'FOUR' A DIVERGENT STORY COLLECTION by VERONICA ROTH

'Four': A Divergent Story Collection
by Veronica Roth
Published: July 2014
Publisher: Harper Collins

Genre: YA, Dystopian
*possible spoilers if you haven't read the Divergent series*

"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth comes a companion volume to the worldwide bestselling divergent series, told from the per-spective 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." -taken from Goodreads

I loved Divergent and Insurgent but Allegiant was the biggest let down ever (read a full review here), part of the reason that I hated it so much was the duel perspectives between Four/Tobias or Tris. Now, normally I really enjoy duel POV but this was done so badly, both Tris and Four sounded exactly the same and often I had to flip the pages back and forth to remember who I was reading. Also, I felt like the Four in Allegiant was a completely different character to the Four in Divergent and Insurgent, so therefore when it was announced that there would be a bind up of novellas from Four's point of view, I was slightly nervous and was considering not even reading it. But for the sake of being a completist I felt like I needed to if only because of my love for Divergent and Insurgent.

I am so surprised by how much I liked 'Four'. The Tobias in this book was the Divergent and Insurgent Four and for that I was very happy. He wasn't the whiney, boring and insufferable Tobias of Allegiant, but the Tobias that although has been affected by his life before Dauntless he doesn't stop it from getting in the way of doing what needs to be done and instead of his experiences hindering his actions they bettered his actions and he just seemed like the Tobias from the first two books.

I felt like these collections of novellas were really nice to add more depth to the Divergent series and in my opinion has saved Tobias' character that was very damaged in Allegiant. I would recommend this to fans of the Divergent trilogy. I enjoyed all of the stories but my particular favourite was 'The Transfer' as you had never got to see this side or story of Tobias.

4/5 STARS 

ALLEGIANT by VERONICA ROTH

Allegiant
by Veronica Roth
Published: 22nd October 2013 (hardback), September 2014 (paperback)
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Dystopian, YA

"The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories. 
But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love." -from Goodreads

It has indeed taken me this long to finally get around to reading the conclusion to the brilliant Divergent series. I had SUCH high expectations for this book and I'm sad to sad that it didn't meet them. 

I'll try to avoid spoilers but obviously if you haven't read the first two books (which you definitely should) then you will be spoiled. 

The thing that let this book down the most was that it was just confusing, it was confusing to the point where I found myself having to re-read chapters because I had completely missed what was happening. Due to the frankly quite boring plot of the "GD and GP's"I  found myself completely losing interest. This book brought nothing special to the series and just didn't have the spark that made the previous two books so special. I don't think it was due to the actual writing because that is what drew me in so much to the previous titles, I think it was more to do with the fact that the plot was just so off from the world that we had become accustomed to.

Whilst I understand why Veronica Roth chose to write the book from Tobias and Tris' point of view and I didn't dislike it, something should have been done in the way of publishing to make it clearer who's point of view it was, especially because both voices are so similar. I feel that an effort should have been made (like with books such as the Legend trilogy) to make the difference in voices clearer. The main problem that writing the book in this way created was that I realised that Tobias and Tris don't seem like separate characters, I just felt that they were written almost too similarly and it ruined the dynamic of them.

I'm left feeling disappointed by the conclusion, I suppose I understand why the author did what she did but it just left me feeling flat and wondering the point of it all was. 

In conclusion I think Allegiant was a fairly non-remarkable ending to an otherwise brilliant young adult dystopian trilogy.

3/5 STARS