Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth
Four: A Divergent Collection
by Veronica Roth
The Amazon review for this book begins with "Fans of the Divergent series.... will be thrilled by Four: A Divergent Collection. As it turns out, I am in fact a fan of the series and I did enjoy this collection of stories. It's a set of four stories from Four's point of view, three of which take place before Tris really enters the scene and show Tobias's transfer and transformation from Abnegation to Dauntless. The third one directly involves Tris and the plot of Divergent. There are also three even shorter pieces that revolve around Tris and Four.
I liked all the stories, though the first one was definitely my favorite. I had long wondered how Four got to be called Four if fear landscapes take place so far into initiation (what had people called him for weeks up to that point?). It turns out that during his year, they saw their fear landscapes right off the bat. So that was convenient (contrived?) but also answers a question I've had for a long time. It's true so many parts of the stories had been referenced in the actual series. But it was neat seeing it fleshed out in detail and from Four's point of view. I happen to really like Four, so it was great to explore more of his character and to really see all of what he went through with his father and Eric and Max and Amar and so many others who I first met in Divergent. I was a little shocked at the scene where he finds out about his mother and then when he goes back and speaks with her again and she tells him things he hadn't thought about his old faction. Definitely interesting but a little heartbreaking.
I am so glad I grabbed this off the shelf at the library. I devoured it a story or two at a time. And I really did enjoy entering the world again through Four's point of view and getting to see new and interesting aspects of the faction system and culture.