Chosen Ones: The New York Times bestselling adult fantasy debut (Chosen Ones, #1)

by Veronica Roth

The Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling adult debut from Veronica Roth, author of Divergent

They were the Chosen Ones. Saving the world made them heroes. Saving it again might destroy them.

When Sloane Andrews and her friends defeated the Dark One, and saved the world, it nearly cost them everything. Ten years later, they are still struggling to put the battle behind them and reclaim their lives. After all, the rest of the world has moved on . . . so why can't they?

Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting. Everyone else blames the PTSD ­­- and her huge attitude problem - but really, she's hiding secrets from them . . . secrets that keep her tied to the past and alienate her from the only four people in the world who understand her.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dark One's defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies. When the others gather for the funeral, they discover the Dark One's ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold - bigger than the world itself.

Last time, it took everything she had. This time, it might not be enough.

***

'I can't remember the last time I was so engrossed' Stephanie Garber, bestselling author of the Caraval series

'This dark, complex novel rocked my heart . . . You'll never look at fantasy heroes the same way again' Charlie Jane Anders, Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of All the Birds in the Sky

'A virtuoso performance' Blake Crouch, bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion

• ISBN10: 1529330238
• ISBN13: 9781529330236
• Publish Date: 7 April 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodderscape
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: my link text.

Chosen Ones is the first novel in a NA series by author Veronica Roth. Released 7th April 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it's 432 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

Although ostensibly an adult novel, with some adult themes including PTSD, depression, lots of anger management issues, etc, it felt like a YA novel. The main characters (who defeated the Dark One) are 20-somethings, 10 years on after saving the world, still trying to process the trauma, grief, and rage, and find their places in the world. The language was rough and some of the themes are difficult, but the whole still felt like a YA novel to me (and there's nothing wrong with YA fiction at all) but with a fair bit of rough language and more unhappiness added into the mix.

The plotting was very slow for me. It was a bit of a slog to finish, though the writing is quite adept and the author is clearly talented. Main character Sloane was prickly, cold, unpleasantly unstable, and scary. It didn't make the reading more pleasant to know that every bit of her prickle and spite was 100% intentional on the author's part.

I know that this novel (and series) will be hugely successful. I found it slow and too drama filled and depressingly like real life.

Two stars for the dark and drama filled plot, four for the admittedly high quality writing.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Ashley]

Mixed feelings.

I loved the concept of following characters 10 years after saving the world. It's like if you read Harry Potter 10 years after book 7 to find that Harry was struggling with PTSD and all the years he spent against Voldemort.

It seems like most people found the first half (or two thirds) slow and enjoyed the ending. I'm actually kind of the reverse. I felt like the ending came together too quickly, wasn't super epic, and then the book ended on almost a downward note (I expected a cliffhanger). My favourite part was actually probably the first third, which had the largest focus on "how are they doing 10 years later?"

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

Can you imagine what kind of adult you'd become if, as a teen, you'd saved the world? It's such an interesting question to posit, and one that we open The Chosen Ones with. Sloane and her cohorts have been in the spotlight for a decade- as you'd imagine any global savior would be. When we meet the group, they're trying to find their own normals in a very abnormal situation. Sloane, whose story we're following, is kind of a mess. She doesn't love the spotlight, and frankly, doesn't know what she wants, just what she assumes she's supposed to want. And because I don't read synopses, this is mainly where I assumed the story would keep going.

And it does, but it's more than that too. The whole story is about Sloane and the others finding their purposes, figuring out who they are. But a new question comes into play halfway through the story: What happens if you didn't quite save the world as much as you'd thought you had? I'll not go into more detail for the obvious, spoilery reasons, but suffice it to say you'd be even more clueless as to who you were.

I enjoyed reading about Sloane's journey. She's not always the most likable character, but she was relatable, and her choices made sense for her. I liked how much we got to know her during the course of the book, too. There was a lot of growth, and a lot of things made more sense the more we get to know the characters. As for the plot, yeah, I am keeping it purposely vague. I was pretty shocked by what happened during the book, and I think you'd enjoy being shocked by it too.

I will say, there was a point around the middle of the book that the pacing seemed a little off, and even after the twist, it was a bit of a slog. But the beginning starts off great, and then it picks up a ton, so it was really not that much of a lull. And the ending was really good, so the lull bothered me even less as a result. I am definitely going to be picking up book 2 to see how Sloane's journey continues!

Bottom Line: In a book where saving the world isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be, we see the real-life implications of being a hero- and what happens when maybe you weren't the hero. Yet.