The determination - the final decision
The Determination - Final Decision (original title: Allegiant ) is the third part of the Die-Determination series of novels by Veronica Roth , the first edition of which was published in October 2013. The plot links directly to the previous part The Destiny - Deadly Truth . The book tells about the experiences of Tris, Tobias (Four) and their friends, who leave their city and find out outside the fence around the city that they are only part of a huge genetic experiment.
action
After Jeanine is dead, Evelyn takes control of the city and orders the dissolution of the factions. While previously it was imperative to join a faction, now the non-attached are terrorizing the city. Tris and Tobias join a group of rebels (the "loyal ones") who want to revolt against the principle of non-faction and who want to explore the situation behind the fence around the city. Tori, Christina, Uriah, Cara, Peter, Tobias and Tris are selected as the exploration group. However, Tris only joins on the condition that her brother Caleb be released from his prison, where he awaits his death sentence as a convict. When Tris and Tobias and their group approach the border fence, they are attacked by Evelyn's troops, as Evelyn definitely wants to prevent the small group of rebels from getting behind the fence. Ultimately, they can outrun Evelyn's troops, but they lose a valuable comrade on the run: Tori is shot and fatally injured by Evelyn's troops.
When they reach the "real" world outside the fence, some people greet them and take them to a fenced-in area that turns out to be the "Office for Genetic Social Services". There they have to experience something that they did not expect: their life is just an experiment to create people with perfect genes . Their city, they learn, is called Chicago and is part of the United States. After a "war of purity" it was decided that genetically pure people should be bred because people with genetic defects are supposedly more aggressive and responsible for the war. In addition to Chicago, there are even more cities that are designed as large experiments, and all processes in the cities are constantly monitored with cameras.
So far, Tobias was of the opinion that he too is indeterminate, but it turns out that he is just another "genetically defective" person. But it is immune to simulations and transmitters. This new knowledge is a hard blow for him at first, but like other of his comrades he questions the thesis that there are genetically defective, inferior people. It not only dawns on him that the subdivision into genetically pure and defective people is just another classification and discrimination of people, like the persecution of the indefinite before. Tobias joins a group of people classified as genetically defective who try to stop the experiment by attacking the research station. The attack fails, however, and Uriah is so badly injured in an explosion that he is in a coma with no hope of awakening and recovery .
Tobias is plagued by feelings of guilt, but joins a new group founded by Tris, which wants to tackle another attack, this time better planned. They want to break into the heavily secured laboratory to steal a memory serum and let it go on the premises. The aim is to erase and re-program the memories of all employees on the site, including the manager David: There should no longer be any devaluation of people into "genetically defective", the creation of genetically perfect people should be abandoned as a goal. They need to accelerate their plans when they learn that the plan is to wipe the memory of the entire city of Chicago. By erasing the memory, a civil war between supporters of the faction system and the non-attached are to be prevented and a new beginning of the experiment should be made.
The friends are appalled by the plans because it would destroy the life and memories of an entire city, including their own families. They split into two groups: One group continues to pursue the attack plans on the grounds of the Genetic Social Services Office in the hope of preventing the exposure of the memory serum in the city. The other group is secretly going back to Chicago, officially, just to inoculate their loved ones against the memory serum. However, Christina manages to give Tobias an opportunity to distance himself from the group. Tobias seeks out his mother Evelyn because he knows that she wants to expose a death serum in the city as part of the fight against the rebels. He succeeds in dissuading them and persuading them to make a peace agreement with the opposing party.
Meanwhile, Tris manages to get into the laboratory. She manages to release the memory serum, but is shot by guards in the process. When the friends return from town, the memories of all employees of the office are erased as planned, but they also have to deal with the fact that Tris has sacrificed himself.
After these events, the city's new leadership succeeds in negotiating an end to the experiment with the United States government and allowing genetically "pure" and "defective" people to settle in the city of their own free will.
Position in literary history
The novel is a youth book with science fiction elements and is z. It has been compared, for example, to the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and to the Harry Potter novels by JK Rowling . As a gloomy vision of the future (dystopia) there is The Determination - Last Decision in the tradition of novels like 1984 or the Maid's Report . Since the novel cycle describes the development history of the main characters Tris and Tobias (Four), it can also be seen as a typical development novel or coming-of-age novel.
reception
The novel sold well and landed on the Spiegel bestseller list in Germany. The Determination - Final Decision also received the following awards:
- 2013: Good Reads Choice Award, Category: Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction "
- 2014: Children's and Teen Choice Book Award, Category: "Book of the Year, teens"
The reviews of the book are mixed. Many fans are particularly disappointed because of the death of the main character Tris, while others praise the surprising twist at the end. Hillary Busis says in Entertainment Weekly that fans are sure to appreciate the twist and turn of the plot, praising the author's heartfelt style and bold ending. At the same time, however, she criticizes the chaste, dry love story and the clumsy racism allegory. Publishers Weekly praises the book as satisfactory overall and the plot as exciting, "intelligent" and "complex". However, Publishers Weekly criticizes the author's decision to constantly switch between the perspective of Tris and Tobias - this is not very convincing, as the perspectives hardly seem to differ from one another.
Audio book
The novel was published in the original English language and in German as an audio book.
filming
The novel The Determination - Final Decision with the title The Determination - Allegiant (Original title: The Divergent Series: Allegiant ) was filmed in 2016.
literature
Text output
English editions
- Veronica Roth: Allegiant . Katherine Tegen Books, October 22, 2013, ISBN 978-0062287335 (Hardcover)
- Veronica Roth: Allegiant . Harper Collins Publ. UK, July 2, 2015, ISBN 978-0007538027 (Paperback)
- Veronica Roth: Allegiant . Katherine Tegen Books, Oct 22, 2013 (Kindle Edition)
German editions
- Veronica Roth: The Destiny - Final Decision . cbt, translation: Petra Koob-Pawis, March 24, 2014, ISBN 978-3570161579 (hardcover)
- Veronica Roth: The Destiny - Final Decision . Goldmann Verlag, translation: Petra Koob-Pawis, February 16, 2015, ISBN 978-3442482528 (paperback)
- Veronica Roth: The Destiny - Final Decision . cbt, translation: Petra Koob-Pawis, March 24, 2014 (Kindle Edition)
Secondary literature
- Cristina Paravano: Real and Metaphorical Hunger: The Case of the Divergent Trilogy . In: Altre Modernità (2015), pp. 121–135, ISSN 2035-7680.
- Suzanne Roszak: Coming of Age in a Divided City: Cultural Hybridity and Ethnic Injustice in Sandra Cisneros and Veronica Roth . In: Children's Literature (2016), pp. 61-77, ISSN 0092-8208.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Allegiant . In: EW.com . ( ew.com [accessed August 15, 2018]).
- ^ Suzanne Roszak: Coming of Age in a Divided City: Cultural Hybridity and Ethnic Injustice in Sandra Cisneros and Veronica Roth . In: Children's Literature . 2016, p. 61-77 .
- ^ Susanne K. (Literaturschock.de): Veronica Roth: Last decision . In: reading books, blogging, reviewing . ( literaturschock.de [accessed on August 15, 2018]).
- ↑ The Determination - Last Decision by Veronica Roth at LovelyBooks (youth book). Retrieved on August 15, 2018 (German).
- ↑ Allegiant . In: EW.com . ( ew.com [accessed August 15, 2018]).
- ^ Children's Book Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth. HarperCollins / Tegen, $ 19.99 (544p) ISBN 978-0-06-202406-0 . In: PublishersWeekly.com . ( publishersweekly.com [accessed August 15, 2018]).