After rereading the Divergent trilogy and lowering my rating considerably, and the miss that was Roth's Carve the Mark, I've come to the conclusion that I just don't connect with her writing. (But, because of her connection to Chicago and my youthful nostalgia for Divergent I always want to.)


Chosen Ones
by Veronica Roth

The first novel written for an adult audience by the mega-selling author of the Divergent franchise: five twenty-something heroes famous for saving the world when they were teenagers must face even greater demons—and reconsider what it means to be a hero . . . by destiny or by choice.

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.

Look, I'm always going to have a fondness for Veronica Roth even though a majority of the time her books and I have a massive disconnect. (That's not including the prior drama surrounding Carve the Mark or my recent reread of the Divergent trilogy.) Back in the day, Divergent was one of my most beloved series (and I was more than happy to shout into the void about how much I loved Tris and Four) but somewhere along the line my love for it faded and pretty much everything Veronica Roth has released after Allegiant has been a miss for me. 

Unfortunately, Chosen Ones is another one in that lineup. Similarly to Carve the Mark, this is mostly because of one simple fact: taste is subjective and Chosen Ones was simply not my cup of tea. I found that I appreciated the concept far more than the execution and it made the story fall flat.

There's a big part of me that wants to state that, perhaps, this was a case of 'right book, wrong time' but I don't necessarily believe that. In-fact, I don't wholly believe that it's even a direct nod against my inability to connect with Roth's writing/characters--I think it more or less had to do with the genre not quite clicking with my personal preference.

Although Chosen Ones had an engaging beginning, and an enthralling plot in terms of the story's blueprint/core, the longer I read the novel the harder it was to focus on it. All too often, I found myself wanting to put it down and walk away for hours on end. 

Chosen Ones began to drift from my mind as I was reading it and that is never a good sign.

Ultimately, reading it wasn't an enjoyable experience for me--despite Roth's laid back prose and the promises the story held. While I thought there was a lot of wit and uniqueness to Chosen Ones, and can see why it will surely be loved amongst Roth's fans, it was not for me.