I LOVED The divergent Series, and was super excited to read The Chosen Ones, Roth's first adult novel. I was not disappointed. This book captivated me from page one, the way you get inside of the heads of each of the Chosen ones enticed me to the end. The intensity of the experience these people have been through can really take your breath away when you, as the reader, tries to fathom how these characters made it where they are. A lovely thriller!!

It's not you Roth, it's me.

I didn't really like Divergent, but whatever, a new series is a new chance for a first impression.  But I'm left thinking this book is for someone else.  

Ideas feel thrown at me... "Here, a thing happened, now feel THIS way about it!"

If you like that style of writing, you'll like this.  Nothing stands out as really bad, just not for me.

**I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Veronica Roth definitely has a style.  So if you liked any of her other books, you will enjoy this one too.  This fun read has three parts to it.  Part One is mostly background, character establishment and some good world-building. The bad guy is called The Dark One and the heroes have magic.  In Part Two, the heroes travel to another dimension that has their own Dark One.  In Part Three, the heroes have to decide how to save all the worlds.

Chosen Ones follows a group of young teens as they recount their experience defeating a being who was terrorizing the country. Would highly recommend this book!

Most of the time, I have to say, this book is very slow. There are fantastic action scenes, but they are few and far between. However, the building of the world is amazing, especially in Part 2 of the novel. My one small problem, I suppose, is that it almost reads like two different books in one because the second part really came out of nowhere. It was a great read overall, though, and I loved the main character who really made the book for me.

I was a little iffy because I hated the was Divergent ended and of course, I'm going to think of that series when I Veronica Roth, but I really enjoyed it!!

I was really excited about this book but I found that I could not really get into it. It has a great premise but I found the pacing to be a bit too slow for me. Other readers will enjoy it for sure though.

I wanted to LOVE this one. 
As a huge fan of the Divergent series, both my teen and I were so thrilled when I was approved for this title, but it just didn’t work for either of us. I thought it was just the wrong timing for me or something, so I let him read it as well, and he felt much the same as I did. 

It was slow to get there, and as a little bit longer of a title, and knowing it was written to be a series I just didn’t see what was taking so long to get there. I probably would have given up on it, if I didn’t so badly want to enjoy it. I’m sure we will read book two, to see if it gets any better, but we were both just left wanting something MORE.

This had such a slow start for me, and I just could not connect with any of the characters. The premise sounded interesting, but it ended up being very slow.

I really admire Veronica Roth and have enjoyed some of her books and really liked interviews with her. I want to support her, but this book just wouldn't stick. I have tried to read it off and on for months. The use of news articles to provide outside points of view and jumping around could be useful for a more complete story, but in this case I just didn't feel like it worked. I felt no connection to the characters and couldn't even piece together very much of a story.
I won't be reviewing this in other places because I don't like to give bad reviews that would discourage others from reading this and judging it for themselves. I really appreciate the opportunity to read this but I wouldn't recommend it. I would be open to reading another Roth book in the future as I feel like she is still a good writer.

This was FANTASTIC. Despite a few pacing issues near the end, I absolutely loved this. The main character Sloan felt fully developed, with a distinct voice. She is difficult, selfish, rude, my favorite. I loved reading from her perspective. I loved the dissection of the chosen one trope, prophesies, etc. I loved the twist. The ending is interesting. I thought this was a standalone going in but its clearly not. I have no idea where its going to go, but I'm fully invested in Sloane and Mox. 
I can see why this wouldn't be for everyone, but it is exactly my shit. 
Recommended.

She was by the river, the cold air burning her lungs, as she stared across the bridge at the Dark One right before their last battle. Part of her always would be.

This is one of those books that are just so interesting in the beginning, with amazing premise, complex cast of characters and plot that simply has so much potential. And then it just goes to waste or, mixed with other aspects of the story, doesn't leave with overall good impression.

I loved the premise of five Chosen Ones, depressed and traumatised after saving the world from Dark One, who live their adult lives as if trapped in their teenage bodies. On the 10th anniversary of their victory, Matt proposes to his longtime girlfriend Sloane, as she realizes that this is not everything she's ever wanted. And soon they find out that the evil never truly vanished.

The first part exploring main characters' adult lives was amazing, and I loved exploration of their PTSD. However, I think that third person narration really did injustice to the story, since Sloane is such a complex character, and first person narrative would've been more suitable. The second part is where it all becomes really dull, with some predictable YA tropes.

It had some interesting bits and pieces, and I like how it explored perspective of heroes who are morally ambiguous. But so much was happening in so little pages, and I thought that the ultimate reason the Dark One wasn't defeated was just plain stupid. I loved Sloane, and I can say that Matt, Albie and Mox were really interesting characters. Villain, however, was pretty unconvincing.

For an adult fantasy, it does read like a YA novel. It had some upsides and some downsides, not what I was expecting, but I still pretty much enjoyed most of it. Yes, it dragged, but it had some loveable bits that made me really connected to the story. And it was kinda fun, but the ending left me wanting more. I hope Roth does the sequel justice.

Thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A 'what happens after you've defeated the big baddie' look at old war heroes suffering from PTSD, alongside living life as famous mid-twenties millenials suffering from immense existential crises. This wasn't what I was expecting - it's a cross between literary fiction and Percy Jackson - but it was interesting and definitely did something new.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Loved it!

Interesting concept of "what do you do with the rest of your life after you have saved the world?".  The characters were realistic, some were likeable and some were not. Twists and turns throughout the story. Not everything was  as it seemed.

Roth has been one of those authors for me in whom I've had a rocky relationship with. I DNFed Divergent so quickly, it didn't see me do so. But I loved Carved The Mark. So, now, I don't judge based on whether or not she wrote it, but rather the premise. 
For me, her writing was a struggle. But I love the challenges Sloane faces along with her PTSD and the fact this story focused on the aftermath of the big victory, not the journey of it.

I loved the Divergent series, so obviously I had to read Chosen Ones. 
Man, was I blown away?! It’s so good and so wholly unexpected. You can see through the writing how much Veronica has grown as a writer. The story building, characters, plot.. it’s all amazing. 
I love the idea of “what happens after?” We read about chosen ones over and over again, but I’ve never read a story like this, where they tell how those few people cope with their new role. 
I’ll definitely be recommending this book to Roth fans!

Chosen Ones follows five people who were chosen to kill the Dark One. The book starts ten years later. 

There is so much to say about this book. I've read every book that Veronica Roth has published and I found this one to be the weakest out of them all. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that this was her first book, not her most recent.

The characters seemed to not be consistent. Their desires didn't really seem to be their own and after 400 pages, I still only have a shallow understanding of them as people. There were major plot points at the end where it didn't make sense that these were their desires.

The plot was nonexistent. The structuring of going back in forth to different times and places made the book drag. This felt like a massive prologue. It would have been better if this got edited down to 100 pages and added to the next book. It took so long to build up to something that the major surprising points weren't that exciting and I honestly didn't care anymore. The way this book ended didn't leave much open for another book when it comes to a plot. 

The worldbuilding stayed strictly to what was relevant to the what was going on in that moment. It was tough to see where pieces of information connected off screen for me. I couldn't see this world outside of what was happening. What was Thailand like on Genetrex? I have no clue. 

Overall, this book wasn't bad but it wasn't one of Roth's best works. 

3/5

This was a good read, but didn't have the 'wow' factor that the Divergent series did. The premise of a group of young adults who have been credited for saving the world but now suffer from PTSD yet must face the demon again is interesting. Unfortunately, the story seemed to wander in too many directions and would've benefited from more depth, especially in character development. Still, a fun read just not as satisfying as this reader had hoped.

When I saw that Netgalley and the publisher had granted me my wish of reading chosen ones, I was so freaking happy, and by some miracle I completely forgot about having ordered this book and got it the next day. It was like "hi, I'm here now."
I'm a fan of Veronica's books, so when I saw she'd have a new one, I wanted to add it to the list immediately. And I don't regret it a single bit, I read the book almost in one take, it was that good- it's a story that challenges your view of bad guys and good guys and how machist our view of hero's can be, and how they too can be impacted by traumas, while we fans only see them as grand and perfect. It makes the reader think about things like PTSD and trauma, and how we cope with events that are hard to think about. And Sloane really isn't your typical hero.
This is a new book that takes a second look at the experience of a chosen one, and it is truly captivating.

Chosen Ones is enjoyable and is hopefully a taste of more to come.