I read: Chosen Ones

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

I'll be totally honest - I pre-ordered this book based solely on the fact that Veronica Roth wrote the Divergent and Carve the Mark series'.  I also fully admit that I was not a fan of her characterization in Divergent. I completely hate the way Tris is written. She's whiny and annoying. But I enjoyed the story, even with holes, and I did get very attached to Four, which from reading about Roth later I realize was actually her issue also.

But I enjoyed Carve the Mark, and I saw a lot of growth in the writing and the story, so I assumed, no matter what I'd get something I liked out of this new novel. I didn't read anything about it beforehand, just based the decision solely on author name and reputation.

Turns out - I'm glad that I made that decision. I enjoyed this book. I guess it was meant to be more adult, less young adult than previous works, but the style is still so similar that I didn't really notice a difference. I read Young Adult work anyway, so I didn't really care. The characters are meant to be more adult but due to circumstances outlined in the book, they're not necessarily the most daunting adults.

The story is unique - told from the view of Sloane, a former teen hero who can't deal with life after the heroism. What is normal?  Of course, nothing stays that way anyway, so having never adapted actually works out to be in Sloane's favour. 

I didn't find the story particularly mysterious - there weren't any sharp twists or amazing reveals.  But that might be due to me always looking for the path ahead of time. But I can't call it completely predictable either. And I'm left with a slight feeling that there were, once again, some holes in the story I don't feel like there was anything particularly missing. There wasn't anything that was entirely unexplained or unexplainable. At least not to my eyes. 

I'm giving it four stars. I recommend reading it if you're interested in science fiction/fantasy themes. This one involving magic, but in a technological kind of way. 

#26-2020