Chosen Ones - Veronica Roth

[goodreads]

Title: Chosen Ones
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Sci-fi, arc
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 419
Date read: June, 2020

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.


I had very high expectations for this book, but while it mostly delivered, it was only that -- mostly.

The beginning was fascinating - how do kids (because they were kids at the time) cope with being "the chosen ones" when the big bag villain is suddenly overcome? How would they fit in in a post-war-ridden world? It's a concept that I haven't seen explored in books before, and one I would have loved to see expanded upon. I was also interested in seeing what all the research Sloane was doing would finally amount to.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if Veronica Roth changed her mind after the first few chapters, and instead of following up on the threads and issues created there, she instead added the presence of a parallel universe where the chosen ones could become "Chosen" all over again... thus returning to a much more familiar and traditional narrative. It was still worth reading, to be sure, but not nearly as innovative as I had originally assumed it would be.

I also felt like some threads were left hanging - or glossed over at least - but I do recognize that this is supposed to be the first in a series, so those threads may have been left on purpose to be picked up in the sequels.