The Chosen One's Substitute
The Jagged Sword Chronicles #1
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Pub Date Jul 10 2026 | Archive Date Jul 25 2026
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Description
When the most powerful religious order in the Empire summons her five-year-old sister, Asha does the only thing she can—she takes her place. Armed with a whip, destructive magic that runs too hot in her hands, and a stubbornness her great uncle calls close to being well-trained, Asha leaves her sprawling Mage family behind to enter a world of soldiers, politics, and dangers far greater than she imagined.
Across the sea, Mago plays a far deadlier game. A whore master in the camp of the Dragon Riders; he witnesses atrocities he is powerless to stop. The Warlord’s army is on the move, and when their Blind Seer turns her prophetic gaze in his direction, Mago’s carefully constructed cover begins to unravel.
As Asha trains alongside Elves, Dwarves, and fellow Mages in a unit that was never meant to exist, she discovers that the bonds forged in a ballast run deeper than blood. But the Order’s enemies are not just across the sea. When the Dragon Riders come, Asha and her companions must find a way to stop the invasion and defeat the invincible, no matter what it takes.
The Chosen One’s Substitute is the first book in an epic fantasy series of war, sacrifice, and the bonds that hold when everything else breaks.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9798994990414 |
| PRICE | $4.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 340 |
Available on NetGalley
Average rating from 3 members
Featured Reviews
J. A. M, Reviewer
☆~ I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. ~☆
What a delightful surprise! I requested the ARC of The Chosen One's Substitute on a whim, mostly for its old-school cool cover art, but I absolutely adored this book!
What I enjoyed the most might have been the nostalgic feeling it evoked in me. The Chosen One's Substitute reminded me of the Dragonlance Chronicles, or The Dark Elf Trilogy, with their D&D campaign feel and typical heroic fantasy setting. They just don't write books like that anymore... or so I thought!
The premise was interesting, and I'm glad to report that the execution delivered beautifully! The plot was fascinating, with a clever twist on the chosen one concept, and how politics and ideals often can be two sides of the same coin. I was hooked from the start, and I couldn't put the book down.
Both the world-building and the magic system were amazing. I'm a sucker for a cohesive system, but I hate info dumps and prefer to keep a bit of mystery regarding supernatural powers; I was amazed that this one hit just the right balance between not too vague and shallow, and not too technical and dry.
While I did spot some choppy sentences and awkward phrasing, I noticed no typos or grammatical errors; overall the writing was excellent, with a simple, clear, concise prose that suited the story very well.
The main characters had depth, layers, flaws, and doubts, and I loved them all. Asha was obviously the most developed, but Mago was super interesting as well, and I liked the occasional, shorter POVs by other characters. I only regret that most of the side characters felt a little flat in comparison.
There was a cute romantic subplot... well, maybe more of a hint than a subplot, although I hope it's developed further in the next books. In any case, the love interest was highly unusual, and their dynamic was super sweet and healthy.
The pacing was uneven, with some passages seemingly taking much more space in the overall structure of the book. This wasn't distracting or boring at all, but it did make the last quarter feel a little rushed compared to the rest.
My main gripe would be that this is very much a "first in a series" book, and the ending was not an ending at all. I do prefer to have *some* closure to tide me over if I have to wait for the next book!
I was honestly amazed by the overall quality of this book, especially for a debut. It deserves to be talked about much more; I will definitely recommend it! And I will be waiting eagerly for the rest of the series to come out...
Rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up here.
Eric G, Reviewer
***ARC Version***
Title: The Chosen One's Substitute
Author: Suzie Nicks
Pages: 342
Story:
This story is the debut of the series "The Jagged Sword Chronicles" set in a world where it is controlled by a religious Empire, amongst dragon riders and magic users. It also has minor politicking as well as scalable conflicts. We follow a 20 something year old character named Asha whom in the early stages of the book, is tasked with taking the place of her 5 year old sibling to head to the Religious Order's location. Within this journey, there are multiple POV's of single to dual characters in each chapter which I felt was a neat dynamic. The world's magic system is called "Desctructive" magic in which is what Asha uses/is. We are also introduced to races such as Dwarves, Elves and Humans. The added dynamic of the character named Mago is a nice added sprinkle into the story due to it provided a perspective on the other side of the war.
Who is this for:
If you enjoy a found family mixed with a version of coming of age in an epic fantasy world. You will love this due to it's strong FMC's, minor brushing on politics, numerous POV's to flush out the story and intriguing magic system. In a way it gave me Percy Jackson meets the Hobbit vibes. And I love those settings as they also give off this similar vibe of comradery.
Overall thoughts:
I enjoyed this very much to the point where I read it twice. And it's not that I missed something or was confused, it's that I was so captivated by the world, characters, magic system, multiple POV's, the stakes of Asha taking her sibling's place. It all just place such a huge role within one another that it makes you wanting more. I am very much looking forward to the next part of this in this new series. The introduction to the dragon riders is going to be awesome seeing in later books in which the conflicts will get that much grander.