Title: Chosen Ones

Author: Veronica Roth

Pub. Date: April 7, 2020

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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.

This will be a spoiler free review. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. I split my reading of this book between audio and an eARC.

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.

This has been sitting on my NG shelf for a while now, so I opted to download the audiobook off Audible because I’ve been so damn busy.

I’d heard a lot of really good things and I’ve been a fan of everything else Veronica Roth has written. So needless to say, my hopes were a little high.

And I’ll be honest, I was a little bored at the beginning. I didn’t really like Sloane and I was really not a fan of the asshole reporter that interviews her at the beginning. I really wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but I knew it needed to give it a little more time. So, I did.

Then I understood the hype I’d seen around this book. I ended up really loving the way the story was told. I loved how the formal documents/documentation interviews of what happened were included.

For the audiobook, I especially loved that it had a full cast and the characters really came to life. With the full cast, it felt more like having a movie playing in the background as I just listened to it.

I didn’t see a bunch of the little plot twists coming, but I definitely had my suspicions about the big one. I liked that I was right and found the ending to be enjoyable, but also a little anticlimactic. The middle of this book was fantastic. The plot was engaging and fun, the character arcs and development had me caring so much and all in my feels – Sloane’s journey, phew. I loved that this was a fresh take on the whole trope of Chosen Ones and how within each of them – Sloan, Matt, Albie, Ines and Esther – we see various consequences and coping mechanisms for dealing with everything they had to go through.

I loved the background information we got in the form of the formal documents/documentation interviews. I thought that it added a nice touch, and was an interesting and unique way of giving the necessary information.

Overall, this book is great. I really enjoyed it and I’m so glad that it lived up to the hype I’d heard about it. I’m really interested in seeing what Veronica Roth does with book 2 of this series. Chosen Ones definitely reads as a standalone, but I enjoyed it enough that revisiting this world (assuming we are back with Sloane and Co.). If you’re looking for something fun and new to read, then I’d definitely check this out!