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ashleyg101 's review for:
Chosen Ones
by Veronica Roth
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.