Title: Chosen Ones

Author: Veronica Roth

Page Count: 304

Series: The Chosen Ones, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: April 7, 2020

Format: eBook

Review: This was a very original concept…what really happens to a hero after they have defeated evil? I think that Roth gives a really realistic depiction of how ordinary people would cope with extraordinary pressures and trauma.  I have always thought that being famous would be incredibly stressful – always dealing with scrutiny, invasion of privacy, and false narratives.  Each of the five heroes in this story deal with it differently, some withdrawing into anger or addiction, while others seemingly embrace it.  When evil rears it’s ugly head again, the heroes must take a critical look at the past, and what they think they know about themselves and each other.

It’s difficult for me to put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.  Roth does a decent job of fleshing out the characters, but I think her set up took just a little too long.  I struggled to remain actively engaged and I could put this book down for days at a time without feeling compelled to pick it back up.  Now that the characters and story have been established, I imagine I would enjoy a sequel far more, though this is difficult for me to say with any certainty.  Considering this is accurate to how I felt when reading her Divergent series, I remain hopeful that the series will prove to be worth reading even though the way she ended it makes me uncertain.  It ended with a bang, but then tapered off into different directions.  If it wasn’t being advertised as the first in a series, I would have assumed it was a standalone.

Although this is Roth’s first “adult” fiction book, I still think it will mostly appeal to a younger demographic.

Reader: Bekah

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