In the latest addition to Veronica Roth's Divergent universe, The Sixth Faction takes us back to the beginning: Beatrice Prior has a choice to make — familiarity, or change?
Years after the Purity War — when the U.S. government used genetic modifications in an attempt to remove certain traits from humans — the city of Chicago is divided into five factions: Erudite, for those with an aptitude for intelligence, Candor, the honest, Amity, the peaceful, Abnegation, the selfless, and Dauntless, the brave.
At the age of 16, every Chicagoan is subject to an aptitude test — an exam meant to tell you exactly what faction you fit in. But when Beatrice's test is inconclusive, the Abnegation-born teen finds her choice is much more difficult than she expected. The first book in the original series, Divergent, follows Beatrice, or Tris, figuring out life after choosing Dauntless, leaving her family behind. The Sixth Faction is a look at what happens when she makes a different choice.
I really wanted to love this novel. As a person consuming pop culture in the 2010s, it was impossible to miss the young adult dystopian trifecta: Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, James Dashner's The Maze Runner, and Roth's Divergent. Each book series was accompanied by popular movie adaptations. I believe that these stories have played a role in shaping critical thinking around the government and society for young people, which may be why I'm disappointed in what The Sixth Faction brings — or does not bring — to the table.
Exploring what happens to a character, to a story, to an entire world when just one variable changes is not inherently a bad idea. What would happen if Harry Potter were a Slytherin? If the 74th Hunger Games only had one victor? If Beatrice Prior chose Abnegation? These are all great premises for alternative choice stories that have already been written by readers: Fan fiction.
The Sixth Faction is not the only published work that blurs the lines between canon and fan fiction. Wicked — which presents a friendship origin-story between Elphaba, the Wicked Witch, and Glinda the Good — could certainly fit here. And there are plenty of pulled-to-publish fan fictions out there. So for me, the blurriness is not the problem. It is the implication of just how much Tris has changed.
When I started reading this book, I wondered if it would be possible to read either Divergent or The Sixth Faction as two alternative beginnings leading to the same story that plays out for the rest of the series. Tris' actions at the end of the new novel make it clear that this is not the case.
Leading up to this end, the story is different but somehow the same. Tris still questions the validity of the faction system. But where she fought to fit in as a divergent at Dauntless, she now fights to stand out in the other community she's chosen. And it becomes clear that who Tris is at her core is changed.
Perhaps Roth is right. Maybe one choice can change everything about a person. But I am skeptical that Tris' particular choices at the start of this book would lead to so much change in such a short period of time. Yes, The Sixth Faction version of Tris is exposed to more corruption. A violent attack at her choosing ceremony ultimately leads her to see an entirely new part of the society's infrastructure that changes the way Tris understands the government — and she is motivated to make change. But Divergent Tris is just as motivated. Both Trises seem to have the same goal: Find something better than the faction system and do it while keeping her loved ones safe.
But Tris' decision at the end of The Sixth Faction feels in direct opposition to everything she stands for. Perhaps her actions will be retconned or rectified in the next (already written!) installment of this reimagining — but the way the plot played out ultimately made the book feel like a cash grab. There are so many aspects of the Divergent universe that I would love to dive deeper into. What did the very beginning of Chicago's faction system look like? What systems and societies do other experimental cities have in place? What was Tris' mom's life like when she lived outside the walls?
We've seen successful, meaningful returns to long beloved series. Suzanne Collins' prequels always have something unique to say and are constantly changing the way we understand the Hunger Games world. I was really, really hopeful that The Sixth Faction would do the same.
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