Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

Publisher’s Blurb:

Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice—catastrophic events known as Drains—leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him.

After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal . . . for everyone but them. After all, what do you do when you’re the most famous people on Earth, your only education was in magical destruction, and your purpose in life is now fulfilled?

Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting. Everyone else blames the PTSD—and her huge attitude problem—but really, she’s hiding secrets from them . . . secrets that keep her tied to the past and alienate her from the only four people in the world who understand her.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dark One’s defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies. When the others gather for the funeral, they discover the Dark One’s ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold—bigger than the world itself.

And this time, fighting back might take more than Sloane has to give.

After following Roth through her Divergent series, I requested Chosen Ones because it’s her first foray into adult books. Here’s a list of impressions…

• One thing is the amount of swearing (get over it)… I glanced at some reviews and y’know, GoodReads…
• I’ve read/ watched a number of books/ flicks that deal with Superheroes outside of the battlefield. To humanize the heroes. To create a place for them to deal with their emotions. The PTSD. The regrets. The pain you can’t see. The twist to this one is that it jumps so far forward (10 yrs) and these supers are relatively young, not a mid-life crisis like Mr. Incredible.
• I found the beginning of the book to be a slow burn… Roth sets up the premise and lets the reader see the characters reveal themselves and their comedown from glory. Questions: What happens after you win the big game? Will you be ready for the next one or will you lose that edge?
• The length was a hinderance for me. At just under 450 pages, there were a couple side plots that could have been taken out to make the plot more streamlined and help focus on the key themes.
• I can tell you without reservations that I enjoyed this villain. The last quarter of the book is quite the roller coaster of action, emotions, and reveals.

Pick this one up for a different look at the Chosen One trope… While it can be uneven, the core plot, characters, and themes are worth a read.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, John Joseph Adams/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the author for an advanced copy for review.