Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

#1.Chosen Ones (The Chosen Ones)

A decade ago near Chicago, five teenagers defeated the otherworldly enemy known as the Dark One, whose reign of terror brought widespread destruction and death. The seemingly un-extraordinary teens—Sloane, Matt, Ines, Albie, and Esther—had been brought together by a clandestine government agency because one of them was fated to be the “Chosen One,” prophesized to save the world. With the goal achieved, humankind celebrated the victors and began to mourn their lost loved ones.


Ten years later, though the champions remain celebrities, the world has moved forward and a whole, younger generation doesn’t seem to recall the days of endless fear. But Sloane remembers. It’s impossible for her to forget when the paparazzi haunt her every step just as the Dark One still haunts her dreams. Unlike everyone else, she hasn’t moved on; she’s adrift—no direction, no goals, no purpose. On the eve of the Ten Year Celebration of Peace, a new trauma hits the Chosen: the death of one of their own. And when they gather for the funeral at the enshrined site of their triumph, they discover to their horror that the Dark One’s reign never really ended.

"Bare feet meant the Past. Boots meant the Present."

Well the one thing I made sure of knowing before reading was whether it belonged to a series and it most certainly does being the first book in "The Chosen Ones" series.

Not one that will make it's way to my "future reread list". Overall a nice novel with a new feel that I just couldn't appreciate enough....

I got a lot of Harry Potter feels from it at the beginning. Like magic, sibyl, chosen one and the dark one???; and that didn't really excite me.

The whole experience was kind of disappointing to me. Maybe I was expecting more of a book based on the lines of divergent and carve the mark... But, It was something new and honestly speaking it certainly wasn't one of the captivating kind. It was slow-paced and being narrated in the third-person narrative wasn't helping the case either. 

I don't feel enough justice was done to all the characters in the book especially Sloane, Hopefully Book two would do so. She seemed to stuck-up and I had been surprised to find that people actually liked her and shipped her. Now, don't get me wrong I don't hate her nor do I ship her so much as to forgive all her faults. They had been all broken from their struggle 10 years ago and only Matt and Esther seemed to be getting on fine and that was really annoying at times.

Don't even get me started on the others...Albie let's just say he didn't deserve it; Mox was by far my favourite and an added reason to continue reading. I felt that Ines was more like a shadow darting in and out throughout the series....

I couldn't get over the fact that she named the chosen ones very very Blandly. Like I always adored her selection of names beginning with Beatrice(Tris) Prior from Divergent, Ryzek from Carve the Mark and then we have the Chosen Ones which features Sloane, Matt, Esther, Ines, Albie. They just felt weird to me like they never clicked with me from the start as many other characters do...

I never did have high expectations reading it but it still managed to disappoint me. To be honest I was enough relieved a bit to have been done with it but that doesn't mean am not going to pick up the next book in the series. 😉 

Well it was an adult novel and it did certainly give off a lot of adult vibes.... Seriously speaking Veronica Roth could have done better... It's not like just because it was a adult novel it just had to have the characters cursing at every point in the story, also there are a lot of adults who love ya, it had like of a plain feel to it this book or I was too narrow-minded to accept that this book could have a deeper meaning that my mind couldn't grasp.

Negativity aside many people did like the book and that made me believe that the adult genre might not be my cup of tea. Though the question was will I just shun that genre then and stop reading book meant for "adults". Absolutely not.*maniac grin*

It did have a plot twist and I live for them. But the catch was it came at the end when i'd lost all my interest in it and was a bit desperate to finish it. She'd let me question every decision Sloane made every word that came out of her mouth and every single thought that flit through her mind and after all that when the loose ends finally tied up together I was lost. 

But there's a pull that her style of writing holds me captive. As much as I try to deny her books It kind of like just rubs on me and reminds me of why I never like leaving any book half-read how bad it might be...Like, I loved the concept of unrealists and the poems written by them. 

"She was beginning to understand the Unrealists -- how could you trust reality when reality was so easily manipulated." 

"A desire is a profundity of want, a deep and abiding craving that cannot be denied"

The way Roth included "TOP SECRET"documents in between the chapters and it brought to mind some bittersweet memories from "Broken Throne"(https://lynn2005.blogspot.com/2020/09/broken-throne.html).

"Divergent" was practically my lifeline that introduced me to the dystopian genre. "Carve the Mark" is still one of my favourites till date. "Chosen Ones" is currently one of the books that I have a really opinion about but hopefully the next installment would change my mind....

Honestly speaking am kind of surprised with myself how I didn't like it so much but then am not stopping you from picking it up. 

It was my totally my personal opinion. I would love to have someone contradict me. Feel free to comment below in case you decide to pick it up!!!