Review | Four by Veronica Roth

Four by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #0.1-0.4
Published On: July 8, 2014
Published By: Harper Collins
Genre: Dystopian
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★

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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.

Four is the bind up of four novellas from the point of view of Tobias/Four, which precede and accompany the first book in the Divergent series. These four novellas - The Transfer, The Initiate, The Son and The Traitor - are accompanied by three scenes from Divergent from Four’s point of view.

The Transfer 
I had previously read this novella back in 2014 after reading the first book in the series. I liked it back then, however it was much more enjoyable the second time around. Having read all three books in the series, I understood more of this novella. There were characters mentioned that had not appeared in Divergent, and upon first reading made little impact on me, but made an appearance in the later books. This meant that I took a lot more from this. This novella follows Tobias as he makes the transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless. I found the background into Tobias’ life very interesting.

The Initiate 
This novella follows Four through his Dauntless initiation. As the initiation was one of my favourite parts of Divergent, I loved reading about it again. Though Four’s experience was a little different to Tris’, it was still very interesting and enjoyable to read about. I also liked that many of the Dauntless characters from the series were featured in this story. This was a great story for giving insight into Four’s character, and why he acted in certain ways. I really enjoyed that aspect.

The Son
This was probably my least favourite of the four novellas. In fact, I barely remember what this one was about. This story is basically filling in the gap between Four’s initiation and the arrival of Tris. We get to know about Four choosing his job and why he chose what he did, and also encounter Evelyn. I found the insight gained in the novella to be interesting but I did not enjoy it as much as I did the rest.

The Traitor
The Traitor overlaps with Divergent, making this one of my favourites. I absolutely loved seeing some of the scenes I have read before from Four’s point of view. I liked getting the ability to see what was going on with him when he wasn’t around Tris, as Divergent is from her point of view. It was also very interesting to find out that Four knew more than he let on about certain things during Divergent.

The Scenes From Divergent 
There were three scenes from Divergent included in this book. The first, ‘First Jumper – Tris!’, is the scene in which Tris is the first to jump and the two first meet. The second, ‘Careful, Tris’, shows the two first eating together. The third and final, ‘You Look Good, Tris’, is the scene in which drunken Four talks to Tris. I loved these scenes as they reminded me of some of my favourite moments in Divergent. It was great to relive them from a different perspective and they made me fall in love with this series all over again.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was interesting to see the story I know so well from the other side, through Four’s eyes, as well as gaining more of an insight into the character of Tobias/Four. I would definitely urge any fan of the series to read this book as it is a great addition and will secure your love of this series.