This was a really quick and interesting fantasy read. I loved that it featured dinosaurs! I initially had some issues with the plot and characters' decision making but as the plot progressed, I really enjoyed reading.

Throughout history, people have vanished with little to no explanation. And now Cade and his schoolmates are one of them. Six months into his new school, contemplating his new, drastic path, he is suddenly transported to another realm. A realm where prehistoric animals and ancient societies have seemingly made a home in this strange world. Cade and his friends have no time to relax when a mysterious being announces them as contenders in a game without rules but to survive.

I’ll admit there was some confusion on my end because the cover and the original synopsis I had read lead me to believe this series was an extension of Matharu’s Summoner series which I mildly enjoyed. Once the talks of modern school and dinosaurs started popping up, I had a feeling we were not in the Hominum Empire anymore. I laugh at my mistake and then started the book over again. My first thoughts when I finished this book was mild confusion. Even with my initial mistake, I felt like I had been reading a different book than what I set out with initially. I wasn’t particularly blown away, it was good fun to read, but nothing was that special for me, personally.

What made The Chosen unique was its take on using mystery disappearances. Cade soon learns that many people and creatures he sees before have been reported to have disappeared, never to be seen again. A lot of them have ended up here in this strange world. I was having some fun with this book initially. I initially felt some Lord of the Flies vibes. Matharu does an excellent job of setting the scene, bring together a group of boys as they try to figure out what’s happening to them. They discover buildings and materials from people before them and begin their journey to survival. It is from this moment onwards is where I think the story just loses itself.

Cade is separated from his peers, and this is where the bulk of the story will continue. He meets more people, discovers bolder enemies and figures how most of his plan on his own. The writing is good, consistent and straight to the point. But I just felt like the story just didn’t know where it was going. Or maybe because it’s a trilogy, it felt stretched out far too much to make any real sense. The boys discover they are running on a countdown very early on in the book, and despite the reminder of the clock, it felt really underwhelming. Cade fights new enemies, creatures and humans alike, but it doesn’t go anywhere. Any semblances of an explanation are revealed only in the final chapter, and at the point, I was more confused than thoroughly informed.

Overall, The Chosen had the potential to be a lot more eventful and exciting if the journey towards the ending wasn’t so underwhelming. Apart from Cade and another character introduced later on, the rest of the cast blur into each other. We are given signifiers and a somewhat decent backstory for them, but when they’re placed within this world, it becomes the Cade Show, where everyone loses relevance. The mystery does unfold quite interestingly, and I just some faith the sequel can do the series justice, but the introduction is not as exhilarating as it should have been.

I'm probably getting too old for these kind of books. I've read one of Taran Matharu's other books, and had much the same experience with The Chosen - it is alright. The main reason this book didn't wow me is because the book I thought I was going to get after reading the synopsis wasn't really the book I got.

What I thought The Chosen was going to be was a magic school/academy type book wherein the main character Cade ends up there after being drawn in by a mysterious entity. This world is different to ours, older and wilder, and as Cade spends more time at this mysterious boarding school he discovers more dangerous secrets. That's what I thought this book would be.

Instead, Cade is transported to a wild world with dinosaur type things and weird objects from throughout earth history. There isn't a school, there's only a collection of kids dumped into a place that are suddenly attacked. And there's a weird orb that tells them they have to defend a fort?? It was just pretty weird and unexpected.

Still enjoyable, but altogether not what I expected.

I enjoyed this so much. So, so much. It’s exactly the sort of high octane adventure I enjoy, crossed with a fantasy world and a sci-fi-esque twist. Yes please.

This book very strongly reminded me of Matthew Reilly’s Contest, and was definitely more of what I wanted from his recent YA effort.

The Chosen runs exactly along the right line of action, teen angst and intrigue. I enjoyed the action, and LOVED the dinosaurs. I also really enjoyed the history elements, or trivia geekery, and the planning for the fights.

I quite liked Cade for the most part, but loved Quintus and the girls the most. I was also intrigued by the hints that they were all watched and picked from the school specifically. I liked the fact that the book shows how cruel kids can be, especially on the racism front (and we also got to see how this reflects out into the wider world and the legal parts), and the school really is an environment full of toxic masculinity.

Away from all that, the implications of the contest itself, what we find out at the end, and where this may head next are all really intriguing - I am definitely excited to find out more and will definitely be picking up book 2.

An intriguing idea, and a bit of an odd one - though I can see this Maze Runner-style scenario going down well with certain readers. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.
This is one of those books that may not appeal to everyone, but it certainly entertains.
Our main character, Cade, is in trouble when he is accused of stealing laptops and trying to sell them at school. He’s encouraged to plead guilty, and is given the opportunity to attend an alternative place for his punishment. Along with a number of other boys who are accused of crimes they didn’t commit, Cade is resigned to a rather odd existence.
One day - for reasons I am still unclear about - Cade finds himself in an unfamiliar scenario being attacked by strange creatures (what he refers to as piranha chimps). Along with others from his ‘school’ he learns he’s been plunged into a game. Nobody knows who’s in charge or what they’ll win for playing, but it seems their lives depend on it.
At this point things get very odd. They learn they’re facing death and encounter creatures that haven’t existed for millions of years.
Although there’s lots of action, we’re never sure what’s at the root of this or able to see the characters develop particularly. The ending came about very quickly and once we learn what’s behind this situation it does rather require us to suspend our disbelief.

This book started strong, from the off I was interested in Cade, the 'wrongfully convicted young male protagonist' has been done a fair few times and it's always an interesting way of starting a book. I was wary at first, assuming that the all-male setting would mean some kind of Lord of the Flies business - but there are women in this book! I loved how early on in the book there were time jumps between before and after Cade was transported into the other realm, I was somewhat dissapointed when these seemed to fizzle out, though I can understand why it felt like an odd format to suddenly abandon?

But it's a good start to a book as any, and from the off we're thrown into the chaos that dominates much of this book. I don't mean that as a bad thing (though there are a lot of YA stories that are too chaotic), I more mean that this book does a lot, we jump from Romans to Dinosaurs to 1980s schoolgirls to a whole host of other things, it's not that the book is complicated, there isn't detailed analysis of any of the things involved, it's more like someone threw a whole bunch of things they thought would be cool into a book - which is essentially what happens.

While I might argue that this makes parts of the book seem a little shallow, I'd have liked more exploration of how different groups of people might react to certain other aspects of the realm - for example, overall it does the book favours. I've read my fair share of 'young teen boy rallies the troops and tries to save the world from generic threat' and this could have fallen into that trope-trap but somehow the constant introduction of new things keeps the book feeling fresh.

This definitely reads like the first book in a series, there's a lot to set up and a lot of characters who need introducing, so I'm not surprised that I didn't get a lot of connection to the characters in this book if I have the time I hope to look at later books in this series and see if they go any deeper. I just didn't feel (personally) that these were the kind of characters I would root for against the odds?

I had a good time reading this book, I don't think any aspect of it was strong enough that I'd recommend it over some other similar YA, but to be fair this side of the genre has never been something to which I've been particularly partial. This is another book I would add to my 'does not give a terrible example to teenage boys' pile (which is growing quite nicely - well done Kidlit authors!).

My rating: a solid 3/5 stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

The Chosen comes out January 9th 2020!

I struggled to get into this book but I'm not sure if that's just because its not my normal thing. I found the action packed sequences with the tasks and the monsters exciting and engaging, but I felt the school based parts fell flat in comparison. I think it would be popular with KS3 students and also its always nice to have an action packed series to recommend to the boys!

A fantastic start to a new series by the author of the Summoner series. The setting is brilliantly described, almost real enough to feel. I'm looking forward to getting to know the characters better in the following books. The book isn't a complete cliffhanger, but there are plenty of threads left to follow up on...a great mix. I'm really looking forward to spending more time in this world!