Chosen Ones (Lost Souls)

by Tiffany Truitt

[Angie]

Chosen Ones is completely bizarre and disturbing. It’s not exactly original, since it immediately reminded me of two other books I recently read, but it was still interesting. Tess is sentenced to work at Templeton–some weird facility where the chosen ones are created and trained–after her sister dies during childbirth before completing her term there. The compound that they live in is 100% sexist and sexual encounters are not acceptable at all (but more on this in a moment). While there, Tess befriends a chosen one named James who seems much different than the others. She is essentially a servant, while he is the perfect piece of man, so they’re not suppose to be together. However, both of them are different from the others, so perhaps they can strive for something more?

I’m not sold on this society. In some ways it reminds me of Delirium, such as emotion being considered a weakness and the root of all problems and music and books being banned to suppress imagination. However, Chosen Ones takes it a step further and blames everything on “the wantonness of women.” I’m not sure what “everything” entails exactly, but somehow women are to blame. They have the option of being sterilized, since for some unknown reason the majority of women now die giving birth. Why don’t the men have this option? They’re the ones doing the impregnating, so it would make sense to sterilize those who choose to. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Women are also publicly punished: branding, beating, and beheading. It’s all very medieval, and I would have liked to have known more of the whys of it.

The reason for the chosen ones being feared and viewed as superior to the naturals also wasn’t made clear. They were created to be soldiers in the ongoing war, since the natural human population was dwindling and refused to continue to fight. It is also said that they’ll inherit the earth once all of the naturals are gone, since they can no longer reproduce. How do soldiers come to essentially rule over the society which created them? The chosens that Tess interacts with make demands that cannot be refused and appear to be potential rapists. Is it because physically they’re perfect, and are automatically “better”? But why do disposable soldiers need to be the perfect male specimens? Again, this makes no sense to me. There are far too many holes in the inner workings of this society for me to believe in it.

Despite my complaints with the world-building, there is a really good story in Chosen Ones. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ll know I love forbidden romances, so I did enjoy Tess and James. There was always some worry at the back of mind when they were together, especially when they were partaking in illegal activities (i.e. playing piano and reading Jane Eyre). Both of them could be killed for not fitting in their nice, neat roles the council has set up for them. Of course, being a dystopian, there has to be a hidden resistant movement. This doesn’t come up until the end, and it read very similarly to Delirium, including the idea of “the wilds.” However, I do think this has the potential to be interesting in the following book. I just wish there had been more information about life in the compound before removing Tess from it.

In the end, Chosen Ones was another interesting read about what makes us human. Is it our soul? Being developed in a womb? Something else entirely? Who knows, but it is something to think about. It seems like a lot of these Frankenstein-esque books are being released, and I have to say that Chosen Ones is one of the better ones I’ve read despite its faults.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.