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cassrae 's review for:
Chosen Ones
by Veronica Roth
This took me a long, long time to read, but that's not indicative of my enjoyment of the book. In the end, I really liked Chosen Ones. It just took me a hot minute, and I blame it on the first third of the book.
Veronica Roth wanted to explore the question of "what happens to our heroes after they defeat the big bad evil of their time?" Chosen Ones picks up with the lives of 5 heroes 10 years after they've killed the Dark One, and part 1 is a reflection on how not ok they're doing. Learning the background of the characters, in particular Sloane (our primary MC), is important, but after a while, I genuinely started to think that the main plot of this book was going to be a recollection of the battle from 10 years ago. It isn't until I got to part 2 that I discovered the plot for this book. At that point, the plot picks up (although it remains a bit drawn out). I wish that part 1 was more enjoyable or at least shorter.
What I really liked:
- Sloane is rough and unapologetic, but she's real. I appreciated her grittiness, and I appreciated that Roth delved into the mental health side of our heroes. Suicide and PTSD were both at play in this book, which makes sense considering what our Chosen Ones went through.
-Similar to above, I enjoyed the more mature, adult writing of this book- the violence and dialogue weren't sugarcoated for us.
-Dry, sarcastic humor. This isn't a knee slapper kind of book, but there were one liners tossed into the mix that genuinely made my laugh.
- The unique magical world that we're introduced to. Instead of people being born with magic, it's basically available to all people. The "workings" (like spells but there aren't incantations) are done by hitting different frequencies while desiring an outcome. I thought this was a fresh take on magic that made for an interesting world.
3.5 stars
Veronica Roth wanted to explore the question of "what happens to our heroes after they defeat the big bad evil of their time?" Chosen Ones picks up with the lives of 5 heroes 10 years after they've killed the Dark One, and part 1 is a reflection on how not ok they're doing. Learning the background of the characters, in particular Sloane (our primary MC), is important, but after a while, I genuinely started to think that the main plot of this book was going to be a recollection of the battle from 10 years ago. It isn't until I got to part 2 that I discovered the plot for this book. At that point, the plot picks up (although it remains a bit drawn out). I wish that part 1 was more enjoyable or at least shorter.
What I really liked:
- Sloane is rough and unapologetic, but she's real. I appreciated her grittiness, and I appreciated that Roth delved into the mental health side of our heroes. Suicide and PTSD were both at play in this book, which makes sense considering what our Chosen Ones went through.
-Similar to above, I enjoyed the more mature, adult writing of this book- the violence and dialogue weren't sugarcoated for us.
-Dry, sarcastic humor. This isn't a knee slapper kind of book, but there were one liners tossed into the mix that genuinely made my laugh.
- The unique magical world that we're introduced to. Instead of people being born with magic, it's basically available to all people. The "workings" (like spells but there aren't incantations) are done by hitting different frequencies while desiring an outcome. I thought this was a fresh take on magic that made for an interesting world.
3.5 stars