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Divergent #0.1

The Transfer

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Complete your Divergent library with the Four stories!

Fans of the Divergent series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be captivated by "Four: The Transfer," the first of four stories, each between fifty and seventy-five pages long, set in the world of Divergent and told from Tobias's perspective.

In "The Transfer," readers witness Tobias's aptitude test, Choosing Day, and the moment he is given the infamous nickname "Four."

55 pages, ebook

First published September 3, 2013

About the author

Veronica Roth

57 books461k followers
Veronica Roth is the New York Times best-selling author of Arch-Conspirator, Poster Girl, Chosen Ones, the short story collection The End and Other Beginnings, the Carve the Mark duology, and the Divergent series. She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and dog.

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5 stars
24,822 (44%)
4 stars
18,229 (32%)
3 stars
10,187 (18%)
2 stars
2,039 (3%)
1 star
613 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,095 reviews
Profile Image for karen.
4,006 reviews172k followers
October 27, 2019
veronica roth is so smart.

not only is she releasing, in measured intervals, four novellas (four about FOUR!! get it??) that lead right up to the release date for the Divergent movie in march, but she is being smart about how she writes them.

i wasn't crazy about Free Four: Tobias Tells the Story, but this one is fantastic. with Free Four: Tobias Tells the Story, she just retold a scene from Divergent from tobias' perspective. which is nice, but since i am too old to be crushing on a (teenage) character from a book, i didn't get all whoopty-blah about it. it was fine, and i love that it exists for the more age-appropriate fans to swoon over, but it didn't really work for me as a reader.

but this one did. and going by my two-years-ago memory of reading Divergent (and reading other people's reviews of The Transfer: A Divergent Story, thank you all) there isn't any new, revelatory material here. everything here, plotwise, has been covered in the previous books. but roth fleshed out the bones of known backstory with that meat of fiction: character. and it reminded me why i liked Divergent so much. so it works as a refresher: "this is why you liked this character, remember?? this is where he is coming from and what he has experienced. and this is how i write, which is not the most poetic or original style in the world, but it is with a powerful sense of sympathy and immediacy. and you like that."

so it's great to have this memory-blast, and i assume the three forthcoming ones will be the same kind of thing - where we aren't being given new material, just enhanced, already-known plot, which doesn't come across as redundant because of all the added surrounding detail, but which also means that a fan without access to e-books isn't going to be deprived of actual content if they aren't able to read them.

smart, smart, smart.

what is not smart is this casting.



now, according to my imdb-and-math skills, this guy is only 24, and tobias is supposed to be 18, but this actor looks so much older than 24, right? this isn't a kid, this is a full-on grown-up dude.

"i do not care for it" i sniff petulantly.

but i did care for this story. and i will gladly be snatching up the other three.

WOOT!

come to my blog!
Profile Image for Ida.
130 reviews235 followers
November 3, 2017
This was a lot shorter than I imagined, but it definitely gives you the Divergent feels even though plotwise everything has been covered in the previous books.

"You’re the one who has to live with your choice."
"Everyone else will get over it, move on, no matter what you decide. But you never will."




The transfer follows Tobias from the day of his aptitude test and though his Choosing day until the moment he´s given his infamous nickname- Four. It gives you a better understanding of the choice he made, and why he chose dauntless as apposed to any of the other factions.

description

It´s not the same Tobias you meet in Divergent, nor the same voice you follow in Allegiant, this is Tobias before he became Four.

"Trust me when I tell you, Eaton boy, that resisting is worth doing."

description
338 reviews114 followers
January 15, 2014
Sep 03, 2013 (before reading)
A fat cow never goes unmilked… and so here it comes the army of overpriced short stories.

Kindle Price: $2.06
Print Length: 30 pages

Seriously.


Oct 26, 2013 (after reading)
Just for clarity's sake: on my ADE reader, the ebook was exactly 34 pages long, and the story began on page 4 (Four! Hehe) and ended on page 29, for a net total of 25 pages.

I'm not one of those people who think that everything should be free or at least very cheap. And I don't want to squabble over a matter of a handful of cents. Hey, you did a job, you have to get paid.
But this story is more like a marketing aid for the actual books of the series (and the upcoming movie!), and for this price it should be doubly as long as it is.

That being said… yes, I liked it.
415 reviews124 followers
April 19, 2014
Damn it, I didn't expected to get so emotional with this novella...




I wanted to punch Marcus...


...and then salute Four, for being his kick ass self.


So overall...
Profile Image for ♥ℂĦℝΪՖƬΪℕÅ.
230 reviews3,952 followers
August 18, 2019
4 I have to get out. ★'s



“You’re the one who has to live with your choice. Everyone else will get over it, move on, no matter what you decide. But you never will.”



I always loved Tobias Eaton "Four" in the Divergent series and I always wanted his story. How did I not know these novellas existed? I know, I'm really late to the party but I'm here now, that's what matters right? Anywho, I really enjoyed reading this and I absolutely love having his POV it was great being inside his head. It was nice getting more back story on Tobias's relationship with his father Marcus too, who may I remind you is a complete POS!!! It was really kinda strange to see such a vulnerable side to him and to see the fear and the struggles he had. I liked seeing this thought process on the whole Choosing Ceremony and how he came to the decision to join Dauntless. Though I do think this was a lot like Tris's story once Tobias joined Dauntless. Wish it would have played out a bit different but nonetheless, it was still interesting. Most of all I loved the bit at the end, finding out how he got his nickname FOUR.❤

Moving on to #0.2 The Initiate, CAN'T WAIT!!!!
February 18, 2020
Q: “This train stops for no one.” (c)
Q: A new knife for each person, and a new choice. (c)

Freedom. Choice. Inertia. Aptitudes. Strenghth.

Q:
“Trust me when I tell you, Eaton boy, that resisting is worth doing.” (c)
Q:
Sometimes I know people are lying just because of the way the words feel when they press into me, uncomfortable and wrong, the way an Erudite feels when she reads a grammatically incorrect sentence. (c)
Q:
I sit with my hands clenching my knees, watching the other tables, while the other students finish their aptitude tests. The Erudite table is covered in reading material, but they aren’t all studying—they’re just making a show of it, trading conversation instead of ideas, their eyes snapping back to the words every time they think someone’s watching them. The Candor are talking loudly, as always. The Amity are laughing, smiling, pulling food from their pockets and passing it around. The Dauntless are raucous and loud, slung over the tables and chairs, leaning on one another and poking one another and teasing.
I wanted any other faction. Any other faction but mine, where everyone has already decided that I am not worth their attention. (c)
Q:
But there is something appealing about it here too, a freedom, a refusal to belong to these arbitrary categories we’ve made for ourselves. (c)
Q:
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone,” I say automatically.
“I’m not anyone,” he says. “I’m nobody. That’s what being factionless is.” (c)
Q:
My mother was the one who taught me to steal moments like those, moments of freedom, though she didn’t know it. (c)
Q:
... I have filled the trunk with objects that others would call useless: old spectacles without glass in them, fragments of discarded motherboards, spark plugs, stripped wires, the broken neck of a green bottle, a rusted knife blade. I don’t know if my mother would have called them beautiful, or even if I would, but each of them struck me the same way that sculpture did, as secret things, and valuable ones, if only because they were so overlooked. (c)
Q:
In Amity I would find the kind of acceptance I’ve craved my entire life, and maybe, over time, it would teach me to feel steady in myself, comfortable with who I am.
But as I look at the people sitting in that section, in their reds and yellows, I see only whole, healed people, capable of cheering one another, capable of supporting one another. They are too perfect, too kind, for someone like me to be driven into their arms by rage and fear. (c)
Q:
It never occurred to me before that I could refuse to give my name, or that I could give a false one, construct a new identity for myself. I’m free here, free to snap at people and free to refuse them and free even to lie. (c)
Q:
If I strike at their memories now, as hard as I can, become as memorable as my Dauntless self as possible, I can maybe save myself. (c)
Profile Image for Carolina Carriço.
543 reviews689 followers
April 26, 2014
What can I say?! I love Tobias Eaton ! And this book was awesome!



Reading another short story on his POV was such a magical experience. Finding more about his relationship with Marcus son of a bitch! I hate him and how was his Choosing Ceremony and how he felt about it. How did he make up his mind about which faction he would choose. And finally how he felt in his first tests in Dauntless and how he got his nickname

FOUR
Profile Image for Prabhjot Kaur.
1,063 reviews199 followers
May 23, 2021
Four is my favorite character in the Divergent series and he is also among my top favorite male YA characters so I was very excited to get my hands on this. This talks about Four before he became Four and this was very emotional. I could actually tell that it was not that same confident Four from the series. This was good and too short.

Four stars.
Profile Image for Ferdy.
944 reviews1,258 followers
September 6, 2013
2.5 stars - Spoilers

Meh, it was mostly boring. The storyline was decent enough with Tobias wanting to escape his abusive dad, thus transferring to Dauntless, and then jumping off trains and buildings to prove himself, and finally facing his fears in a scientifically nonsensical simulation.
I really wasn't impressed with Four's narration — his voice was too dull and predictable, and it ruined the story.
I predict that he'll probably fall for a fellow Dauntless initiate in one of his future novellas, and then she'll die or some rubbish. I hope that doesn't happen though, it's way too cliched.
Profile Image for Mariah Roze.
1,056 reviews1,058 followers
February 5, 2017
Right now I am reading Four: A Divergent Story Collection (Divergent, #0.1 - 0.4) by Veronica Roth and really enjoying the book! It has been an long time since I read the Divergent series, so it is nice getting back into it :)
Profile Image for Liz* Fashionably Late.
434 reviews431 followers
October 28, 2013
Well...


Great opportunity to learn something new about Four. Unfortunately, there's not much. Just Four's badassessness. And even if that's no small thing, I really wished for an awesome revelation or something exciting to happen.

That said, it was so refreshing to meet again the Four I fell in love with in Divergent and not that weird teenager I found in Insurgent. It delivered, a nice reminded of who Tobias was and how he became my first book crush. He was tough, strong even when his father was such a jerk and determined to rewrite his own story.

Oh, Veronica Roth. I'm not sure if I'm ready to step in Allegiant.
Profile Image for Mariℓina.
624 reviews202 followers
May 4, 2014
This was all "Four" and i enjoyed it immensely! 4,5 Stars.
It's a great intro to a fascinating world..


I haven't read the other books yet, i only saw the movie and read the tie in companion at this point, but i can tell when something is good and interesting..
This is a short story but it's so full and whole, it makes you crave more and at the same time it's complete in its own way..


Tobias had a hard life because of his father Marcus. He abused him for a long time and now is finally the moment for that to change.. He makes a decision that will alter his existence forever and keep his abusive father away for good..


We have a chance to watch him struggle with his choise and we have a chance to see what Tobias Eaton was, before Dauntless..



THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK
- His father is an unbalanced monster.
- The writing is very good and the story flows so easily..
- It's great to be on his mind..
- He went through a lot himself..
- It's so good that he found his place..
- I liked the story with his mother..
- I also liked how he got his name..
- He melt my heart and not just because of his looks..
Profile Image for Ari.
940 reviews1,348 followers
September 11, 2013
It's a fact that Four is my favorite character in the series and reading a bit about his past makes me understand him more.

It is not that we find something new, not at all, but it's his voice with his insecurities and hopes and fears. You see two sides of him - the boy he was and the transfer he is now, one that can decide who he wants to be, how the others will see him, accept him, respect him.. and why not, fear him.

"My name is Four." I say. "Call me 'Stiff' again and you and I will have a problem."

A nice addition to the story.. what can I say, I'm waiting for the next short story from his point of view :D
Profile Image for Howard.
1,665 reviews100 followers
December 25, 2019
5 Stars for The Transfer: A Divergent Story (audiobook) by Veronica Roth read by Aaron Stanford. This is a short story in the Divergent universe. I really enjoy this series and this prequel is no different. This is the backstory for one of the main characters. A must if you’re a fan.
Profile Image for Bethan.
59 reviews20 followers
August 16, 2016
I loved reading from Tobias' point of view. He was my favourite character! I think he had much more depth than anyone else and if anything, I don't think Roth delved deep enough for my liking.
Profile Image for Mai is a Happy Bibliophile.
206 reviews78 followers
September 7, 2013

"My name is Four." I say. "Call me 'Stiff' again and you and I will have a problem."

My Reaction before reading this novella:



My reaction while reading:





Can you freaking believe it??!! Veronica granted Four fans greatest wish EVERYWHERE. It's like Christmas came so EARLY this year! Tobias Eaton is probably one of the most coveted, crushed-on, daydreamed-on male YA character today. His mysterious badass vibe made its first steamy appearance way back 2011 on Divergent. The first novella written in Four's perspective was Free Four: Tobias Tells the Story in which he described his feelings when he first met Abnegation-transfer Tris Prior. In this new novella comprised of like 50 pages, Tobias Eaton told his story as an Abnegation-born and the rules he had to live by with his father. He is a good narrator and I can personally feel his pain and fears while telling his story. I can't help but hate Marcus for inflicting him pain and even thought he could condition Tobias's mind to stay on his faction. Readers will also have a look on his Dauntless initiation and how he came to be called 'Four'. (but we all know that, really.)

I can't wait for the next novella. More Four!

Profile Image for Denisse.
518 reviews299 followers
July 31, 2015
It doesn't tell anything new. What a waste of time.



Esta historia no te cuenta nada que no sepamos ya, solo es para sacar dinero y estoy segura de que las demás serán iguales.

LO QUE ME GUSTO: pues ver desde su perspectiva el miedo que tenia a su padre.
LO QUE NO ME GUSTO: que eligiera Dauntless solo porque sabria que seria mas vergonzoso para Marcus, literal ese es su ultimo pensamiento antes de elegir esa facción. Yo creía que la eligiria para saber defenderse o algo así, incluso la excusa estúpida de Tris de "porque ellos son libres" es mejor que eso.

PD: Insisto, hubiera sido mejor 4 historias cortas de otros 4 personajes.. Ya chole con Cuatro. Que ganas las de Roth de besarle el trasero.
Profile Image for Aubrey.
29 reviews
September 5, 2013
I just can't...okay?

I got it and I was all:



I love it so bad Veronica! I can't wait until December for the next one okay? It's just way to long from now... But anyway, back to my review of this amazingly awesome book.

Look Marcus you just need to stop beating your son okay? Like he is the best thing that has ever happened to the world. I was just like this, when I heard Marcus's name in "The Transfer."



Marcus has some serious problems to do that to Four. SERIOUS PROBLEMS.

Then I was just reading...like a abnormal fangirl like always:



Then it did the worst thing that books do....I was like it will last longer if you believe... Magical pages will appear and finish the whole story in Four's POV. But it did what I hate the most...





They End...



Just read this, Divergent Lovers.
Profile Image for Norah Una Sumner.
869 reviews511 followers
January 3, 2016
“You’re the one who has to live with your choice,” she says. “Everyone else will get over it, move on, no matter what you decide. But you never will.”

I'm apparently in a mood for short stories this week.This is Four's story and it's quite interesting.This is Four that we meet and fell in love with in Divergent-wreck,but a badass wreck.But we don't really learn anything new...Marcus is a seriously messed up person,I would actually like to know more about him and his relationship with Four,did he know that Four is Divergent?Did Four know that there's something wrong? So many questions,so little good informative material from Veronica Roth.
Overall,this was a cool short story.

description
Profile Image for MischaS_.
782 reviews1,426 followers
October 21, 2013
That was something! You know what, when writers write something from different POV, that character is usually completely changed but not here! It's not our Four, it's still Tobias, little boy who's tortured by his own father. But somewhere deep inside him, you can see our Four! He's screaming, kicking to get outside and to kick some ass*s. Yeah, go for it!
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
277 reviews880 followers
July 13, 2018
I've only read the first installment of the Divergent series. Despite the fact that I didn't move forward with the other books, I actually find this world fascinating. Unfortunately the style of writing just isn't as strong as in, say, The Hunger Games.

This is a decent look into Four's Dauntless initiation and will probably satisfy anyone who is invested in the series.
Profile Image for Cass -  Words on Paper.
820 reviews235 followers
Shelved as 'top-wishlist'
June 19, 2013
I predict that HarperCollins will eventually produce a bindup edition of all of these short stories.

*They did it for the Delirium trilogy.*

~

(Thanks Tez!)

Four: A Divergent Story Collection
February 11, 2014 | 978-0062285683
Profile Image for Ronda.
887 reviews166 followers
September 19, 2013
This was fantastic!!! To read about Four's initiation was something else... although, obviously, I knew the story, reading it first hand was simply amazing! LOVE this!!!
Profile Image for Amy J.
313 reviews48 followers
October 12, 2014
UPDATE (9/5): So, thanks to a friend on Goodreads, as well as the Divergentfans website and of course, who can forget Veronica Roth who made it all possible, I read this! It was amazing and I loved how we saw how Tobias became Four. I actually thought that it could've been longer, just because I want to read more of the Divergent world, but this was great!

UPDATE (9/3): It's out today!! OMG, I can't wait to read this. :D

This cover is awesome! OMG, I can't wait for more Four!!! I think this is going to be when he's 16 and he chooses Dauntless, can't wait at all, there's only a month-ish!!! :P
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