Review Detail

Starting two years before the events in Divergent, Four is a collection of stories detailing the life of Tobias aka Four as he made the same decision to transfer factions. There’s four short stories plus a few scenes from Divergent retold from Four’s POV included.

Even though this was a collection of short stories, it still read, at least to me, like a complete book. Four went through the ups and downs, the growth, the self-discovery I would expect from a full novel. Four’s backstory was hinted at throughout the series but getting to read it gave a lot more insight into his character.

The stories all took place before or during Divergent so this book was a prequel and there were no spoilers for Insurgent or Allegiant. It did make me want to re-read those books now that I feel like I have a new view on Four and see if my reaction to some of his actions have changed.

Four’s voice in this collection felt a lot stronger than it did in Allegiant, maybe because the POV wasn’t shared or because this was 100% his story, his journey. There were appearances from a lot of favourite characters, Zeke and Shauna, and(not a favourite) Eric. It was nice to get the chance to see Four making friends and I loved the chance of getting to see Four from his own perspective again as opposed to solely through Tris’s eyes.