A lot of unbelievable things tend to happen to the leads, because they need to be around for usually the length of the series or book. All the same, these are valid points. It is unrealistic, even if it's necessary for plot.

The only one I don't really agree with is Tris forgiving Tobias. She didn't forgive him that easily- didn't she not talk to him or even hang around him for like, a couple of weeks? And yeah, she did ultimately forgive him and not Caleb...but, in my opinion, there's a big difference between what Tobias did and what Caleb did. Tobias hacked into a computer to shut off the security cameras. He shouldn't have gotten involved with Nita's plots, but he really didn't know about the bomb, and there's a good chance that even if he refused to shut down the cameras and be involved that Nita and co. would have moved forward anyway and set off that bomb. It just would have been a little riskier with the cameras on.

Caleb, on the other hand, literally delivered Tris to her own execution. He facilitated Jeanine experimenting on and torturing his own sister, and Jeanine had intended to kill Tris. That's kind of a lot worse than flipping the switch on some security cameras and being manipulated by some other person. What Tobias did was really unfortunate and he shouldn't have gotten involved, but it's not as bad as Caleb. Caleb knew Jeanine was going to kill Tris, and he was okay with that because he believed in Jeanine's ideas. Not to mention, Caleb is Tris' brother and Tobias is her boyfriend. Tobias and Tris' relationship is pretty deep and serious, no doubt, but I think there's a different level of trust between siblings, and it hurts even more and is more difficult to forgive when that trust is betrayed.

[Amanda]

The book basically ended with a handshake. I can't believe the government basically said, "sure, take our land. Do whatever you want." I was so disappointed. It almost seemed as if Veronica Roth was done with the series, so she came up with a quick, easy ending. :(

[Lauren]

A lot of stories - most, really - require some suspension of disbelief. Not everything, every little detail, is or has to be absolutely realistic or believable. It's fiction. However, most things, particularly if they are significant to the plot, should exist within the realm of logic - otherwise your story loses all sense of believability and credibility.

And let me tell you, there were times when I was reading the book that I seriously wondered if this was actually written by a 12-year-old. So many plot points were built on ridiculous non-logic that I would have thought they came from the mind of someone who had no sense whatsoever. The plot in this book was, frankly, unintelligent.

[ⓔⓜⓘⓛⓨ]

The end was a real disappointment. Evelyn was to quick to forgive Tobias, and Tris dies. I mean, I have rooted for her and cheered her on and then she dies instead of Celeb. AND, he might have not even have died.

[Matthew]

Lauren wrote: "A lot of stories - most, really - require some suspension of disbelief. Not everything, every little detail, is or has to be absolutely realistic or believable. It's fiction. However, most things, ..."

Exactly! I felt a strange sensation when the pseudogenetics/eugenics subplot was introduced; After finishing, I realized that was when suspension of disbelief broke down for me. It was extremely apparent I was reading fiction– and poorly written and plotted fiction to boot.

[Karen]

So frustrated with the ending but have also been trying to understand why the Divergents were important to the gene pool for the GP's YET they give the serum to the Erudite to enslave the Dauntless who then take out the Abnegation? The GP's just sit and watch wholesale slaughter of their precious gene carriers like it is a stupid reality show? The factionless are not stopped from killing the Erudite when they take over. Logic does not enter into this plot at all.
Tris learns about love and true sacrifice, great where was her love for Tobias? She was completely selfish in her desire to martyr herself and she finds she loves Caleb so much she will die in his place?
My head hurts from all this nonsense. Not worth all the time invested in this series to have it end in such a mess.

[Daniel]

Lauren wrote: "A lot of stories - most, really - require some suspension of disbelief. Not everything, every little detail, is or has to be absolutely realistic or believable. It's fiction. However, most things, ..."

How funny! I read this book after barely making it through the last one. Mid book I had to Google Veronica Roth to get her age as I felt like I was reading something that a 13 year old girl might have wrote. Too bad. If I remember right she's 26. It would have been a decent peice of literature for a 13 year old. The inconsistencies are plenty. And lots of things made no sense as mentioned here before. The part that kills me though the complete lack of developement of the relationship between Tobias and Tris. It's like some dystopian Harlequin Romace though never ending. It's on, no it's off, no now I'm jealous... having the dominant writing focused on these two's interpersonal feelings and back and forth relationship just doesn't leave much space left in the story to answer the main question brought up by the first book... What the hell happened to the world? So poorly answered. I was hoping that Roth would develop better writing skills after the mediocre first book, but unfortunately the latter two were progressively worse.

[Matthew]

Daniel wrote: "Lauren wrote: "A lot of stories - most, really - require some suspension of disbelief. Not everything, every little detail, is or has to be absolutely realistic or believable. It's fiction. However..."

She's 25; there was an announcement of her birthday last summer.

[chinami]

April wrote: "Were you as disappointed as I was? So many parts of this book just seemed unbelievable:

- After Tobias participates in a rebellion uprising, he gets off with a short probation. What government ..."

good points. allegiant lost direction.

[Rachel]

I hated this one, there were too many ideas stuffed into it. Both the good and the bad. No sifting the ideas at all.

[Monique]

April wrote: "Were you as disappointed as I was? So many parts of this book just seemed unbelievable:

- After Tobias participates in a rebellion uprising, he gets off with a short probation. What government ..."

Well, I hated this book too, but her brother almost got her killed...so I see why she would have issues with that. Big brothers are supposed to protect you (He is older than her, right? Sometimes, I forget). I also see why Evelyn would give up everything for her son. I agree with everything else you said.

[Rios]

Overall, I really loved the series. Or I at least loved the first book. But starting around Insurgent I got a little bored. Granted, it had some great plot twists, the final cliffhanger, Caleb's deception, and the fact that Evelyn was still alive. But other than that there were parts I was just trying to get through.
As for Allegiant... I was extremely disappointed. Roth said herself that the last book was all about closing doors and bringing everything together. But the way she explained what a Divergent really was, it was a major information dump all at once. It seemed that all of the questions were answered at the last minute. And I completely agree that Tris forgave Tobias way too easily. He made a massive mistake that led to Uriah's death and a totally asshole-y statement of her being jealous of Nita. But all of a sudden she kisses him and everything is perfect. That's another thing, I found the romance between the two them to be very forced. Ever since Divergent honestly. Four admitted he never thought she was pretty. And never really gave a concrete reason he loved her.
Plus the character of Tobias/four was super strong and manly in Divergent but all of a sudden he became a vulnerable teddy bear.
And of course the biggest freakin let down of all time. The ending. When Tris died I was so damn sad/shocked/pissed I almost threw the book at the wall. Some people thought her death was necessary to the end. It wasn't. The fact that she forgave Caleb was a odd. She punched him in the hallway but a few chapters later she gives her life to save him.
Sorry, I usually don't rag on books but I had to vent my frustration I guess. Lol

[Jori]

I agree with you. We read so much character development in the first 2 books and everyone acted out of character. It just did not make sense. I know this is a futuristic book but not a single thing seemed realistic - governments do not forgive that easily.

[Andi]

There were a ton of unbelievable, poorly developed parts of this book. So much so that while I was reading it, I was questioning whether I was actually reading the final book of the Divergent series or just terrible Divergent fanfiction instead.

Seriously, after the first two books took off, it looks like her editors ditched the effort they put in before. Though I did hear that she had to switch editors for this particular book so that might explain a lot...