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livsliterarynook 's review for:
Chosen Ones
by Veronica Roth
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.