Four - Book Review

Four: A Divergent Story Collection (Divergent 0.1-0.4)
by Veronica Roth

What is it about:
Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader did the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened “Four,” he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future—and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth comes a companion volume to the worldwide bestselling DIVERGENT series, told from the per-spective of the immensely popular character Tobias. The four pieces included here—THE TRANSFER, THE INITIATE, THE SON, and THE TRAITOR—plus three additional exclusive scenes, give readers an electrifying glimpse into the history and heart of Tobias, and set the stage for the epic saga of the DIVERGENT trilogy.

What did I think of it:
I preordered this book back in September 2013, before I read Allegiant. At the time I thought this book would release in April 2014, but it turned out I preordered the paperback that wouldn't release until August 2015.

If Allegiant had been a better book I would probably have cancelled my preorder and bought the hard cover of Four. Allegiant being what it was, I was done with this series for a while, so I almost forgot about this preorder.

Then earlier this year I reread Divergent, which I still really love, and I actually started to look forward to reading Four. So when it finally arrived I immediately picked it up.

And it's a really nice read.

The four stories in this book fit together and give a good view on Four and on Dauntless. I liked finding out a bit more about how Dauntless functioned, and about what made Four who he is. I discovered that even though I still really don't get the world building, I actually do like it.

Maybe that's why I was so disappointed by Allegiant. I wanted a good reason for the cool, but nonsensical, world building in Divergent and Insurgent, but was left with a reason that made no sense to me.

All in all this is an enjoyable read, and like Divergent and Insurgent it will certainly be reread. Still not so sure about Allegiant though.

Why should you read it:
It's a nice read for fans of Divergent.