I ranted at my dad about how much I hated Allegiant for a solid half hour while on our walk tonight, and that feels relevant to this chat due to our….feelings on Divergent.
Me: And she just kills off all the interesting characters from the first two books, like she knew the deaths in Mockingjay had impact but didn't know why!
My family members, listening to the same rant for the third time this month:
tris? again i'll say it her concept was gold even if it was a bit cliche bcs it could have been written very well, especially with heavy focus on wondering if her choice was simply a moment of teenage rebellion or something deeper, showing more of her missing her family and resenting them for trapping her as a kid or thanking them for raising her to think she could make that decision
but alas. roth didn't get that. same as she didn't get character death
Tris, but also the side characters. You don't get to connect to any since Roth introduces them and kills them super quickly after.
I genuinely hate how the mom was retconned to be a plant, because the scene where she's revealed to be not only originally Dauntless, but Divergent? Gold. The best moment in the first book, imo. And then it's ruined by a lazy retcon along with all of the admittedly lackluster worldbuilding
I've only read 2 YA books that have pulled off killing the lead, and those are
Spoiler - click to show.
Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab and The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Honestly Divergent also could've been a great allegory for neurotypical vs neurodivergent brains but alas.