Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

12 reviews

ria_carina's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Disliking a few of Veronica Roth's other books I gave her another chance with this one and even if I'm not completely satiesfied, it was good. The main character was interesting and not bland like I found other ones out penned by her, the romance was not unexpected but overall sweet and the story itself was unpredictable and therefore captivating.
But I expected something entirely else when reading the blurb ... because the plot twists where just a bit heavy and nearly genre-changing in my opinion. Sadly, I think many of the things weren't explained profoundly and after reading half of the book the rest until the end felt rushed while the first half was dull at times. In comparison to other recently read books I think a solid 3 will do. It's not bad but it's just no favourite either.

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abygaylemarie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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ellamc's review

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A very interesting plot, I enjoyed that they did not seem to just have worked everything out just because they were the Chosen Ones. However the ending was very rushed, I'm unsure if Roth plans to write a sequel or not but even still the
meshing of the worlds and the group reuniting with Inez and then splitting up happened way too quickly
I would have preferred a few extra chapters fleshing out the end rather than just cutting it off.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book has one of my favorite tropes: the reluctant hero. I just love a hero who gripes their way through saving the world!

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rae42's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Loved the writing but the plot changed in the middle and the end feels like its missing a few chapters

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joshuas_space's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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elle_dee's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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leonormsousa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

TRIGGER WARNINGS 
violence, death, mental illness (PTSD), panic attacks, emotional abuse, kidnapping, torture, murder, gore, blood, injury/injury detail, suicide, addiction, drug abuse, alcoholism, chronic pain, grief, cancer


REPRESENTATION 
MC with PTSD, Black SC, Mexican-American lesbian SC, disabled SC


REVIEW
Although I did enjoy the Divergent series, I have some mixed feelings towards it (especially the last book) and so I probably would have never picked up Chosen Ones was it not for Beatriz talking about it. It wasn’t even a favourite of hers but somehow, the way she talked about the book really got me invested in it. Since I’m a mood reader, being really invested means it took me about a year to buy it and then another year to finally get around to reading it 🙈. Anyway, this was just a big introduction so I can thank Beatriz for what was actually a great recommendation but also appreciate bookstagram for making me read books I probably never would.

Moving on to the book itself, I enjoyed it quite a lot: solid 4 stars for me. But even though I did enjoy it for what it was, I can’t help but think about how GOOOOOOD this book would be if, using the same starting point, it was more a sort of literary fiction. Does this make no sense? No?! Yeah, that sounds about right… But let me explain.

My absolute favourite part about this book was the characters. It’s not that the plot was not interesting but for me personally, it felt like an ok plot. But the characters… THE. CHA. RAC. TERS. I loved them and their dynamics. This book starts off as an exploration of trauma, unwanted fame and relationships, with a dash of misogyny and racism and I was living for it. Honestly, that was all I needed. And it’s not that I didn’t get it throughout the entire book; I did; it’s just that I kept wondering about what if there wasn’t another adventure or wtv for our main characters; what if we got the whole book to talk about trauma?! (Am I a masochist? Oh yes, oh yes!)

So, summarizing what I just wrote: I liked this book but it makes me slightly angry that it had so much potential to be much more than what it was but because it stuck to its fantasy genre, it didn’t. Obviously, this is not an anger directed at anyone (especially not the author, she did do a great job!), it’s more a frustration directed at the world itself.

Now that I’ve got that off my system and since this is getting quite big already, here are some short sentences with short opinions:
- very cool magic system/sci-fi world, would have been great if there was more space/time to exploit it.
- plot was slightly predictable
- liked the zombies
- would have liked to see Ines embark on the journey with the other Chosen Ones and not get left behind
- loved the approach on relationships, especially Matt-Sloane
- the Chicago depiction was pretty cool but for someone who’s not familiar with it, it got a bit confusing sometimes
- great perspective on “the chosen one” concept
- I might have a small crush on Sloane <3

And that’s it for today, folks! In general, I had a good time reading this and if there was a second book, I would definitely be reading it! Now I’m gonna go cry a bit because I can’t find fanart for these amazing characters 😥 And when I’m finished crying, I’m gonna start looking for books about trauma because apparently, that’s something I enjoy spending my time with 😝

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jashanac's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is quite different from anything else I've read - there were definitely times where the magic itself and the whole
different dimensions
thing didn't really make sense/click in my brain... but I just kind of went with it and accepted it. Ha! 

I just really enjoyed the exploration of what it means to be a "chosen one", once the Big Bad is defeated and what the effects of that could be. And then the exploration of good versus evil in general - I liked what Veronica Roth did with that. It felt like a fresh take on it for me. 

I am VERY curious about how things are going to pan out with the WILD ending... ! 

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ciarastud's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I honestly enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for books with an unknown past. Usually, I read in the form of romance and the main character runs into a past lover, but this was fresh and interesting topic of YA chosen heroes after they’ve saved the world. It’s a different type of dark take on the topic. Because children/teenagers are a vulnerable population and these older people with power are telling them they are the only ones that can save the world. And no book I’ve read before has talked about the toll it would take. I think that’s why I liked the book so much because it deglamorizes the trope. I think the book was fast-paced as you were always kind of learning something new. The only thing I didn’t like was the end. Like all the stuff you learned didn’t really cumulate to much. And it was quick. And I was kinda just like okay. But the journey was interesting.

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