The Greatest Ending or The Worst

[Marisa]

I just finished this book yesterday after constant pestering by my friends. They all said, "You'll never believe the ending!", or, "Tris gets prego and they live happily ever after." I was intrigued because I had so many different possibilities being thrown at me. But boy, I did not see this ending coming at all. It is unheard of that a main character dies in any conclusion of any YA novel. I have read hundreds of YA novels and not one of them does that. It was both saddening and genius. However, I don't really know what to think at this point. Should that death have been stopped/rewritten or is this ending sufficient enough?

[Seema]

It was sad,but it was very good and different ending...it doesn't have to be happily ever after all the time.

[Jasmine]

I think because V.Roth killed off the main character the book was more memorable


you should watch this

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1716...

[Leslie]

Just finished it...I'm with you, Marisa, I just don't know how I feel right now...

[Leslie]

Thanks jasmine that kinda helps!

[Kristen]

I don't think it was either (the "greatest or the worst" ending). It was simply alright.

I think it had potential to be really good, but the reason and the set up for Tris' death was much too weak to make the impact that Roth was clearly going for.
I mean, she survives how many unbelievable situations that definitely would have killed anyone else, and then she is put down with a few bullets?
Also, the thing she was trying to accomplish was arguably stupid. If a main character is willing to die for something, that thing should be clearly wrong and the death should make a direct impact on taking down that unarguably bad thing. Tris' death falls short.

Not to mention, David(that was his name right?) had no clue why she was there. Therefore he, realistically, wouldn't have killed her anywhere near as easily. Not after devoting his entire life(and the lives of hundreds of other people) to the cause of producing people exactly like her, and she's the only one known to be in existence. Killing Tris shouldn't have even been an option in his mind.

I won't even go into the scores of other problems with the plot...

Had the plot been better, or even coherent, the fact that Tris dies to save her brother and for the cause she believes in, would have been great. Instead, it felt pointless and only done for shock value.

Personally, as soon as I saw that Allegiant was from multiple POVs I knew either Tris or Tobias would die. So for me the big surprise wasn't all that surprising. Especially since Tris seems to have a death wish through most of the series.

[Brandi]

Kristen wrote: "I don't think it was either (the "greatest or the worst" ending). It was simply alright.

I think it had potential to be really good, but the reason and the set up for Tris' death was much too wea..."

This is exactly why I couldn't stand the ending. If I felt that Tris' death really accomplished something or at least died for a good reason, I would be okay with it, but I felt like she was only killing Tris to make a bold move, not to move the plot along.

[MLE]

I think the ending was very realistic therefore I like it for that besides the fact it completely destroyed me.

[Michelle]

Ultimately, the ending is very well written. I believe a lot of people say it is a bad ending simply because it is not the happiest ending. Truthfully, I thought it was bad too (I'm a huge fan though) but, the only reason I thought this was because I was blinded by my sadness. (I was depressed the whole week, and after reading it my eyes were dry from crying) :)

Overall, the ending is very realistic and it goes to show that things don't always go the right way, and there will be times when we lose something important but the moral is that life goes on.

[Amanda]

I read it back in October. In fact, I had the ending spoiled for me (on a sight I would not have expected book spoilers.)

It haunted me for days. All I could dream about was the Divergent world. I'm still so unhappy with the ending.

That's not to say that I think it was wrong, or that it was right. It left an impact, which I think was the point.

Her death scene was rushed. In real life, I believe death IS rushed. I felt like she could have died for a better reason, for example, instead of to prevent them from erasing memories, to prevent them from killing the entire city or something like that. But then you think: that's life. Sometimes death in place of someone you love is never for the right reason.

I won't go into what I DO believe is the contrived way it got there. It was frustrating.

But her death scene was so raw, so final. I do think it was entirely silly that she overcame the death serum simply to die by gunfire. I think I'd have preferred if they serum just finally overcame her.

I don't need a happy ending. In a lot of ways sometimes I do wish it was handled better... but I can reason and analyze why/how it was done into oblivion and still be haunted by her character.

I don't like that she died. Not one bit. But I can begrudgingly respect it.

PS. I took a creative writing class in college. Just by Veronica Roth being a Creative Writing major I should have known she'd have done something like this, since being "original" was stressed so much in a simple introductory creative writing class...

[judy]

I THINK THE WORST BUT WITH GREAT CHOICE OF WORDS. IT RUINED MY LIFE BUT IT WAS THE BEST BOOK EVAVeronica Roth

[Lauren]

Great ending in concept. Laughably ridiculous ending in execution. Roth was clearly sleeping during the "How to Make Sure Your Plot Is Not Blatantly and Insultingly Contrived to the Point of Completely Negating Your Story's Purpose and Believability" lessons in her creative writing class.

[Lindsay]

Just finished this a few days ago and I have not yet recovered from my book hangover. As heartbreaking as it was, I can see why Roth decided to end this the way that she did. Tris struggled (especially in Insurgent) with not knowing if this life was worth living anymore and wanting to give up. Towards the end, she finally started to realize that it's not about giving up, it's about fighting for what you want and believe and NOT giving up. I get that part of it, but I also agree with Kristen in that the reason she died was a little weak.

I will say though, I got really worried there for a second thinking that our "closure" would be that Tobias would find new love. I'm very glad this didn't happen!

[Sabrina]

Emily wrote: "I think the ending was very realistic therefore I like it for that besides the fact it completely destroyed me."

I have a love/hate thing going for it right now! The ending made the series memorable. I'll never be the same.

[Victoria]

It wasn't so bad that Tris died at the end of the book it's the fact that she didn't die from the death serum, but she died from being shot. She was going to survive the death serum and then her to be killed by gun was the most heart wrenching part of it.

I give props to Veronica Roth though. Most people wouldn't dare kill off their main character due to the fact that crazy fans would either want her to rewrite it or just give the book a terrible rating.

It was a sad ending, but it didn't make me hate the book. It's just like Mockingjay; most people hated it because Suzanne Collins got dark and killed a bunch of people, but that didn't make me hate that book either. I still really liked both of them. Not all books can end happily ever after. Life isn't a fairytale.

[Arielle]

Kristen wrote: "I don't think it was either (the "greatest or the worst" ending). It was simply alright.

I think it had potential to be really good, but the reason and the set up for Tris' death was much too wea..."

i agree! the more i think about it, the more tris's death seems almost senseless. i just really think that if veronica had expanded this into two books so we could get to know the new characters and this world better, i would like the book more

[Justin,]

It was definitley the greatest ending who the main character died :D Veronica Roth had to end the story with a bang

[Caitlin]

Awesome ending! I just loved it! Passionate, sacrificing, and just full of love!

[Lara]

I really like the ending it was sad wit a sense of truth and happiness, it made the story and characters more believable.