annieb123's Review of Chosen Ones (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

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.

Chosen Ones (Chosen Ones, #1)

by Veronica Roth

Reviewed by annieb123 on Jun 12, 2020

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