Original and intriguingly refreshing approach to genre. Characters were realistic and believable in their attempts at coping with normal lives. They were neither ideal superheroes or typical twenty somethings but felt to be honesty depicted. However, the age of the protagonists jars with the writing style and I didn’t feel convinced that was written for an older audience but rather for a teen / young adult one. I’m not convinced as to whether a young adult audience would engage as readily with older protagonists. Additionally the plot is at times fractured and a little too tamely predictable. Overall an engaging read and one I would recommend but with reservations.

The plot of this book interested me immediately. I love the classic trope of a “chosen one”, so the concept of seeing how the chosen ones have coped with life ten years after they defeated their enemy struck me as a really unique idea and really caught my interest.

The book is split into different parts and my enjoyment of each part did vary. I thought the book opened really strongly and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring what life was like for the “chosen ones” and learning about the world they lived in and slowly finding out more about the dark one and what had happened.

Part 2 jolted me out of the story somewhat because it was so unexpected and I was enjoying where the book seemed to have been going in part 1. It took almost all of part 2 for me to get to grips with the new direction the book was going in and get comfortable again.

That being said, I really enjoyed the world building of Genetrix’s magic system and the plot continued to be extremely engaging, if very different to what I’d been expecting. I also found there was slightly too much description and comparison of Chicago on Earth as opposed to Genetrix. Only people really familiar with Chicago could possibly enjoy the very constant references to what had changed and what had stayed the same between the two universes. It mostly went over my head and at times I was skipping whole pages because it really wasn’t adding anything to the story and was slowing down the pace.

I enjoyed the rest of the book very much, although I guessed some plot points well ahead of the reveal and found other reveals a little underwhelming. Overall, I was always looking forward to picking the book back up and reading more and I think Veronica Roth has written a book that feels very fresh and original. The world building is certainly incredibly fleshed out and I looked forward to seeing where the series goes next.

Chosen Ones delivered exactly what I was looking for - escapism from our world's current issues.

Think Disney Incredibles (but obviously darker). What happens to super heroes once they have defeated the villain? How do they settle into a mundane life of going to work and raising kids after saving the world and being recognized everywhere they go? With difficulty it seems, especially if like Sloane you have always been defiant. I liked that the author showed that it's okay not to be a people pleaser and that sometimes you need to follow your own intuition. I also loved her comparison of technology with magic in the two different dimensions.

I disagree with the classification of Adult Fantasy, as this is very much YA (including the romance element), which is not necessarily a bad thing as all the best dystopians are YA. Although I thought the beginning was a bit slow, it picked up after the halfway mark. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Technically I am not finishing this book. I read over 50% of this book & I can't find a single reason to continue with this book. I give up as of now. I do not want to invest any more time into this book. The story isn't moving forward & I don't have any interest in knowing what happens next. That kind of killed my motivation to read. Maybe another time. But right now this book goes straight into my dnf pile.

I am sorry to say I did. not like this book at all. First thing was the overuse of the “f” word which I found too much, not what I expect at all from Ms. Roth. After reading the divergent series which I loved this one was a big disappointment to me. I struggled to finish it and I was relieved when I did.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I was super excited to read the Chosen Ones, a more grown up Divergent what is there not to like? And yes I know Roth's history when it comes to characters, but that doesn't stop me.

We follow the lives of the five Chosen Ones, more specifically Sloane, from who's perspective the story is told. Sloane is a young woman, slightly broken from her ordeal with the Dark and is feeling a little lost.

For the first three quarters of the book, I could have easily put it down and DNFed. I was confused and I felt like there was too much back story to get through. Although I did like how this was told via documents in alternative chapters. But initially I didn't care. I felt like there could have been a book before this and this was the second book. You know?

But I persisted and the last quarter was phenomenal. I could not put the book down as I needed to know how it all ended. All the threads were coming together and the plot started to make sense. But it was very much a case of too little too late.

Also while Sloane did grow on me, I personally had a more insta connection with secondary character Albie and I am sad that we did not get to see more of him.

However, that will not stop me in reading the next book in the series. After all I need to find out how the guys will get on and how they will resolve the further issues that have arisen. Which is frustrating as the ending was actually really satisfying but there is the potential for so much more.

Overall, The Chosen Ones was a well written book, but there was so much set up to it that it was a struggle to really get into the reading zone. And then once I got over that hurdle it ended. Any advise of how to get over this would be greatly appreciated.

Very good world-building, very good pace as expected from Roth. I enjoyed this a lot and highly recommend.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Sadly this wasn't a book I really connected with. It is supposed to be an adult novel but I felt that it just didn't feel adult, it felt very YA. The writing style wasn't for me and i was bored the whole time.

Of course, everyone who has ever read a YA book knows who Veronica Roth is. In case that's not you, she wrote the Divergent series. Which I loved, so when her new book came out of course I desperately wanted to read it!

Chosen Ones is a really interesting book. First of all you just assume it's going to be about some kind of teenage superhero types, who fight the big bad and save the world, blah blah blah. It's actually not about that at all. It's much more about what happens to the Chosen Ones 10 years after their big battle. They save the world when they are young teenagers, and obviously that changes their lives forever. They are all left with battle scars, on the inside and outside. And they all deal with the trauma and the fame and fortune differently.

The main protagonist is Sloane, who struggles to live with the memories of their battle against the Dark One, and who doesn't want to be famous or in the limelight at all. In fact, she just wants everyone to leave her alone. It's hard to decide whether to like Sloane or not, and I think the jury is still out for me on that one. But the fact that her friends, the other Chosen Ones, hold her so closely makes me like her a little more. And as you read the book you begin to understand why she is so cold and, let's be honest, a bit of a bitch.

It's really hard to review this book without giving anything away because really I can only review the first few pages without spoiling anything. The main thing to know about the book is that it's not just about some Chosen Ones saving the world. It's more about relationships - their relationships with each other, with their enemies and with the government agencies that would control them. It's about trust and lies. And also it's about magic, which is pretty cool. There is a lot of magic in this book, which I love, because it has a lot of different aspects and each person deals with it in a different way, and to a different degree. Which I think is how it would be if magic really came into our lives. It shows how any kind of power can change the world dramatically, and sometimes when you get a lot of power you can forget about other things, that were important before.

The pace is quite slow in the story, and it did take me a bit of time to get through. I found there was a bit of a lull in the middle where nothing much was happening and nobody really knew what was going on. But aside from that, a lot of stuff happens, but at a slow pace.

I found that this book is really not about the action scenes at all, more about the characters and the situations as a whole. The magic aspect of the book is definitely very cool but this is quite a serious book, it's not really a flight of fancy kind of fantasy, it's definitely more gritty and dark. I would describe it as a dark YA fantasy thriller. Or something like that!

I would recommend this book on the whole, it is very well written and complex, and if you enjoyed the Divergent series you will probably enjoy this too.

An excellent fantasy novel that completely upends your expectations and dismantles the Chosen One trope in such an interesting way.

I really, really liked Sloan as a character, as she felt well-rounded and layered in a way that consistently interested me. Her backstory was shrouded in a lot of mystery and trauma, which slowly played out as Roth dropped tantalising clues. You could feel her walls breaking down as the story explores further and further into her mind. In fact, I liked most of the characters, who felt cohesive and easy to engage with. Their history was gradually revealed to me and I liked the interplay of past and present through the structure of the plot, symbolising these reoccurring flashbacks the characters were having. My only issue would be that the villain didn’t feel very fleshed out, though there is obviously room for that in the sequel.

I thought the discussion of trauma in this book was really well executed, with a variety of reactions that felt raw and real. Roth particular focuses on the long-term effects of abuse and neglect. This blend of honest discussion blended really well with the fantastical exploration of magical powers for me, with a believable magic system and good world-building.

This book definitely took so twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting, which really helped to keep me engaged and on my toes. I sped through the pages, wanting to discover the truth and see how the story would develop.

I initially requested this book because of the fascinating premise of the book. The ‘Chosen One’ trope is so prevalent in fantasy, but few books that I can think of explore what happens after the final battle. Roth lived up to this premise, offering intriguing subversions of my expectations and ensuring that it never felt predictable.

Through a careful balance of character arcs and engaging plot, Roth has set the groundwork for what promises to be an even more intriguing sequel.

The Chosen Ones was my first novel by Veronica Roth, and whilst I don't think it will be my last I have to say I was not blown away by the book as a whole. The Chosen Ones is Roth's first adult novel and she seems to be one of many YA authors breaking out into adult fantasy. Having also read the first adult novel by Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House this year, I preferred that much more. However, I feel like the two books were very different in style and set up, and shouldn't be compared directly. Nevertheless, I think the Chosen Ones as a series has potential.

The Chosen Ones is about a group of teenagers who defeated the Dark One, an evil guy who possessed magic that was destroying the world, over 10 years ago. This group of teenagers picked to battle him were known as the Chosen Ones. However, on the ten year anniversary of the death of the Dark One things change and the gang are forced to face new challenges. The gang is made up of Sloane, Matt, Ines, Albie and Esther. The main focus of the narrative follows Sloane who I actually found rather annoying; she was cast as an uber-bitch and she seemed to believe everyone hated her. I really disliked this antagonistic relationship she had with the group. I think this was one of the biggest problems I had with the novel; the main characters, as a whole were rather dull and unlikable. There wasn't really a group camaraderie that I expected from the group who had fought together 10 years ago and remained friends throughout that time. Despite finding Sloane annoying, she was one of the characters that had traits I could like, she followed her gut instincts, questioned everything and wasn't afraid to take action. Until we met Mox, who was a kind of sad but likeable secondary character, there wasn't really anybody else I liked. It's difficult to describe why I liked Mox without giving too much of the plot away, but Mox was one of the main redeeming qualities of the book for me.

Having said that the characters didn't sell me, the world building itself was actually really strong. Roth crafted a world of magic where there were magical artifacts, siphons to channel magic, alternative universes. There was a strong cross-over between magic and science-fiction which worked well in setting up an new fantasy world. It did have a bit of an end-of-the-world/dystopia-vibe to the setting which felt like a layover from Roth's other work. In addition to the actual world Roth created, she also regularly interspersed government reports and diary entries into the book. This offered a different viewpoint on past events and helped to build background and add authenticity to all the events. I actually really liked these reports and they offered a different viewpoint to the chain of events.

Overall, the Chosen Ones got stronger as the novel went along, but it wasn't until the last 40% where my interest was really captured. The first half of the novel felt a little slow as the world got set up and none of the characters besides Mox and occasionally Sloane were really likeable or that memorable by the end. I'd definitely be curious to see where Roth takes this series, but it won't be at the top of my reading list.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC. Review will also be posted to Amazon and Instagram (edited down) on release date of 07/04/2020.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC!

While the premise of the story, magic system, and attention to (fictional) historic detail craft truly hooked me in, the execution somewhat felt flat mid-way into the book.

The book was a truly a breath of fresh air for the 'Chosen One' concept. Sloane's struggle as a Chosen One - and as "veteran" Chosen One with the darker struggles of being one always following her - felt quite visceral at times, moreso in how her anguish manifested as negative, twisted emotions. However, my main gripe into this book is that other than Sloane and Albie, the other Chosen Ones read somewhat two-dimensional and lacked independence to their character arc progress outside their relationship to Sloane. Additionally, the characters read like those of frightened, hypervigilant teenagers instead of jaded, scarred adults they're supposed to be, thus somewhat lacking in the sense of jadedness and weariness the author was probably aiming to convey in this book. The approach for character experience ultimately lacked the depth and maturity that was promised.

The revelation of how people were chosen, how the magic system works, and what ultimately happened when the Chosen Ones defeated their villain gave a horrifying twist to the excerpts interspersed between chapters and the interactions between characters in the first few acts. This, I immensely appreciated as one of the biggest strengths of this book.

The climax, while pleasurably shocking, gruesome, and chaotic, felt somewhat rushed - as the main purpose of the Chosen Ones was truly finished only in the first book and occurred only in about 5-6 pages after long pages of buildup revelation. Where the ending left off, however, felt somewhat right as it promises a reckoning for consequences for the choices made in this book - I just hope the promising fire the ending sparked doesn't fizzle out quickly in the second book.

Short review: being Chosen to be a hero sounds pretty cool... unless it happens to you and then let me tell you, it sucks so bad. Especially after your Nemesis is dead and now you have to survive in the aftermath.

This was quite the unexpected tale. Of PTSD, of finding oneself, of the desperate need of belonging, and innermost buried desires.
My advice: After how the Divergent series ended, I went into this with low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised, so you should do the same.

Long review, no spoilers:

Plot: This read like YA but that's ok. I never really thought it would be truly adult.
The plot is exactly as presented in the synopsis: we follow 5 Chosen Ones and their vastly different lives, 10 years after they defeated their Big Baddie.

The themes were quite unique for a superhero novel and I very much enjoyed them:coping with an unwanted destiny, other people choosing your path, especially the bitter-sweet need for belonging and understanding was felt throughout this novel and it raked me raw.

Characters:
Sloane was a fierce and damaged protagonist and her relationships with everyone were rich and distinct. The way friendship was portrayed was surprising - close to reality with its ups and downs, silly moments and true tragedies.

The others are more like supporting cast, even though they all had their own backstories and personal drama, they felt one dimensional. I do wish we spent more time with the villain.
The PTSD represented in its various degrees is marvellously executed. All of the characters had indeed complex issues, but I wanted more complexity from the story itself.

While the main plot was engaging and kept me interested the whole time (even though I saw some twists coming miles away and others came from absolutely nowhere - A Veronica Roth signature move - those who have read Divergent will understand), I felt a bit bored with the single threaded storyline, we have 5 Chosen Ones, but one main character and sometimes I felt that the author chose to fill up pages with random “snippets”, meanderings and descriptions instead of subplots involving other characters.

One thing I found unbelievable was the lack of maturity in the characters, since they are about 30 years old. This is why it felt YA to me, their speech, their reactions and habits screamed of teenagers.
Also the ending itself wasn't satisfactory to me, it felt some things were just very convenient. It's hard to explain without spoiling, but basically the magic system may have benefitted from being... explained differently.

Writing Style: it was pretty standard with one exception: there were multiple additions of newspaper articles, snippets from history books, instruction manuals, interviews etc that were inserted between chapters. While I usually like creative writing and the worldbuilding these added was always relevant, it got a bit grating after a while. At the 75% mark I felt the characters should be showing us those things directly, and their reaction to them, not just them being presented to us blandly (cough cough info-dumped).

Overall, it was quite a gripping story and while there was room for improvement, the surprising tender moments that tugged at my heartstrings made up for it.

Rating: 3.5 - I was engaged all the way and would pick up a sequel if ever the case.

I started off not liking this book, i really didn’t gel with Sloane the main character, but to be fair I don’t think we were supposed to like her..

I did then get into the book, but towards the end I just wanted to get through it. It felt a little bit slow for me, it could have been a lot shorter.

It was ok, but just not for me.

My thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance copy.

This was a very enjoyable look at what it means to be a 'chosen one' and how you cope with life when the battle against the dark one is over.

The Positives: There was some very interesting discussion here about the aftermath of trauma and the way in which society handles our heroes, which I thought was well done. I liked our protagonist very much, primarily because she was written to be unlikeable by all traditional markers. She is emotionally closed off, rude, moody and unapologetic about these personality traits, which I thought was very refreshing. I thought the plot was compelling and Veronica Roth took this story in places I really wasn't expecting, which is always welcome.

The Negatives: Although the plot itself had some great twists, there were a few things that I found incredibly predictable, which did detract from my enjoyment somewhat. I also thought that the pacing was a little bit slow at times, particularly in the beginning.

Overall I found this to be an intelligent and enjoyable read and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good superhero tale.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Although I once upon a time got a lot of enjoyment from a handful of Young Adult novels/series, I decided a while back that my time with the genre was done, and that I really wasn’t interested in the characters anymore. There have been one or two exceptions of course, but for the most part, I tried to avoid anything ‘YA’.

And then came along an adult novel from a successful YA author and I found myself very intrigued.
That intrigue converted into enthusiasm and enjoyment as I started reading ‘Chosen Ones’, finding myself engrossed in the early parts of the fantasy world. Unfortunately though, it began to fade through the book as the plot felt just a little too out there for my enjoyment.

The book is a slow burner, I felt like I was just getting into it and wham we are in part 2, and we're not on our 'Earth' anymore. I actually put the book down after reading another couple of chapters as I wasn't really feeling it, but I'm glad that I did pick it back up again.

Sloane is a relatable mc, I really liked her. Her relationships with her fellow chosen ones were complex and interwoven, so when her ebst friend dies, and she's magicked away to another dimension...well, she really has to wake up. The magic system is pretty cool, though I did imagine lots of tweeting the whole time I was reading it. The side characters as a whole were well done, I was a huge fan of Mox from the offset.

The plot isn't particularly fast paced, and I felt that the final big scene was rushed, but overall I enjoyed Chosen Ones, I wouldn't say that its aimed at adults, it reads like young adult, which is fine - I was just expecting a bit more...grit? I'm not sure. I also wasn't particularly thrown by the big reveal...I'd kinda guessed it fairly early on.

I will keep an eye out for the sequel/s as I'm interested enough to find out where she is going to take the story now.

I thought the premise of this book was very interesting - how would a ‘chosen one’ cope with the aftermath of their big battle? There were moments throughout that I found entertaining or intriguing but overall the characters fell flat for me.

I felt that the strongest parts of the book were when Roth was focused on the mystery (the middle section in particular) however none of the character’s actions seemed that believable.

This is a shame as I’ve enjoyed some of Roth’s previous books, but unfortunately I just couldn’t connect with any of the protagonists.

I think it's one of those cases that can be labeled as "it's me not the book".
Problem is I tried to read while I was quite tired and this is not a fast paced and action packed story.
For a part of it you feel like you're in the middle of a series and something is going to happen. But nothing happen for a long time and and I was finding hard to keep on reading.
There's a moment towards the end when you understand what was all about but it took so long.
I liked the style of writing, the world building and the character are well developed even if a bit too juvenile for my taste.
I will try again to read it. I can't recommend it unless you're in the right mindset.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Sloane Andrews doesn't like being in the public gaze, and some publicists like to rat her out and bitch about her, so it is no wonder really.

Ten years ago, Sloane was a Chosen One, and now she really could do with a private life where she could actually live quietly. Unfortunately she lives a life of being on public display, attending public events and generally being a public possession.

Then Sloane and three of the other Chosen Ones find themselves pulled through to another reality, where they must fight their battles again, to save all worlds, not just their own.

Sloane is a flawed and snarky character, she can't help being off with people. I like that about her, she is content to be herself and doesn't like having to fake being nice.

<blockquote>"Do you really want to flash your underwear at strangers? Well, then, cross your goddamn legs, girl."</blockquote>

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. NetGalley does not allow for paid reviews.

I also discovered spanakopita, which I intend to try out sometime soonest.