Read + Review: Four by Veronica Roth

“Four” begins two years before the first book in Divergent, and it follows the story of Tobias Eaton and the similar path he took that parallels to the heroine in “Divergent”, Beatrice Prior. Like Beatrice, it opens with a short look into his life before the decision, and how he came to the choice that leaving his home faction, Abnegation, to join Dauntless would be the best choice for him. Tobias, who later adopts the nickname “Four”, is shown to naturally excel during the Dauntless initiation period. Afterwards, it cuts to the time period “Divergent” takes place in, and shows the events of “Divergent” through the eyes of Four.

I think that the book had a very interesting concept. Tobias Eaton was one of the most prevalent, if not the prevalent, character in “Divergent” besides Beatrice. It was interesting to see the hundreds of moments that Beatrice went through in her training through the eyes of Four, and how they affected him. The book really develops Four’s character and gives him more depth and backstory. The writing of the book was more simple than that of the trilogy, which is something I personally did not like, but for those who felt that maybe the original trilogy was too wordy, they would enjoy this book. Another thing that I liked was that this book gave Four a sense of humor and throws in some witty jokes, something that the trilogy did not do.

The most memorable thing about the book was probably the several pages that opened the book. The first couple of pages show the extent of Tobias’ father’s affect on him, something that the original trilogy would carefully hint at. It gave Tobias much more character depth.

Reviewed by Emily, Grade 9, Twin Hickory Area Library