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Book: “The Sixth Faction” by Veronica Roth
Publishing Info: HarperCollins, October 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Beatrice Prior stands on the brink of a decision every person in her world must make: five factions, five futures, five lives.
She has a plan: she’s going to make the bravest choice, and leave Abnegation behind to join Dauntless, even though it means leaving her family behind.
But when tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony, everything changes—her world, her plans, even Beatrice herself.
Her ensuing decision thrusts her into the crosshairs of an underground rebellion, and into the path of a boy with secrets as dangerous as her own—a boy with only a number for a name.
One choice will change everything.
Review: I have to say, I feel like I’m probably the perfect reader for this book. I read the first “Divergent” book back when it came out, and while I didn’t dislike it, I also didn’t continue with the series. Mostly, there were just so many YA dystopian series coming out at this time, and this one didn’t particularly catch my eye. That being the case, I did not experience the extreme upset that seems to have been the ending of that series. I can even say that if anything, I remember reading about how the story tied things up and mentally applauding the author for having the guts to buck current trends in YA that seemed to ensure happy, fluffy endings for all. But it was only after the high (and low) that was this series that I really discovered Roth’s writing and grew to adore her books.
Since I read “Chosen Ones,” she’s gone on to be a must-read author for me, and I’m pretty sure I’ve read everything she’s written since that point. So, with this history, when I heard that she was revisiting her original blockbuster YA series, I was thrilled! I had missed the boat the first go-around, and how often do you get a second chance at something like that? What’s more, as a reader, I was excited to dive back into this world without the baggage of the previous series (other than my vague memories of the first book). And so, while I can’t speak to all the tie-ins or nods to the original series that may be contained within this title, I can say that this book stands fully on its own as a fantastic read.
Having only brief memories of the first book (something about jumping in a massive pit as part of an initiation process), I won’t be spending much of this review comparing and contrasting it to the original. I’m sure other reviewers will have that angle covered. Instead, the entire book felt incredibly fresh to me. The broad strokes of this world remain, and the general impression I remember of Tris persists as well. But everything was given additional depth.
The world-building, while still adhering to the basic principles, feels much more developed than I remember it being from the first book. Yes, you have the basic factions, but the story spends additional time diving behind the scenes into each one, exposing their various strengths and weaknesses. Not one of them comes out cleanly, while there were also various points throughout the book where members of each group made a good argument for why their approach was the most sympathetic. Even the factionless, the group we spend the most time with, was painted in these shades of grey. True to the message of the book, while the factions (and factionless) seem to unite around singular principles, they are ultimately made up of individuals who all interpret those values differently.
Likewise, the characters were expanded upon here as well. Beyond Tris herself feeling like a more nuanced individual and less of a “chosen one” archetype, Roth wisely breaks the story up between several POVs, including, alongside Tris, her love interest, Four, as well as her brother. While her brother gets less page time than the other two, his chapters did much of the heavy lifting in some of the overall world-building and the lead-up to the greater conflict. But from there, the story really does now feel equally split between Tris and Four.
I really enjoyed both of these characters. For her part, Tris’s story is one of finding her place in this world. Ostensibly, this was the same arc she traveled in the original book. But here, Tris’s struggles felt much more grounded. Instead of simply struggling with her Divergent status, the conflicts Tris faces have much more to do with the connections she has to those around her, from her original family to the ones that she forms in her new factionless group. While her being Divergent got the ball rolling, it wasn’t the primary driving force behind her arc, and I greatly preferred this approach to the character.
Four was also an interesting character. Much of his story was a surprise to me, because if we learned much about his background way back in the first “Divergent” novel, I for one had completely forgotten it. He was a bit too “perfect” in a few ways, but I appreciated the look at the complicated nature of his relationship to his mother and the ways that this history has shaped him as a person.
I also enjoyed the love story between these two. I remember rolling my eyes a bit at the romance between Tris and Four in the original story, as there it very much came across as Tris spotting the first hot guy she came across and them immediately, mutually falling in lust with one another. This may just be a testament to the author honing her skills over time, but it felt like the relationship built up between Four and Tris in this book felt much more organic and earned.
Beyond this, this was simply a fun book to read. It was well-paced, action-packed, and the world felt interesting with new secrets to be revealed around every corner. Again, I can’t speak to how much of this was known from the first book, but I for one was gobbling up all the twists and turns as they came, especially in the final quarter of the book. I also think it was a wise choice by the author to reduce the original trilogy to a duology. This book felt tightly plotted and paced, and I’m incredibly excited to see where the story goes from here. While I’m sure that “Divergent” fans will have a unique experience ahead reading this book, I can also say that as a reader who didn’t complete the first series and had only the vaguest memories of the first book, this was definitely approachable as an entry point for new readers. I definitely recommend giving this one a go (yes, even you, reader who is still bitter about the original ending a decade later!)
Rating 9: At this point, I will follow Veronica Roth’s writing journey wherever it takes me. Even if it is back in time to a re-imagining of her blockbuster “Divergent” series that I gasp didn’t even finish at the time. This was a brilliant read, and well worth it for new and old fans alike!
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Sixth Faction” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Dystopias I Would Like To Make An Exception For and 2026 Romance Duets.
