As we await the final installment of the Divergent trilogy, I am obliged to note that there are previews of what we can expect in Allegiant that are being leaked in what I assume is a campaign to inspire discussion and interest. Who needs inspiration? Let’s take a look, though, at what we have and what we’ll be getting soon.
What we have: Divergent, Insurgent, ‘Free Four,’ and ‘The Transfer’ are canon, per se. In addition, there are the items that have been published as a 48 page booklet included in the Divergent box set (which set, of course, will look silly when the third book is out, hence the incentive ‘extra’). Many of these previews and peeks behind the curtain have been posted by the author and by fans online — see the Faction Manifestos, the Series Inspirations, etc. — and will be released as a Kindle give-away on 24 September as Path to Allegiant: The World of Divergent. Here is the Amazon description of that —
Fascinated by the world of the Divergent series? This fifty-page bonus, previously only available in the Divergent Series Box Set, includes faction manifestos, a faction quiz, Q&A with #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth, book playlists, discussion questions, series inspirations, and much more!
So what we will have, in this case, is something we already have for the most part. More on this in a second.
We also have in hand a quotation from Allegiant, chapter 7, that was posted on Entertainment Weekly last week.
“We don’t know what’s happened out there since they put us in here, or how many generations have lived and died since they did. We could be the last people left.” Chapter Seven, Tris
What We Will Have: The insert to the box set was 48 pages long and The Path to Allegiant is 50 pages. A formatting glitch? Maybe. It could also be the actual only authentic ‘extra’ that we don’t have already. The Amazon teaser for Path concludes:
It also contains ten enticing teasers from Allegiant, the final book in the Divergent series.
Three quick questions:
(1) Do you believe, as I do, that we will not be given anything substantive, anything not already apparent from the ‘wow’ finish of Insurgent, in any of these teaers and extras?
(2) In the quotation from EW, are we to assume that Chapter Seven is titled ‘Tris’ or that this is Tris speaking? There must be quite the opening action scenes or play-back for us (her?) to have only learned this much after six chapters, no?
(3) I’m guessing that there is more to be learned about Allegiant in The Transfer, especially in Tobias’ relationship with the woman who read him as a Divergent and the man in charge of his initiation (who tags him as ‘Four’) than in anything that we’re getting from the publisher. Ms Roth enjoys a good mystery, I think, and it isn’t afraid to offer hints to serious readers.
Your thoughts?
(1) Of course. Why would she give away something substantive?
(2) Ms. Roth already revealed (on her blog? Her tumblr? Can’t remember where) that we’ll get both Tris and Four’s perspectives in Allegiant. BRB while I go find the quote.
Back! from her tumblr (link: http://theartofnotwriting.tumblr.com/post/56166068178/faqs-why-two-povs):
Well, I tried repeatedly to write Allegiant in just Tris’s voice, but it didn’t work; her perspective, her way of seeing things, was a little too limited for the story I needed to tell. I wanted to do two things with it: A. let two characters experience different things, and B. let them react differently to the same things, so that I (and eventually, the reader) would get a better sense of the whole story, the whole picture.
I’ve said before that I’ve always seen Four (increasingly, as the series goes on) as a plot-mover alongside Tris, so he was the obvious choice for the second POV (though not the only one I tried). Exploring him and his choices and his assumptions about the world was incredibly interesting to me.
(2b) No idea why that information is from chapter seven. Maybe they still have something to sort out at Erudite and the action hasn’t moved outside yet? I remember both Divergent and Insurgent started a little slow for me, so maybe Allegiant will follow that trend.
(3) I don’t know. I won’t likely read The Transfer, since I don’t own a Kindle and I have no intention of owning an ereader any time soon…
Can’t wait, though! I hope she’s able to deliver a satisfying finale.
Oh and P.S. – a Facebook friend of mine said we /do/ know how many generations have passed: at some point a scanner calls Tris “Second generation.” So I would place Ms. Pryor from the videos as her grandmother.
Hmm… part of me wants to believe that this is all marketing balderdash, and that Roth & Co. will remain pretty tight-lipped on anything substantive relating to Book 3, other than the quite revealing fact that it will be told from two perspectives (which, if I remember correctly, was revealed about Breaking Dawn pretty close to its release?).
On the other hand, studies have shown that knowing more about a book (even–gasp!–the ending) measurably increases one’s enjoyment while reading it, so who knows…
Rochelle – Second generation could also refer to how long the family’s genes have been pure for. Second generation could mean that Divergence has been in the family for two generations, and that both Natalie and Tris are Divergent – which they are.