Chosen Ones

By Veronica Roth

“A hugely imagined, twisty, turning tale that leads through the labyrinths of magic and war to the center of the heart.”
—Diana Gabaldon

THE LAST THING SHE WANTED WAS TO GET BACK INTO THE HERO GAME
 
THE VILLAIN: The Dark One—probably not fun at parties, definitely cool with murder—was running around North America engulfing whole cities in supernatural chaos and destruction.

THE HEROES: Five Chosen Ones—ordinary strangers with nothing in common—were recruited by the government because they fit the narrow criteria of a prophecy made by [redacted]. You know the rest…heroes fought villain, heroes defeated villain, and everything went back to normal.

Only…not so much.

Now, it's ten years later, and Sloane Andrews, recovering Chosen One, has discovered that all the fame, gratitude, and parade floats in the world can’t erase what she endured—what she had to do—to take down the Dark One. All she wants now is to be left alone, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

As it turns out, that plan for annihilation set in motion by the Dark One? It’s not finished yet. Last time, Sloane saved the day with a magical needle and a can-do attitude. This time, she’s fresh out of both.
 
“A stunning thriller/fantasy/sci-fi chimera like nothing I've read before.”
—Blake Crouch

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Release date: Apr 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9780358168478

Veronica Roth

VERONICA ROTH is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Divergent series (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four: A Divergent Collection) and the Carve the Mark duology (Carve the Mark, The Fates Divide). Divergent received the 2011 Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book, Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of 2011, and was the winner of the YALSA 2012 Teens’ Top Ten. The trilogy has been adapted into a blockbuster movie series starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James. Carve the Mark published in January 2017, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and remained on the list for eighteen weeks. The Fates Divide, the second installment of the Carve the Mark series, also debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Though she was born in Mount Kisco, New York, Veronica’s family moved to Hong Kong and Germany before settling in Barrington, Illinois. In elementary school, Veronica read constantly, but it wasn’t until she got a “make your own book!” kit from her mother as a gift that she thought to write anything of her own. From that time on, she knew she would write for the rest of her life, whether she was published or not. She wrote the manuscript that would become Divergent in her free time while attending Northwestern University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing in 2010. She is a board member of YALLFest, the biggest YA book festival in the country, and YALLWEST, its sister festival. She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and their dog, Avi, whose adorable existence is well-documented on Instagram.  

Reviews for Chosen Ones

[herenya_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ten years ago Sloane was one of five teenagers who defeated the Dark One. The beginning is compelling, a sharp portrayal of the aftermath of being a chosen one, and how trauma and intense public scrutiny interfere with moving on and living an ordinary life. Then the story twists in an utterly unexpected direction. I wasn’t very invested in this development and, unlike in the first part, found the worldbuilding too infodumpy.But I persevered and the third section pulls the narrative together. It reminded more in tone of Roth’s other books in tone, too. It didn’t fulfil the potential promised in its opening scenes but I ended up liking it more than, at one point, I’d thought I was going to.She had lived half her life wanting only one thing -- to save the world -- and the other half wanting to be left alone, which was almost the same thing as wanting nothing at all. She didn't know what it was like to desire something between those two extremes. She wasn't sure she was even capable of it.

[Elizabeth Iman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The premise of the book was what made me start it but then as the story went and the "location changed" it felt a little like a hot mess. I took so much time to finish because it just didn't spark my interest that much. The villain was a bit of a hot mess too and the ending needs a bit of more explanation but I don't think I want to read that.

[Asuna Kirisaki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The flow of the story was perfect. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to [e-mail] or [e-mail]

[Melanie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For the first half of the book I kept feeling like this was supposed to be the second book in the series not the first. Felt like all the character development happened without me being able to read it. The second half definitely picked up and was enjoyable, but ultimately I still felt a little out of the loop the entire time as if I was missing key knowledge.

[hccpsk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m not exactly sure what makes Veronica Roth’s (Divergent series) latest book, Chosen Ones, “adult” rather than “YA” besides the publisher’s edict, but either way she has written a pretty good stand-alone fantasy adventure novel. Ten years after Sloane and four other “Chosen Ones” saved the world from a magic-wielding villain, she still suffers from nightmares, PTSD, and a lot of anger. When mysterious events occur that bring into question what really happened, Sloane finds herself back in the battle she thought she left behind. Roth intersperses government documents, memos and articles into the narrative as an effective background filling technique, but besides that, the plot moves rapidly. Chosen Ones represents a solid fantasy adventure with enough good plot twists and plenty of suspense to offset the ridiculous coincidences and the handful of characters Roth strangely abandons partway through the book. Highly recommended for adult fantasy readers and mature teen readers.

[brangwinn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I loved Roth’s Divergent series for young adults, but this adult book left me unimpressed. It’s clear she loves Chicago and its architecture, but it takes so long for this story to get moving. I also bet there are a lot of complaints about curse words—well, people wake up, if you’re worried about what will hurt your young adults’ ears, they already know these words are probably using them. I don’t see how this book earned the publicity it did. Was it just because of her previously written high energy, attention grabbing books?

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a what happens to the Chosen One or, in this case, ones when the big bad is defeated and they're ill suited to anything other than dealing with the big bad. Sloane is having the hardest time adjusting to life, only maybe she's right, maybe the dark one isn't defeated and after one of the five dies she finds herself in another world and with a different big bad and maybe just maybe things aren't as they seem.It was an interesting story but I kinda wanted a bit more out of it than the author gave. There were issues and problems that seemed to resolve too easily and a lot of the bits and pieces were flagged as the story progressed. I'm curious about where it's going but not impatient to read it.

[Leslie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Engrossing and captivating, with beautifully complex characters and impeccably developed worlds.

[sprainedbrain · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this new series, but while I did like it, I wasn’t exactly blown away. I really enjoyed the Divergent series (right up until that last book, anyway), and was intrigued with the billing of Chosen Ones as an ‘adult’ book about a group of 5 heroes, ten years after they apparently saved the world as teenagers.

The book is actually a whole lot more than what the blurb lets on: much of it takes place in an alternate-dimension Chicago, and this world is full of magic. Nothing is quite as it appears, and the whole concept is very original.

Roth’s writing is strong, and the plot is clearly developed. The book is very compelling at the beginning, but there is quite a lull in the action towards the middle. Fortunately, things pick up again near the end, which is really quite brilliant. No cliffhangers, but I’m definitely down for a second book.

From the blurb, you would think that the book is about all of the 5 heroes… but really it’s about Sloane. One of the 5 dies near the beginning, another is nearly absent from the rest of the book, and the other two are peripheral at best. I’m not sure if the next book will deal more with the other ‘chosen ones,’ but I would love more development of those characters. For much of the book, I didn’t like Sloane very much, and she felt a lot like a YA character trapped in an adult character’s body, but she grew on me. Esther and Mox are really fun characters, but again, I would love more about them. This is really a 3 1/2 star book for me.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Here I am, standing in the shadows, hoping the popular kids don’t grab me, stick my head in the toilet, and flush.No, I didn’t hate this book, but I also didn’t love it.I did like the premise, with the magical forces and the Dark One hellbent on world destruction.But here’s my problem: This is marketed as the author’s first “adult” novel. I’d place it somewhere in the gray middle of YA and adult, like the author wasn’t quite able to make the transition. The main characters are in their mid to late twenties, a fact I had to keep reminding myself of because they speak and behave like kids in their late teens. If they’d actually been teenagers, I might have appreciated the book more, though, honestly, I didn’t much like any of them, and I thought the attempt at diversity fell flat.Pacing is a (very) slow build, with the first half being a whole lot of repetitive drama. At about the midway point, we enter new territory. Some of the original characters fall away and we’re introduced to new characters. For me, this is when the story gets interesting. Pacing picks up, and the new characters are more complex and their behavior more age appropriate.I almost gave up during the lackluster first half, but the second half made it worth sticking with the story.*I won a copy in a giveaway from the publisher.*

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Roth chooses an unpleasant but relatively effective way to introduce Sloane, the unfriendliest of five saviors of humanity (they defeated the Dark One who brought magic to Earth and slaughtered thousands): by having a misogynist journalist write about how much he wants to fuck her to take her off her high horse. The saving the world happened when they were teens, as did the associated trauma; though Sloane’s partner Matt—the leader—wants to get over it, Sloane isn’t with that program. When three of the Chosen are torn away from their Earth to another world that also needs saviors, she finds that she might not want to be the hero at all.

[antao-3 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I don’t have anything against YA Fiction (or YA-disguised-as-Adult-Fiction). I agree that people should read Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but that doesn’t mean they can’t read and enjoy YA as well. Why limit yourself to just one genre or type? Read everything. Good books are good books regardless. I have no problems reading Capote and Vidal before tucking into a good Lois Duncan novel. If you look hard enough, you'll find something worthwhile in any genre. What I love about YA is that I can visit a book shop or library and find everything under the YA bracket; thriller, romance, horror, melodrama and so much more. I started reading YA back in the 90s when you had important writers - the likes of Robert Cormier/Joan Lowery Nixon/Francesca Lia Block/Judy Blume/Theresa Breslin/Jay Bennett - putting out challenging fiction that didn’t sneer at their readership. Taboos were broken and fully-formed characters dragged you into their world. I lived and breathed for those authors, anxiously waiting for the next book out on the Lions (Tracks) imprint; they put out stylish books with beautiful cover art, treating Juvenile Fiction (what YA used to be called) with the respect I feel it still deserves. It’s true that the publishing industry tends to follow trends, but that isn’t something unique to YA. “Twilight”, which happened over a decade ago, is the stick used to beat YA as a whole. There are authors out there pushing the boundaries in YA, giving us fiction every bit as challenging as anything you’ll find in ‘the adult section’ of your local bookshop, and certainly more complex than generic police procedural crime novels or novels about middle-class wife swappers in suburbia.Unfortunately “Chosen Ones” does not belong to the latter. Is it YA Fiction for Adults or Adult Fiction for morons? Well, I'd counter that 90% of 'adult fiction' is crap too. The biggest problem I see is the trend bandwagon, i.e., author writes a great historical or fantasy fiction that sells like gangbusters and suddenly all these “unknown” authors come out with a copycat version trying to monopolize on the latest bestselling trend. Because people enjoyed the original author's good book, they gravitate towards the 'crap' hoping it will be as good as the book that drew them into the genre and end up disappointed. It's not about a great story telling anymore, it's about the 'bottom line'. They even offer courses at local colleges and universities now that teach you 'formulas' on how to write bestselling books. I wouldn't like to define YA literature either, but I can sure as hell recognise it when I'm reading it. And whether YA lit is crap or not, I don't much like it and wish bookstores would keep it in its own section and not let it spill out into others. This is another example of YA-disguised-as-Adult-Fiction…It’s bloody awful. Simplistic and derivative with protagonists who “Could Always Fall for the Mysterious, Seemingly Bad Boy Outsider/Member of a Group Who Turns Out to Be Okay After all and en Passant Saves the Fucking World”.YA-disguised-as-Adult-Fiction is a marketing ploy, isn't it? It's about targeting your audience and selling them what you've persuaded them into thinking they want in order to make loads of dosh for all concerned apart from the reader. Young adults should be reading Henry James, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, et al. Why? So they can tell great writing from crap.Avoid like the plague!

[rachdani · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I read the synopsis of Chosen Ones, I was intrigued. I've often wondered how happily ever after works out for heroes, especially after all they go through. I feel like Roth does a great job of exploring what life after would be like, both the good and the ugly. She explores the hard to talk about after effects of trauma, and the different ways people cope. It's wonderful, but this book is so much more than that. I don't like to do spoilers, but the book and the worlds it opens are amazing! There is so much thought and possibility put into this book, and I love both. I will just say, spoiler free, that the synopsis is only the tip of the iceberg.My biggest complaint is that the book is rather slow... up to the last third or so. The book is made up of the main story, lots of flash backs, and bits of information from newspaper articles, scientific articles/books and classified memos and briefs. It's a wonderful way to fill in what happened before the events of this book and other needed details that would bog down the story line, but even in this format, it slows the pace of the book. I also didn't like that it was written in third person...it just felt like an odd choice, especially given how complex Sloan is. I would have liked to hear her thought process a little more. I know this is labeled as an adult novel, but for me it read more as a YA. That's not a negative for me, just an observation. I do think some of the topics broached in the book are a little heavy for some younger readers, which is probably what earned it the adult label.

[constant2m · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The premise of Chosen Ones was interesting: five heroes who had destroyed the Dark One reunited ten years later. They are all a mess and need serious counseling. None of them were that likable - possibly Albie, but he didn't get much screen time. Sloane, the lead, was actually quite a terrible person, and she never gets better. Strangely, both of her love interests both see her as better than she actually is, which is the biggest problem with them - they are wrong.Having such high expectations of Veronica Roth after reading Divergent, I was disappointed. Billed as an adult novel, the characters still acted like juveniles. There are unexpected twists in the story and everything our heroes thought they knew was ripped apart several times. The problem was that I struggled to care. It took so long for the story to go anywhere and it wasn't until about the last quarter of the book that something finally started to happen, but even then, I can't say it was worth it. There's nothing wrong with Veronica's writing. And if you don't mind a slow build and anti-heroes, you will like this book. As for me, I'm more than ready to go back to fairy tales with all of their unrealistic happily-ever-afters.I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and have reviewed it.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sloane and her four friends - Matt, Ines, Esther, and Albie - were the Chosen Ones, and ten years ago they defeated the Dark One as teenagers. Now, Sloane is dealing with PTSD and still hasn't figured out what she wants from life. Then, she and a couple of the other Chosen Ones are dragged into a parallel universe whose Chosen One has been defeated. Does she really have to do it all over again?It's always fun for me to see an author do something new, changing genres or audiences successfully or exploring something not in their earlier work. And I enjoyed the aspect of this that was introspective, similar to Mockingjay's opening in a way, exploring the aftereffects of being one of the teenagers who saved the world. I can't entirely put my finger, though, on why the book was one I only liked. Was I too distracted to get into the story or because the story wasn't working for me? I think some of it may be that, though it's told in third person, it stays close to Sloane's point of view and she keeps everyone, even the reader, at arm's length. I was more interested in the set up and cared less about the stakes. It wasn't a bad read, I enjoyed it when I was reading it and would still recommend it, but it was ultimately very putdownable.

[oceancat-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chosen Ones was an interesting book. Veronica Roth’s first adult novel is about what happens after a group of teens saves the world from evil. Ten years have passed and Sloane and her friends have each dealt with the trauma and fame differently, some in healthier ways than others. Stark struggles with PTSD and addiction are shown, and the beginning of the book is kind of a rough time for that reason. But then things go in an unexpected direction. I ended up liking the story, though it was a bit slow in the middle it picks back up and I am glad I stuck with it. I loved the complex characters and while I was very sad that my favorite was only in the first part, new characters are introduced who I grew to love as well. The ending was also satisfying and I’m looking forward to the sequel. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review