Four: A Book Review

I absolutely loved this collection of novellas!  If you saw my books reviews on the Divergent series, then you know that I loved those books as well!  After watching the movie Divergent for the first time after the DVD came out, I knew that I couldn’t wait any longer to read Four.  (However since I was on a Project 10 Books Ban, I asked my mom to pick it up for me.  Loopholes.)  And because I loved reading from Four’s perspective so much, I ended up watching the movie again, after finishing the book in like 1 ½ days. :)

Title: Four: A Divergent Story Collection

Author: Veronica Roth

Series: Divergent #0.1-#0.4

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: July 8, 2014

Pages: 285

Out in Paperback?: No; July 2, 2015

Goodreads

Amazon

My Rating: 5/5

Review:

Goodreads Summary:

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.

Characters:

This collection of novellas primarily focuses on Four, as they are told from Four’s perspective.  We get to see more of his background and what it was like growing up in Abnegation.  Obviously, we all love Four from the Divergent series so it is no use talking about how wonderful of a character he is in this section.  But we also get more information on his father, which I think is really interesting.  Although, we don’t get too much more information, we get to see him in action through his dialogue and actions against Four.  We also learn more about Eric’s background (another initiate in Four’s training class) as well as Max, a leader of Dauntless.  Through these other characters, we can see how Dauntless developed from the time Four was entering to the time Tris comes into the scene.

Plot:

In this hardcover book, there are 4 novellas that are compiled.  The first novella is The Transfer; this chronicles Four’s testing as well as his choosing ceremony.  We also get to see him choose Dauntless over Abnegation.  The second novella is The Initiate; during this novella, we see Four experience his own initiation process.  Eric and Max are both discuss more heavily in this novella.  The third novella is The Son; in this section, Four is tasked with discussing the future of Dauntless through interviews to become a Dauntless leader.  We are further introduced to Max, who hopes Four will take the job, and Eric, who is competing for the leadership too.  Lastly, The Traitor explores Four’s thoughts as Tris enters the story.  It also discusses his new knowledge about the Dauntless attack on Abnegation as he deals with which faction he will side with and finding out about his mother and the factionless.  Each of these novellas is fast-paced and so interesting from Four’s perspective.  In the hardcover, we also receive 3 exclusives scenes that are told from his perspective as well:  “First Jumper – Tris!,” “Careful, Tris,” and “You look good, Tris.”

Writing Style:

The writing style is obviously just as wonderful as the Divergent series since Veronica Roth wrote this as well.  Her writing style is still amazing, regardless if she is writing from Tris’s perspective or Four’s!

Have you picked this collection up yet?  I would definitely recommend it!  It definitely got me back into the Divergent world, and I kinda want to re-read Insurgent and Allegiant again!

FTC Disclaimer:

All items mentioned were purchased by me.  This is not a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.  No affiliate links were used.