This was a great book by a great author! I loved the premise and the writing was smooth and engaging. Each character was unique. I found it very valuable that the narration was from the first person. It added depth to the story and Sloane’s character. I thought it was a unique take on magic and appreciated that the characters were in their 20’s. A great, entertaining read!

Chosen Ones feels very, reliably Veronica Roth while also being such a departure for her that it was like reading an entirely new author. Roth outdoes herself by examining the aftermath of the battle against a great evil, the kind of person you become to live with what you did to survive back then. The kind of person you become again when it looks like that evil might come back. And there's a mid-book twist that just *chef's kiss*. The book must really be read to be believed.

As always, Roth writes a love letter to Chicago that made it feel like I was walking through the streets of the city, even during this pandemic. This was just the kind of story I needed.

**spoiler alert** This ended up being a solid read for me and I really enjoyed the ride.

It mainly focuses on Sloane Andrew's, one of the five "Chosen Ones" that were prophesied to save the world from The Dark One when they were teenagers. They were successful and became Earth's heroes. Now, ten years later, they are adults dealing with the aftermath of saving the world.

For most of the group they have tried to move on and make a life for themselves. For Sloane its much harder to just walk away. I felt her plight in that. It was very real and raw. She is not a character that most people would love. In short, she is an asshole. She suffers from PTSD from the events of ten years ago and it shows. Most of the book is centered around her and how she is handling her life. Which isn't very well. But you come to understand why she is the this way.

Beyond her story is the actual plot which revolves around magic and the idea that what it the events ten years ago was just the beginning? Not the end. If they were once again asked to save the world would they step up to the plate?

I got a really great trip out of this book and highly recommend it to anyone who likes the idea of magic and science colliding and what the outcome would be. It also looks like there is a sequel on Goodreads but the way the book ended I believe it could be a stand alone as well.

Veronica Roth's first adult novel was not exactly how I pictured it. Although the narrative and plotline is fairly predictable and includes many popular tropes, the over usage of cursing from the beginning of the book was hard for me to finish Chosen Ones.

Ten years after the Chosen Ones have defeated the Dark One, the novel hones into the lives of the Chosen Ones, emphasis on the life of Sloane. Chosen Ones starts off a slow start but ramps up to a decent pace. Roth includes different modes of writing within the novel such as letters, government memos, articles, etc. which does break up the monotony of the novel and adds a little mystery-solving to the novel.

Not sure what I was expecting... I read the first few Divergent books, and they were ok, but not memorable. So, didn’t go into The Chosen Ones with high expectations. However, despite some interesting world building, this felt extremely flat. Ended with a cliffhanger, and not chomping to bits to read the next instalment. Just didn’t do it for me.

I'll be honest, it's Veronica Roth. You either hate her or love her at this point. I personally love her chosen one characters that she chooses. I loved Tris from Divergent (even though some of y'all may side eye me for that), and Chosen Ones was no different. Sloane was everything I wanted and more. Definitely worth a read.

I was looking forward to reading this one and was thrilled that I was provided a copy through Net Galley. The concept of a book depicting the lives of chosen heroes AFTER the grand battle to defeat a great evil was intriguing. You never really know much of what happens after the heroes save the day. It’s something I often wonder in many books.

I’d give this a 3.5/5. It has a lot of potential and I want to see what happens in the next book. The world building was interesting. I can definitely see this being made to a TV series. The main character, Sloane, is not your typical “hero.” Her character is mostly fleshed out though I think an issue for me is that the others characters didn’t get the same type of treatment.

There were a few surprises throughout. Parts were a bit tedious to get through IMO. I think this book is worth the read and I have hopes for the story to continue building its layers into a solid series.

I think I might not have liked this book because this was the first book I read by the author. There were references to previous books which I totally didn't get. I was looking at a book 10 years later with no idea of what had happened 10 years earlier. Me reading this arc was a bad idea in total.

No good introduction to the world since I guess the author wanted familiar readers to pick this book. Okay I get it, not meant for me.

A sci fi quest on another planet with the same Dark one. I didn't care for it since hello no character development, I didn't care for the characters since I was expected to do so from previous book(s)? But the characters seemed like teenagers rather than adult. I just didn't care whether they won or not given the paparazzi intro to the plot.

So yeah if someone likes a sci fi dystopian book and who has read previous books by the author may enjoy this one. It wasn't that bad, just that it wasn't for me.

This arc was provided to me as a complimentary copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

There's something about superhero prose that just doesn't work (at least for me). Something gets lost in translation - they need the visual medium to depict the action, the powers. It's the same for this book. Roth is a good writer, who writes compelling characters, but the plot and action seems only so-so.

Roth pulls together several ideas and concepts to execute her first novel geared more toward an adult audience. And from the beginning, as the characters are introduced in their post-world saving conditions and with Sloane, the main character and narrator, in particular battling PTSD, I was drawn towards the idea of the spent and battered Chosen Ones.

The book takes a couple of interesting turns with introducing alternate universes, various ideas of magic, and also delivering parts of the plot in epistolary form, but it doesn't quite find its own footing and land in its own space to rise above and create something new or wholly different. It comes close and it was entertaining, but just might be too many ideas meshed together.

Unfortunately, I have decided to put this book aside at 27% I don't think it's bad, just not the right book for me. I see what the author did with telling the story of what happened before through a series of documents that look back spread throughout the book, but to me it just seems that I'm missing something. This book could have been a sequel.

*eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but the copy I read was the Fairyloot exclusive edition*

I had really high hopes for this one. Originally, I wasn't expecting much from it. I had enjoyed Roth's Divergent series and completely ignored Carve the Mark. But I received a chapter sampler of Chosen Ones at YallFest and was so intrigued by it. While Chosen Ones didn't always live up to my expectations (it takes a sharp turn away from them, in fact), it was still a very good read.

Sloan, our heroine, is messy. She is sharp edges and a hard center. And she's got PTSD from her years of battling against the Dark One, a mysterious figure with a massive death count. She's definitely not the perfect hero, and she doesn't care. That role is occupied by her boyfriend, the "Chosen One of Chosen Ones," Matt. And well...I bet you can guess how their relationship turns out.

The first part of the book follows Sloane's daily life, though I wouldn't call it a normal one. After all, she does spend time on government bases and at opening ceremonies for war monuments. Then, she's pulled into a portal to another dimension, another Chicago where magic is wide-spread, and the people there need her to be a Chosen One again.

I love the mixed-media feel of this book. Between most of the chapters are articles and essays about various parts of this different world- about the magic, the Dark One, and Sloane's past. It is reminiscent of Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman's Illuminae Files (one of the articles is even written by a 'Jay Kaufman.' which can only be a nod to the famous Australian writing duo.

I didn't expect the new fight in another dimension or the plot twists that happen there. Some of the reveals that happen at the very end of the book are a bit confusing, especially the information about the Dark One and his plans. But the very end of the book holds a lot of promise (and worry) for the sequel, which I am eagerly awaiting.

4.75 stars

Sadly this book fell flat for me.

The author tried hard to make this an adult book, but to me it seemed more YA.

Sloane was a spoiled brat most of the time and I felt for Matt. He gave his all and she ignored him.
All of the chosen ones were dealing with the aftermath in their own way, but it seemed immature and that is why I can’t see this as an adult book.

The story doesn’t flow smoothly and every couple of chapters it’s reports or articles from the past.

It was hard for me to finish and I kept putting it down to read other books, so now I finally finished it and can’t say I enjoyed the ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth is ideal for grown-up fans of Divergent. This book has the same YA vibe of Roth's earlier books; the characters are older in age, but their mindset and some of the circumstances seem like her previous series. I enjoyed Divergent, so even if this didn't fit with a traditional adult fantasy/science fiction novel, I liked this book.

Veronica Roth has written her first in a fantasy series for adults , although it reads like her YA fiction.
The main character, Sloane, is a strong, likable unwilling hero. The others of the five potential Chosen Ones are less likable, or well drawn-out, Maybe this is because although it is written in the third-person, it truly is Sloane’s story, and her complicated history with them (especially Matt) colors the reader’s opinion of them.
I found the parallel universe more engaging and entertaining, since it is filled with magic and science, as well as intriguing characters. This book can stand alone although it is going to be a series.

Solid book. Well-paced. I haven't read the Divergent series but I loved the movies so I decided to give this book a try. I didn't fall in love with these characters like I fell in love with the characters in Divergent. There was just something missing. But overall it was an enjoyable read. Thank you to the publisher and author for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

Interesting read. Lots of plot twists, most of them weren't all that unexpected but still entertaining. Good character development.

This book was actually a real big disappointment to me. I expected a story of a "chosen one" who won, saved their world as a teen, then had to deal with the PTSD fall out of saving their world. It does start out that way but changes to some hot mess of parallel universes about 1/3 of the way through.

There are so many sub plots that just... dead end. They go no where and are just suddenly forgotten with no real explanation as to why these things were brought up in any way.

Over all this wasn't bad, it was just extremely disappointing when I think of what this could have been.

I found the start of this book to be a little slow and it just didn't ever really pick up for me. The bulk of the story is told through Sloan's flashbacks. Her PTSD is well written and described and explains that even though she chosen to save the world, walking into a war zone is still traumatic. This is explained through little pre-chapter snippets, which were honestly more interesting than what the characters were going through or talking about. I like that Sloan is still very childish and that she was chosen at a young age to deal with some heavy shit. It is very much like she's still "stuck" there, and given her condition, she kinda is. I appreciated how all the people in her life were basically telling her to grow up and get over it, because it's realistic and nobody understands another's trauma. People deal with their own grief their own way but they're really fond of telling other people how they should deal with theirs. This isn't some grand adventure story about a group of chosen ones but much more a look at PTSD and how trauma affects you. It's not what I was expecting, but I didn't hate it either.

I read a few of Roth’s previous works so when the opportunity to review her newest release came up I could not resist. Set in the aftermath of comic book destruction our plucky heroes have overcome the villain and are moving on with their lives. A decade on the five Chosen Ones are living their lives as best they can, all processing their individual traumas in individual and collective ways. It becomes apparent that some are using healthier means than others however the choice made by one impacts on the others considerably, leading them back into an alternative version of their old lives. The lives that they had all tried so hard to move on from.

I enjoyed almost everything about this book. The characters were believable and real, making very human choices to process their experiences and traumas. The one thing that I found incredibly difficult to accept comes about halfway through the story (no spoilers here) and I was very close to abandoning the book. Which is a shame because I really enjoyed the second half, albeit it did appear to be a slightly different mood from the first half. I understand why this event had to happen in the way it did but it felt a bit clunky to me.

Overall the book was really enjoyable, reading as being heavily influenced by the YA genre despite being advertised as an adult novel. This was fine for me as I enjoy YA but might be off-putting for those who have not read Roth’s previous work.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an egalley.