For the first time, Veronica Roth is going in-depth on the development of her third and final book in the Divergent trilogy titled Allegiant.
With the Allegiant cover now out in the open (see it here!), all eyes are on the book’s October 22 release date so we can learn the fate of Tris, Four, and the factions as we know them.
Hypable and several Divergent fan sites sat down with the author in April to discuss the final installment as well as the first book’s adaptation into a movie.
When Divergent book 3’s title was unveiled, fans were surprised by the fact that the name did not end with an -ent like Divergent and Insurgent. It turns out Roth never intended for all three of them to have the same suffix. “I did not go through other ideas. It was always [Allegiant],” she told us to our small surprise.
We proceeded to ask Roth if she enjoyed reading the guesses by fans – all of which ended with -ent. “‘I know the truth!'” she exclaimed with a maniacal voice. “I wasn’t laughing because in the very early stages, I certainly thought of those words. I remember looking at a list of the 36 words in the English language that rhyme with Divergent, and I thought, ‘I really don’t know what to do here’ because Sergent was never going to be the word I chose. So, I wasn’t laughing, but I was when they put ‘Detergent’ into that book trailer. I was like, “Yes! It’s permeated the public consciousness.”
Allegiant is a word many people many not have known existed, but Roth has a very clear definition of it: “One who is loyal or faithful to a particular cause or person.”
She also was able to draw a clear line between Divergent and Insurgent versus the storytelling in the final book. “[The first two] are heavy action, violent books. The third book has action, it’s not not action-y, but a lot of my interest has moved towards the societal struggles and the wrestling Tris is doing inside of her head. I’m an action girl, I still love action, but I think it’s a little more balanced now.”
Overall, Roth seemed thrilled by her work on Allegiant and is eager to get it into the hands of readers this October. We’ll have much more on the third and final book over the next few months. Read more from our interview with Roth…
– Veronica Roth is a Harry Potter fan and MuggleCast listener!
– Veronica Roth talks Divergent movie: On set chemistry, attention to detail, character portrayals
Below is a photo of Roth, myself (I’m in the blue – if you couldn’t spot the male person in the photo otherwise), and writers from Divergent fan sites.
