Parents' Guide to The Sixth Faction, Book 1

Despite misgivings that Roth's reboot was an off-putting ploy, it's a well-written, riveting, and immersive story that's hard to put down. When news first broke that Roth was doing this, it felt akin to J.K. Rowling rewriting Harry Potter as if he'd been sorted into Slytherin. Talk about unnecessary. Do we really want authors to basically write canonical alternate-universe fan fiction? Apparently, the answer is yes, because Roth's first in a planned duology is a reminder of why we liked Divergent in the first place, but with even more character development, expansive world-building involving the Factionless, and overall better writing. The only reason it's not five stars is that so much of the groundwork for the story already existed, so it's not quite an original story.

It's clever how Roth weaves in existing characters but still surprises readers with new revelations. Not every event in the original Divergent is replicated, and some characters, like Four's and Tris' mothers, have a larger influence in this story than in the first one. It's also no longer told from a single perspective, with Four and Caleb getting their own chapters, allowing readers to see (if not agree with) why Caleb is so taken in by the Erudite faction leader Jeanine Matthews. Four remains as swoon-worthy a partner for Tris as ever, and this version of Tris has many more philosophical questions about identity and society to contend with now that she's living outside the relative safety of the faction system. She's simultaneously wise beyond her years and still believably a teen. The real question about this reboot is whether Tris' fate (so controversial in Allegiant) ends up more hopeful in the next and final installment. Time will tell, but Roth has made a compelling case that some stories are worth telling twice.