Review: Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

Four: A Divergent Collection
by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #0.1-0.4
Publication Date: 8 July, 2014
HarperCollins, Hardcover, 285 pages
Source: Library

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Two years before Beatrice Prior makes her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader does the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is his chance to begin again. Newly renamed ‘Four’ he discovers that initiation is only the beginning.

Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. And 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 act 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 No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth comes a companion volume to the worldwide bestselling DIVERGENT series, told from the perspective 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.

Rating: ★★★★½
(Note: Review does not contain spoilers for the Divergent trilogy.)

After the utter betrayal that had been Allegiant, Four: A Divergent Collection—to me—felt like the much-needed reminder for fans about why we fell in love with Divergent in the first place. Reading this book had no doubt been a nostalgic experience and although it did not provide much information to the main trilogy that I had not known prior, it was exciting nonetheless.

While I had been reading Allegiant, my adoration for Four’s character had somehow…disappeared. Maybe because after waiting a year for it, I had lost my true impression of him and hence, felt the Four in Allegiant had not been consistent with the Four we all loved in the first two books. Due to that, I was initially a tiny bit worried before starting Four: A Divergent Collection, it being told completely from his point of view and all.

However, I needn’t have fretted. This book felt 100% true to Four, as an individual, and if you had been fascinated with him in Divergent and Insurgent like I was, you’re pretty much guaranteed to love it. I will admit the novellas were pretty unnecessary if their goal was to enhance the rest of the trilogy and is probably not recommended as a primer prequel either, the extra insight on Four’s life before Tris and also shortly after meeting her had definitely been fun.

I won’t be touching on the individual novellas since anyone who have read the Divergent trilogy would know the major plot points in them. Although I will say there were still a handful of surprises in store.

If you’re planning to read Four: A Divergent Collection before the main trilogy, I would recommend you rather not. It contains quite a few spoilers and there’s probably a reason it was published after Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant (personally, I would say it’s to lighten the blow of fans’ reactions to the ending of the trilogy). Had the ultimate goal truly been to placate those like me who would love to sacrifice and burn Allegiant—if it had not cost us dear money to buy—I can’t say I’m unhappy with this particular form of placation.