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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
This book was a little hard to get into but the final third of it was amazing and super engaging!
This is a little difficult for me to review. While I couldn't put it down, it felt rushed and convoluted. I never fully grasped the world I was in, and a lot of the big answers felt like I was to just accept them and not ask the many follow up questions I had. 3.5 stars
OK, first Leigh Bardugo wrote an adult debut, Ninth House, that I LOVED, and then I find out Veronica Roth is writing an adult debut?! AND I GOT THE ARC??? Sometimes, dreams do come true.
Now if you've read Leigh Bardugo, you will probably like this book, tbh. In Chosen Ones, we've got a bad ass leading lady (Sloane), a bad guy (Dark One), and, you know, saving the world. But this book took a very unique turn that I loved.
This isn't about this group of five saving the world. This is about how they SAVED the world - it's been ten years since that happened. We're seeing what's going on with them in 2020, with flashbacks to what happened ten years ago with the Dark One, how each of the heroes are "coping," and what's happening now. The description takes you to the "eve of the Ten Year Celebration of Peace," when one of them dies, and that "when they gather for the funeral...they discover to their horror that the Dark One's reign never really ended." End of book synopsis. But guys...this takes you to like ten percent of the book!! THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!!!
Part of me hates reviewing books because I worry about being either too vague, or spoiling something. So I will do my best to not do either of those things.
To get something out the way immediately: there is one thing authors do that I find so annoying. Two of the characters have been together for ten years. You find this out within the first few pages. But yet, things keep coming up that one doesn't know about the other, or they find out that they never really knew each other, etc. I've been married to my husband for ten years. We've been together for 13 years. I don't know how two people can be together for ten years and not have revealed their "true selves," or held major life events back from each other. Honestly, the only time I hear about that kind of thing, outside of novels, is when hearing about serial killers and their families and how the neighbors always thought he was a "nice guy," and the wife had no idea, and it just bothers me. Does it happen? Yes. But it came up a lot in this book and it drove me nuts. OK, I'm done with that.
Basically, I loved everything else about this book. Like Alex in Ninth House, Sloane isn't very likable, but again, like Alex, she has every reason to not be prickly and antisocial. She's been through some shit. A prophecy gave specifics about a "chosen one" and five children were picked and taken from their family and tapped to save the world. That's a lot. And after a while, you realize that they didn't just band together and boom, save the world - it took YEARS of fighting to save the world. It took finding ancient weapons and learning how to use them and living on the run and seeing horrible things. That was their childhood. And unfortunately, part of the prophecy was that these kids had already gone through some horrible things, so they're just not really living their best lives.
But I love that each person deals with the trauma in their own way. Drugs, both legal and illegal, helping people going through trauma, hiding from society, using their fame to their advantage - it's all there. And they all remain best friends because they literally have experiences that NO ONE ELSE ON EARTH has ever had. And they can wield magic, because obviously, to beat a magical being, you're going to need some magic, but all that's over, too. Now they are just trying to get through things. But alas, that doesn't continue. When the funeral comes around, they get a big ass shock and things just go crazy.
I don't want to get into a lot more because I don't want to give things away, but things I liked:
- Not everyone is super hot, which is nice
- Magic is different than we thought
- Strange historical events that humans have never been able to explain, being explained in cool ways
- Twists. Lots of twists. And I love it.
So Veronica Roth, if you could come out with the next one ASAP, that would be super. Thanks.
Now if you've read Leigh Bardugo, you will probably like this book, tbh. In Chosen Ones, we've got a bad ass leading lady (Sloane), a bad guy (Dark One), and, you know, saving the world. But this book took a very unique turn that I loved.
This isn't about this group of five saving the world. This is about how they SAVED the world - it's been ten years since that happened. We're seeing what's going on with them in 2020, with flashbacks to what happened ten years ago with the Dark One, how each of the heroes are "coping," and what's happening now. The description takes you to the "eve of the Ten Year Celebration of Peace," when one of them dies, and that "when they gather for the funeral...they discover to their horror that the Dark One's reign never really ended." End of book synopsis. But guys...this takes you to like ten percent of the book!! THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!!!
Part of me hates reviewing books because I worry about being either too vague, or spoiling something. So I will do my best to not do either of those things.
To get something out the way immediately: there is one thing authors do that I find so annoying. Two of the characters have been together for ten years. You find this out within the first few pages. But yet, things keep coming up that one doesn't know about the other, or they find out that they never really knew each other, etc. I've been married to my husband for ten years. We've been together for 13 years. I don't know how two people can be together for ten years and not have revealed their "true selves," or held major life events back from each other. Honestly, the only time I hear about that kind of thing, outside of novels, is when hearing about serial killers and their families and how the neighbors always thought he was a "nice guy," and the wife had no idea, and it just bothers me. Does it happen? Yes. But it came up a lot in this book and it drove me nuts. OK, I'm done with that.
Basically, I loved everything else about this book. Like Alex in Ninth House, Sloane isn't very likable, but again, like Alex, she has every reason to not be prickly and antisocial. She's been through some shit. A prophecy gave specifics about a "chosen one" and five children were picked and taken from their family and tapped to save the world. That's a lot. And after a while, you realize that they didn't just band together and boom, save the world - it took YEARS of fighting to save the world. It took finding ancient weapons and learning how to use them and living on the run and seeing horrible things. That was their childhood. And unfortunately, part of the prophecy was that these kids had already gone through some horrible things, so they're just not really living their best lives.
But I love that each person deals with the trauma in their own way. Drugs, both legal and illegal, helping people going through trauma, hiding from society, using their fame to their advantage - it's all there. And they all remain best friends because they literally have experiences that NO ONE ELSE ON EARTH has ever had. And they can wield magic, because obviously, to beat a magical being, you're going to need some magic, but all that's over, too. Now they are just trying to get through things. But alas, that doesn't continue. When the funeral comes around, they get a big ass shock and things just go crazy.
I don't want to get into a lot more because I don't want to give things away, but things I liked:
- Not everyone is super hot, which is nice
- Magic is different than we thought
- Strange historical events that humans have never been able to explain, being explained in cool ways
- Twists. Lots of twists. And I love it.
So Veronica Roth, if you could come out with the next one ASAP, that would be super. Thanks.
love love love that veronica roth relates mox and sloane’s meet cute to don’t blame me by taylor swift in the annotated 20th chapter in the b and n exclusive copy <3
The Chosen Ones was my first novel by Veronica Roth, and whilst I don't think it will be my last I have to say I was not blown away by the book as a whole. The Chosen Ones is Roth's first adult novel and she seems to be one of many YA authors breaking out into adult fantasy. Having also read the first adult novel by Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House this year, I preferred that much more. However, I feel like the two books were very different in style and set up, and shouldn't be compared directly. Nevertheless, I think The Chosen Ones as a series has potential.
The Chosen Ones is about a group of teenagers who defeated the Dark One, an evil guy who possessed magic that was destroying the world, over 10 years ago. This group of teenagers picked to battle him were known as The Chosen Ones. However, on the ten year anniversary of the death of the Dark One things change and the gang are forced to face new challenges. The gang is made up of Sloane, Matt, Ines, Albie and Esther. The main focus of the narrative follows Sloane who I actually found rather annoying; she was cast as an uber-bitch and she seemed to believe everyone hated her. I really disliked this antagonistic relationship she had with the group. I think this was one of the biggest problems I had with the novel; the main characters, as a whole were rather dull and unlikable. There wasn't really a group camaraderie that I expected from the group who had fought together 10 years ago and remained friends throughout that time. Despite finding Sloane annoying, she was one of the characters that had traits I could like, she followed her gut instincts, questioned everything and wasn't afraid to take action. Until we met Mox, who was a kind of sad but likeable secondary character, there wasn't really anybody else I liked. It's difficult to describe why I liked Mox without giving too much of the plot away, but Mox was one of the main redeeming qualities of the book for me.
Having said that the characters didn't sell me, the world building itself was actually really strong. Roth crafted a world of magic where there were magical artifacts, siphons to channel magic, alternative universes. There was a strong cross-over between magic and science-fiction which worked well in setting up an new fantasy world. It did have a bit of an end-of-the-world/dystopia-vibe to the setting which felt like a layover from Roth's other work. In addition to the actual world Roth created, she also regularly interspersed government reports and diary entries into the book. This offered a different viewpoint on past events and helped to build background and add authenticity to all the events. I actually really liked these reports and they offered a different viewpoint to the chain of events.
Overall, The Chosen Ones got stronger as the novel went along, but it wasn't until the last 40% where my interest was really captured. The first half of the novel felt a little slow as the world got set up and none of the characters besides Mox and occasionally Sloane were really likeable or that memorable by the end. I'd definitely be curious to see where Roth takes this series, but it won't be at the top of my reading list.
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.
The Chosen Ones is about a group of teenagers who defeated the Dark One, an evil guy who possessed magic that was destroying the world, over 10 years ago. This group of teenagers picked to battle him were known as The Chosen Ones. However, on the ten year anniversary of the death of the Dark One things change and the gang are forced to face new challenges. The gang is made up of Sloane, Matt, Ines, Albie and Esther. The main focus of the narrative follows Sloane who I actually found rather annoying; she was cast as an uber-bitch and she seemed to believe everyone hated her. I really disliked this antagonistic relationship she had with the group. I think this was one of the biggest problems I had with the novel; the main characters, as a whole were rather dull and unlikable. There wasn't really a group camaraderie that I expected from the group who had fought together 10 years ago and remained friends throughout that time. Despite finding Sloane annoying, she was one of the characters that had traits I could like, she followed her gut instincts, questioned everything and wasn't afraid to take action. Until we met Mox, who was a kind of sad but likeable secondary character, there wasn't really anybody else I liked. It's difficult to describe why I liked Mox without giving too much of the plot away, but Mox was one of the main redeeming qualities of the book for me.
Having said that the characters didn't sell me, the world building itself was actually really strong. Roth crafted a world of magic where there were magical artifacts, siphons to channel magic, alternative universes. There was a strong cross-over between magic and science-fiction which worked well in setting up an new fantasy world. It did have a bit of an end-of-the-world/dystopia-vibe to the setting which felt like a layover from Roth's other work. In addition to the actual world Roth created, she also regularly interspersed government reports and diary entries into the book. This offered a different viewpoint on past events and helped to build background and add authenticity to all the events. I actually really liked these reports and they offered a different viewpoint to the chain of events.
Overall, The Chosen Ones got stronger as the novel went along, but it wasn't until the last 40% where my interest was really captured. The first half of the novel felt a little slow as the world got set up and none of the characters besides Mox and occasionally Sloane were really likeable or that memorable by the end. I'd definitely be curious to see where Roth takes this series, but it won't be at the top of my reading list.
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Started great, however the twist on page 130 in part 2 of the book took some getting used to and the ending was kind of rushed compared to the rest of the book. Loved the twist with the Dark One/Nero, and the insight we got from sharing his memories. Wish we got more info about the needle and it’s origin, and maybe a better explanation of magic considering it had such a big role in the book. We also didn’t see or hear about Matt and Esther for most of part 3, which i think is kind of weird considering they were some of her only friends (and ex fiance) for most of Sloanes life, but this is not something I am very upset about but just wanted to note it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ahhh, I mean this was all good fun (though it veered off in a totally different direction than expected, and lost touch with a few characters it had spent a lot of time building up), and the pacing makes a lot more sense now that I see it's the first in a series. The premise was fun, the characters were fun, the world building was fun. The ending was... kind of horrifying, and I think most of that was intentional, but after finishing the full implications of the ending sunk in a little bit and it began to feel (unintentionally) awfully, abstractly colonial, and the full horror of it is sticking around a lot longer than I would like for a book that was until that point, just damn good fun.
(Also the only thing that reminded me this wasn't YA is the fact that the characters ages kept being mentioned as approximately somewhere mid-late 20's-ish)
Still, I'll happily read the second - and hope it takes the arid taste of the ending away.
(Also the only thing that reminded me this wasn't YA is the fact that the characters ages kept being mentioned as approximately somewhere mid-late 20's-ish)
Still, I'll happily read the second - and hope it takes the arid taste of the ending away.
