Can I just leave it at the title of this post?

Allegiant Chapter 49: Tris

The death serum smells like smoke and spice.

What kind of death serum even is this, it sounds like a burnt curry serum. Did a chef design it? Also, I love how ‘spice’ is just the most generic thing I’ve ever read. It could literally smell like any fucking spice, right?

Tris is about to die, but she thinks about everyone she has to live for, and fights against the death serum like she’s fought against no serum before. She survives and makes her way into the weapons room only to find David waiting for her there.

Allegiant Chapter 50: TRIS’ LAST CHAPTER

Tris enlightens us about the capabilities of people in wheelchairs:

“How did you inoculate yourself against the death serum?” he asks me. He’s still sitting in his wheelchair, but you don’t need to be able to walk to fire a gun.

Thank you for that, Tris. I’ll always remember you as the person that informed me that even if you can’t walk, you can still fire a gun with your hands.

David says Tris had to have inoculated herself against the death serum, and he’s the only one who has access to that. Tris is like, “Haven’t you been reading this series like every other person who wanted to fill the void The Hunger Games left? I can resist all serums. It’s my one thing.”

David tells Tris that he figured out something was going on because “[she’s] been running around with genetically damaged people all week.” Um, she’s been with these people since she fucking arrived, dude. He also says Cara was caught trying to manipulate the lights but knocked herself out before she could reveal anything.

Being a practical person, David for some reason inoculated himself against the death serum and waiting inside the weapons room with a…spare gun? Why not just send loads of guards OUTSIDE the room? Like why bother inoculating yourself against the death serum especially if you thought it was impossible for anyone else to survive it?

David finishes his contractually obligated villain speech by saying he has to kill Tris. Bet she’s feeling sad about the time she saved his life, huh?

Tris also realizes that David doesn’t quite understand what Tris wants to do.

He thinks I’m here to steal the weapons that will reset the experiments, not deploy one of them. Of course he does.

I understand David’s perceived motivation about as much as I understand Tris’ real motive.

Tris takes the time to accuse David of being the reason her mother died…and also accuse him of being in love with her mother.

“Did you love her?” I say. “All those years she was sending you correspondence . . . the reason you never wanted her to stay there . . . the reason you told her you couldn’t read her updates anymore, after she married my father . . .”

David sits still, like a statue, like a man of stone.

“I did,” he says. “But that time is past.”

That must be why he welcomed me into his circle of trust, why he gave me so many opportunities. Because I am a piece of her, wearing her hair and speaking with her voice. Because he has spent his life grasping at her and coming up with nothing.

I can’t wait till you die and stop explaining every god damn thing to me.

Also, can we just talk about how THIS ADDS NOTHING TO THE STORY. It’s just an excuse for Tris to start her contractually obligated hero’s speech:

“My mother wasn’t a fool,” I say. “She just understood something you didn’t. That it’s not sacrifice if it’s someone else’s life you’re giving away, it’s just evil.”

I back up another step and say, “She taught me all about real sacrifice. That it should be done from love, not misplaced disgust for another person’s genetics. That it should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That it should be done for people who need your strength because they don’t have enough of their own. That’s why I need to stop you from ‘sacrificing’ all those people and their memories. Why I need to rid the world of you once and for all.”

Tris lunges towards the device with the memory serum. Somehow, even though he is in a wheelchair, David starts shooting Tris. Holy shit, I almost forgot he could do that! Anyway, Tris manages to punch the code in and unleash the serum…and then her mother steps out from behind David. I guess we’re meant to think for a second her mother has been alive this whole time, but the truth quickly comes out:

“Am I done yet?” I say, and I’m not sure if I actually say it or if I just think it and she hears it.

“Yes,” she says, her eyes bright with tears. “My dear child, you’ve done so well.”

“What about the others?” I choke on a sob as the image of Tobias comes into my mind, of how dark and how still his eyes were, how strong and warm his hand was, when we first stood face-to-face. “Tobias, Caleb, my friends?”

“They’ll care for each other,” she says. “That’s what people do.”

Tris hugs her mom, and, uh, I guess they go to heaven together? Farewell, Tris, you died as you lived, fucking around with serums.

How do you all feel about Tris’ death? I’m personally so checked out of these books that I’m just happy to have ticked off two more chapters.