Four (A Divergent Collection) by Veronica Roth

July 12, 2014     erinbook     Book review

 Four (A Divergent Collection) by Veronica Roth
 
Release Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
285 Pages
Received: Bought
Format: Hardcover
 
Rating: 
Description:

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.
Review:  Yes, yes, four stars for Four, aren’t I funny? But I’m being serious here. This is gonna be a little spoilery if you haven’t read the series. I’m warning you now, these stories will spoil some things and therefore it is difficult for the review not to as well. Also a bit of swearing via gif because ridiculousness.
First of all, it’s Four!

 

I love Four. He and Uriah are my favorite characters and I’ve always wanted more Four backstory. It MUST be my birthday come early because this book was exactly what I wanted. For the most part.
There are four stories in the Four collection, good god everyone thinks they’re hilarious. *eye roll* In The Transfer we get a brief look at Tobias’ home life. If you didn’t hate Marcus before, you really will now. This Tobias is very different from the one we all know from the trilogy. At the same time you can see how he gets where he is from this point, it’s not a stretch between the two.
With each story Tobias grows more and more into Four. There’s more detail about how he got his nickname, why he is still so apart from everyone, and even more about the ever frustrating Eric. God, I hate that guy.
Happily, this time when Roth writes Four, he has a discernible personality. One of my big complaints about Allegiant was that I had a hard time telling who was speaking. He and Triss sounded the same. Here, Four has a voice of his own, one I would be able to distinguish from that of Triss.
 
So why only four stars? It’s not part of a joke, I promise. It’s the extra scenes. Just…..why? I mean, I’m all for extra content and all that but these make no sense. They are literally random Divergent scenes from Four’s point of view, no build up, just disembodied scenes. I don’t understand their purpose, they don’t really add anything. They’re just sort of there.
 Despite that random addition, I really enjoyed this story collection. Even if I still don’t know what “effort” smells like. Really, Veronica Roth? Effort smells like sweat and shoes? No. Just…no.
But let’s not talk about that, it makes my head hurt. I liked the collection, I got the Four backstory I wanted, and a very pretty cover to put next to my other very pretty Divergent covers. Shiny. Yes, a few bits annoyed me a little but I suppose one cant’ have it all can they?
Did you like the Four stories? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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