I really struggled to connect with this book in any way. The protaganist was really annoying, and the cast of characters wasn't exactly much better. The writing was good though for the most part, but there were a few times that I had to set this book down and just read something else, because the pace was so slow. It was a bit of a rollercoaster read, jumping from great to boring and back, but overall it was an okay read.

Chosen Ones - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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World Building

This book was completely unexpected. But in the best way possible. It is very hard to talk about the world without revealing spoilers so I will just say that it is gritty, lush and vibrant. Roth's way of describing the world is interesting and imaginative and there is a fine balance between being absurd and making sense.

Characters

This was probably one of the weaker parts for me. I loved Sloane, she was flawed but strong. You really dig deep with her and learn so much surrounding her you can't help but be drawn to her. This is where the true strengths lie with this book is in the way Sloane is written. The side characters, I wish we had more, some more substance like we had with Sloane, even more of that menacing The Dark One. I just needed a little more.

General Storyline/Authors Writing Style/Pacing

As an overall this book took everything I thought I knew and twisted it on its head. The pacing was perfect, it may have seemed slow for some but I loved that build up to the climactic end. The storyline overall definitely has some flaws but this brings about its character and for this book, I think that's ok because this world is so convoluted and so marred that in a way having this imperfections makes it seem more real. Roth's writing game is back for this book, and I am so excited for the next one in the series.

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REASON TO READ

If you have ever wondered what happens to heroes after they vanquish the obligatory big bad. Then wonder no longer. This book is u like any fantasy you will read this year.

REVIEW

I had BIG expectations for Chosen Ones, the first adult fantasy from mega successful young adult author Veronica Roth and boy did this book deliver.

It’s such a great concept, our heroes battle a dark force as teenagers, they triumph, but what happens next? Chosen Ones takes this concept and runs with it. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but Roth delivers a genre defying tour de force of a book that throws fantasy, magic, science fiction, thriller, conspiracy theories, commentary on social media, fame and PTSD into a massive blender and spits out something totally new and fresh.

The lead protagonist is Sloane who has major PTSD in the aftermath of her battle with the Dark One ten years ago. Through Sloane we discover more and more about the battle, it’s aftermath, her fellow heroes, their own battles and magic. Yes there is magic in this book - but like the book it’s delivered in a unique, fresh way. I also loved that alongside the character narrative the book is also peppered with government records that dig deeper into the events surrounding the story.

This is not a light, run of the mill fantasy read as it deals with some serious issues - but this is what makes it such an exciting book. I can’t wait to see where Roth goes with this next.

If you are a fantasy fan this book must be in your reading list ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five.

What intrigued me about this book is the premise of what comes after "The Chosen Ones" did their job. And Veronica Roth did a good job of showing this, somewhat. While I enjoyed the first third, seeing all these chosen ones deal with the repercussions of what they had to do and see what it did to them psychologically, I had my fair share of problems with the rest of the book. It became kind of your standard YA storyline with not much to it, so it wasn't for me, because while I like YA it was not what I signed up for.
Sadly not for me

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am a fan of Veronica Roth and have read the first book in her Divergent series and completely fell in love with her and her writing. However the problem here is since she finished writing those novels and moved on I just can’t seem to like anything else she is writing. I feel like I might be just comparing her recent books to the Divergent Series. I feel bad but I just can’t seem to enjoy her latest books.

Chosen Ones is no exception to this. I actually really struggled with this book. Right from the beginning I was just pushing myself through it, not completely enjoying the book at all. You can tell this because I have had a copy of this book since February, that is how long it has taken me to read it.

Don’t get me wrong Veronica Roth is a very talented author and everything she wrote in this book came together near the end and that just wasn’t good enough for me. I didn’t like they way she had written it.

She picks on some very hard subjects and she writes it good but I just don’t really know how I feel about it. The psychology of the book was a good take but the plot did nothing for it. Yes I got what she was talking about but it just didn’t work for me as an author.

I really wish I had good things to say about this book but I can’t.

Where do I even begin? Usually, I like a slow burn but this book drags it feel ten feet into the ground. I just couldn't connect with anyone the characters at all. Roth tries really hard to differentiate between them but the only that captured my attention was the one who ended up dying. Sloane is our protagonist and I kind of felt bad for her considering she is carrying the entire novel on her back. The other Chosen ones felt like cartictures.

This is supposed to be an adult debut but you could tell me this is a YA and I would believe you. Their voices sound nothing like adults and while this could be partly because of their PTSD, there isn't much differentiation between the chapters of their past selves and their present selves. Nothing to make us feel the passage of time. The emails and news articles that are between the chapters was mind numbing and I honestly just skim-read them all. As we get into the half way point, the book just stopped making sense. I had to look up from the book and think, "what was the synopsis of this book anyway?" Like how did it even get to that far. I was really hoping to give Roth a chance, considering I really enjoyed Divergent as a teen (never read CTM), but I won't be continuing this installment.

After Veronica Roth's “Divergent"-Series I had high expectations for “Chosen Ones”, which the author could definitely meet.
The book has captivated me from the first page. It's not just Veronica Roth's first novel for adults, it also starts completely different from all the dystopian novels I've read so far. The book does not start right before the fight against evil, but afterwards. The story begins 10 years after Sloane Andrews and her four friends Matt, Esther, Albie and Ines defeated the enemy. It is a story about friendship, secrets, unexpected turns and traumas. For a long time I could not empathize with a protagonist as well as with Sloane. This is mainly due to Veronica Roth's excellent writing style, but also because you now experience the story from the perspective of a heroine who actually seems to have already had her worst nightmare behind her. The book is a very clear reading recommendation and gets 5+ of 5 stars from me.

I went into this book with few expectations, and was blow away by a truly fantastical and flawed main character.
The writing is easily accessible, and though this book is categorized as an adult novel, it still very much reads young. - I personally think this will work for some readers and maybe not so much for others.

In this truly special adventure we meet our heroes after the big evil is defeated - we meet them when they are still trying to figure out how to live a normal life, how to best exist after what they have had to do to survive.

The mixed media used to portray both our characters and their world makes this into quite an immerse experience and I applaud Roth for her choices in this.

The pace is fast, the humor high, and the feelings real.
We follow Sloane who is the classic beautiful girl, but that's about it for her being the traditional heroine. I enjoyed that she was not later in the book turned into a softie, that her hard edges do not get carved away with the progression but that she is who she portrays - a harsh, entirely too honest, human who feels inadequate, and broken, and though we meet the other 'chosen ones' we are only following Sloane's point of view.

Generally I really loved the slightly older protagonists, even if they did speak in a young fashion, and the sudden turn of setting actually made me like the book more.
I will say that I was not always on board with the romance which came more into focus in the second half of the book and I do think the ending was rushed. We had a massive climax coming. and then it just ended.

I am hoping for a second book mainly just so I can get my satisfying ending.

So all in all I was very pleasantly surprised by this book (even if its one lgbtq character got left behind after the third chapter.) . ANOTHER!! PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

I loved the Divergent series so I couldn’t wait to get into this one, especially as it was an adults read. I found the beginning a bit slow to be honest but it did begin to pick up and there was lots more action towards the end of the book. I loved the character development & loved Slone our main a character. Overall I really enjoyed it & look forward to the next one.

I had really enjoyed Veronica Roth's Divergent series so was intrigued to read her first adult fiction book. The story is told from Sloane's perspective, one of the Chosen Ones who as teenagers helped defeat the Dark One and save the world. 10 years on, the Chosen Ones, and Sloane in particular, are still trying to work out what their role in the world is supposed to be now. I enjoyed the incorporation of magic into a modern world setting

The first half of the book felt like I was reading a sequel , with lots of references to the story of how they were chosen and subsequently defeated the Dark One. Enjoyable, but ultimately, I felt like I'd missed out on something. However, once you get to the second half of the book, what happens after one of them dies, the pace picks up and it all starts to come together. We find out more and more about Sloane and there are plenty of twists to keep us guessing. The end was not quite what I expected, but still keeps you reading. It will be interesting to see if there is a sequel to this one - I'll definitely read it if there are!

Veronica Roth isn’t an author I have a sentimental connection with; I tried reading Divergent years ago but DNF’d it because I got bored, and none of her other work has really called to me. As soon as I heard about her adult debut, though, I knew I’d want to try it because I am weak for stories that explore the aftermath of being a Chosen One, of having to deal with the trauma of saving your world in the public eye.

At first, this is exactly what Chosen Ones was about and I started getting that exciting feeling that this could be a new five star read.

Fifteen years ago, five teenagers saved the USA from a sinister figure known as the Dark One. Now all in their late twenties/early thirties, they’re celebrities whose every move is watched and scrutinised by the media. Our main character, Sloane, suffered greatly at the hands of the Dark One, alongside her friend and fellow Chosen One Albie, and she’s still trying to find ways to cope with her trauma while her boyfriend, Matt (another fellow Chosen One), has become America’s golden boy who uses his influence to support charities and can’t quite understand how Sloane isn’t coping as well with what they all went through.

The first third of the book I really, really enjoyed. So much of it was spent following these people and watching how, despite sacrificing so much of themselves for their country, they can’t get a moment’s peace to face their demons. It would have been a quieter fantasy story, sure, but I so wish the whole novel had simply followed all five of these people and how going through what they went through, and are still going through, had determined the kind of adults they’ve become. I wanted this novel to ask the question: what does a Chosen One do when they’ve done what they were chosen for?

In fairness to Roth, there is a lot about Chosen Ones that I did like. Sloane, in particular, I loved, but I suppose that should come as no surprise when I have a tendency to love spiky, ‘unlikeable’ women in my fiction.

But then the novel becomes a story about parallel universes and the Chosen Ones once again having to fight the Dark One, who maybe isn’t as dead as they thought he was. The problem here is that by bringing the villain back – although it feels strange to say ‘back’ when he isn’t a villain we’ve met before – Chosen Ones becomes yet another YA chosen one story dressed up as an adult debut.

That sounds harsh, doesn’t it? There are definite differences between this novel and a typical YA fantasy. There’s a lot more swearing, the violence is a little more gory and, of course, our protagonists are older. I wouldn’t call Chosen Ones a YA novel by any means (not least because adult fantasy written by women is always being labelled as YA when it isn’t) but, for me, it does hit a lot of those familiar beats of a YA novel. I’m trying very hard to review what this story was instead of lamenting what it wasn’t, but I so wanted this to be a story about dealing with trauma and other people’s expectations and I think a lot of that gets lost when our main characters have to learn about a new world and a new magic system.

Also, considering this novel is called Chosen Ones, it’s really about Sloane—I expected more of a group feeling from it, and I was also rather disappointed that one of the Chosen Ones, Ines, is queer, and yet she gets left out of the main adventure. I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more of her in the next book, and I’m wondering if the books in this series might each focus on a different Chosen One, but until I know more about the second book I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the series or not. I like Sloane, but I don’t think I want to follow her for another 400+ pages when I’d like to get to know the other Chosen Ones.

I did ultimately enjoy Chosen Ones, though, and I imagine a lot of other readers will love it. It’s a story with a really good sense of humour, and I think it’s exploration of the minute differences between being a Chosen One or a Dark One were really interesting. If you’re a fan of novels that blend fantasy with sci-fi, or you’re into stories about parallel universes, this is definitely one you should check out.

Usually novels end with the villain being vanquished. Not so with Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth. Known for the YA phenomenon Divergent in the early 2010s, this is her adult SFF debut, and it is a memorable one. Having been the ones prophesied to defeat the Dark One in their youth, the tenth anniversary of the event brings Sloane, Esther, Matt, Ines and Albie back together. No longer chosen teenagers, they are dealing with the repercussions of trauma, PTSD and a world that had been terrorized by a Dark One.

After things go awry and Albie dies, Sloane, Esther and Matt find themselves in a parallel universe where the Dark One has not yet been defeated, and a number of chosen ones have died trying. Although the people who seem to have brought them over seem to be very cagey with information, and much of what they have been told does not add up.

More so than any other book I have read, Chosen Ones interrogates the trope of the prophesied chosen one, of what makes a hero and what turns one into a villain. The book addresses issues of perception and perspective, and puts the focus on the humanity of the heroes. While the story is ostensibly about the group of chosen ones and their fight against the Dark One, large chunks of the story focus on Sloane. She was likely the hardest hit by the original fight against their adversary, and is struggling with her mental health throughout the book. Much of her development arc is her coming to terms with who she is and figuring out her place in the world, which, although most of us are not chosen ones per se, resonates with a generation of millennials struggling to find themselves.

Chosen Ones is a true step up from Roth’s earlier work, and a book deserving of the adult SFF genre. It is compellingly written – despite the pandemic I read the decently sized volume in only a few sittings, and the pacing is kept up throughout. The book doesn’t drag, and reveals are scattered throughout the plot without being overly obvious to the reader. The story is full of morally grey characters, whose ambiguous nature makes the reader guess about their true nature for much of the novel. There are various kinds of magic, from powerful artefacts to almost scientific learned magic to a sort of necromancy, all of which are thought out and well established.

All in all, I very much recommend you give Chosen Ones a read! It is enjoyable, thought-provoking, and it deals with an issue that bugs me about many happy endings: what happens after the seemingly all-is-well of so many stories? How do the characters deal with the repercussions, and how do their lives develop? Chosen Ones is a light Grimdark answer to that question. Do not discount her due to her commercial YA past, but treat her as an adult SFF debut author and give this book the shot it deserves. Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the review copy of Chosen Ones.

As a fan of Roth's Divergent trilogy when they first came out, I was excited to try her adult debut novel. However, I'm sad to say that I felt underwhelmed by 'Chosen Ones'.

I enjoyed the premise and the overall story line, along with its plot twist, but the pace was far too slow for me. I felt myself plodding through it and had to force myself to keep reading it.


I don't mind if I find a character unlikable, as long as I feel some sort of emotion towards them. However, barring Sloane, I wasn't that fussed about anyone else, and even then, it felt like I couldn't connect to her properly because the third person POV made her seem more detached.

I'll still read the sequel as I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen, but I'd love the pace to pick up and a first person point of view!

So I thought the beginning was a little slow, but I did really enjoy the character development. The second half of the book had a bit more action but it was really the last 15-20% that contained most of the story. I do wish we had a bit more going on in the beginning rather than pack it all in the end. Beyond that, I genuinely enjoyed this book and will read the next one for sure. I am pleasantly surprised as Veronica Roth hasn’t been on my TBR for a while.

I would urge you to pick up this book regardless of whether or not your enjoyed Roth's previous works.
This story picks ups after a major war and really dives into the effects war can have on people, such as PTSD, and was handled gracefully.
The characters were all slightly unlikable which made them feel even more real and fleshed out.
I enjoyed this very much.

Thank you to Harper Collins, Netgalley & Veronica Roth for my arc of The Chosen Ones in exchange for an honest review.

DNF after 4 days of picking it up and putting it back down again, too much of a slow burner and the third person narrative made it a struggle to connect with any of the characters.

There’s no denying that the author is a wonderful writer with a lot of skill at crafting characters and plotting. I thought the premise of this was great and knowing Roth is not one to shy away from difficult choices narratively, expected big things. I’m afraid the pace of this was what made it such a difficult read. I don’t mind slow pace at all, but with such a downbeat tone, it made it hard to want to continue sometimes and the interruptions to the characters story with reports & news articles made that even harder.

I absolutely loved the whole concept of this book - evil magic suddenly appearing in modern day times and a prophecy predicting five teenagers stopping it - and not having that be the story, but actually having the story pick up 10 years after the evil has been defeated. It's a very unique start to a book, in my experience. I also didn't expect it to also immediately get into racism and sexism issues with the "where are they now" style newspaper story done by a jerk - this was a great way to kick off these themes that are important to modern life and therefore can't be overlooked when you have five "chosen ones" who are varying genders and races.

The writing style is slick and perfectly readable. I do wish it had been in first person rather than third because it would have been easier to identify with Sloane had it been first person. Good pacing and an interesting plot meant I found it difficult to put the book down through the first part. Pace did slow down a little in part two unfortunately.

Sloane is a very interesting main character in her mysteriousness and her lack of emotions. I actually liked her a lot despite the fact that she seemed objectively unlikable. As mentioned previously, first person would have been a better deep dive into her character, but I felt I got to know her character fairly well despite this.

My biggest complaint about the book is that Veronica Roth seems to have created yet another series in which the entire world revolves around Chicago and to a lesser degree America. Mild passive mention has gone to Canada and Mexico for being on the same continent as the USA and a brief mention of other countries giving their magical objects to America so they can fight The Dark One but no mention otherwise of how magic affects anywhere else.


It was also a lot more young adult than I expected considering it was hyped up as Veronica Roth's adult debut. A cut to black sex scene does not an adult book make when your 30 year old characters are running around acting like 18 year olds because they never got a chance to mature after then due to trauma.

I didn’t finish this book, although I had been excited to read a Veronica Roth based on her other books. Unfortunately it was a hard slog right from the start - dark, gloomy and depressing. And if I had to read about Trump tower one more time, I would have exploded. So disappointed.

A story about the PTSD of saving the world, and what happens when you must save it all over again.

Sloane, Ines, Matt, Albie and Esther fought The Dark One to save Earth, each using their own strengths. However, now they are questioning if he really did die, and if he didn't what happens next? How do they move on?

The main narrative of Chosen ones is Slaone's and is told mainly from her perspective/ experiences. Sloane's character isn't for us to like or understand, meaning I actually quite liked her. The other characters however, felt more like plot devices and not particularly interesting ones. Charming Matt didn't feel very appealing to me, or (the over used adjective) tired Esther.

The magical world of the syphons was intriguing and Sloane's own magical object led to me wanting to know more about how they worked, but I got lost at the whistles and pitches.

The build up was a hundred pages too long and my frustration with the text not being whole -red text chopped up and all over the place with information missing at the beginning - wasn't a good start.

As a Divergent reader, I had quite high expectations for this book, but for me it fell flat.