When I saw the entire Divergent trilogy on sale for $14, I couldn’t pass it up.

Well, what a waste of $14. I could have bought one great book instead of three terrible books.

While the trilogy’s plot line is incredibly intriguing, the execution falls incredibly short. The plot unfolds in a dystopian, postmodern Chicago. Citizens are divided into factions based on paramount virtues: Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Dauntless, and Amity. At sixteen years old, citizens must choose their faction for life. They may choose a faction they were not born into, but at the expense of abandoning their families for life. The sixteen year-olds must train to the death in order to remain in their faction of choice. Inability to meet standards results in one becoming factionless, something worse than death. Divergent follows Tris Prior, a girl who does not feel selfless enough to remain in Abnegation and joins the Dauntless.

Superb plot line, am I right?

Tobias becomes Tris’ Dauntless trainer, and they both develop feeling for each other. However, they show their interest in ridiculous ways. Tobias claims he launched a knife at Tris’ ear in order to protect her from the rest of the Divergent initiates. She believes him and tells herself Tobias threw the knife at her face because he believed in her strength and revels in his character more. Tris acts completely out of her character at times. She’s supposed to be clever, but is very illogical. Sometimes she has bursts of cleverness, but everyone else does too. She’s characterized as selfless, but is incredibly selfish. In addition, one of the most irksome tropes in YA literature is having two characters kiss in the middle of battle. What kind of stupid, illogical characters stop in the middle of battle to share a passionate kiss? Tris and Tobias, that’s who. There are people dying all around them, but they stop to kiss. And it’s obviously okay because they’re protagonists in love. Wow, is this relationship off to a terrible start.

Thrughout Insurgent, Tris and Tobias do not trust each other, keep secrets from each other, and go behind each other’s back to make dangerous alliances. Does any of that scream “healthy relationship?” The alliances the two make are key to helping their group defeat the Erudite/Dauntless army, but they both hide and lie about their intentions and alliances. Why?

Furthermore, the arbitrary point-of-view changes between Tris and Tobias in Allegiant harm the series. While there is nothing wrong with multiple points of view, Divergent and Insurgent were consistently written in Tris’ lone perspective. Switching it up in the final installment of the trilogy appears odd, messy, unplanned, and lazy. Could Roth think of no other way to complete the plot line? Tobias’ voice is completely indistinguishable from Tris’ voice. If the chapters don’t say either “Tris” or ‘Tobias,” it is impossible to tell who is narrating. Roth makes no distinctions between her character’s voices, further driving the perspective changes into the ground.

The plot line had incredible potential, but Roth failed to fully take advantage. The main characters are consistently irritating and, at Allegiant‘s conclusion, we still don’t know much about the outside world.

Divergent is a 4.8 level novel and worth 16 points. Insurgent is a 5.0 level and also worth 16 points. Allegiant is a slightly-higher 5.7 level and worth 17 points. The many points may draw you in, but don’t let them fool you.