Review: 'Chosen Ones' by Veronica Roth, narr. by Dakota Fanning + Cast
Book Pub. Date: 4/7/2020
Audible Pub. Date: 4/7/2020
Audible Publisher: Audible Studios
The mega-selling author of the Divergent franchise delivers her masterful first novel for adults
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 10th 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.
What would Fantasy, Mythology, even most religious texts, be without a Chosen one? All these stories need a hero, male or female, willing to give it all, to leave home and comfort and fight in whatever way is necessary. For some that means an endless journey burdened by primeval evil, for others it means fighting a corrupt government. Veronica Roth is no stranger to a Chosen One herself, with her popular Divergent-series. She is also no stranger to making certain choices when it comes to the fate of her Chosen One. I won't go into it too much here, but personally I did like (although I didn't enjoy it) the choices she made in the final Divergent book. Happy endings also cost something. In Chosen Ones we find ourselves in the moment after most books end, when the big bad has been destroyed and our heroes need to move on, become normal all of a sudden. It is a fascinating set-up, one which has a lot of potential and offers a lot of opportunities. Roth's novel seizes some of these opportunities.
Sloane is one of five Chosen Ones, children who fit the requirements of a Prophecy and therefore had to fight the Dark One. Which of them, exactly, is the "real" Chosen One remains unclear, but they did gain victory together. Now, ten years later, the Chosen Ones have attempted to reintegrate into society, to fit in in again. But Sloane is struggling. She has night terrors, she has no real education to speak of, and she has a deep distrust. How do you move on when most of your life prepared you to always fight, always be on guard, always be ready to run? When one of the five Chosen Ones dies, it could have formed a breaking point, except that the remaining ones are dragged into a new fight, which takes place on a much bigger scale. For me, the escalation of danger felt a little bit like a let-down, which was off considering it takes place after roughly a third of the book. I was utterly fascinated by Sloane's attempts to go back to a normal she had never known. Perhaps listening to this book during COVID had something to do with it, as we all remain on edge, fearful, unsure while also clamoring for a normality that was never entirely there. So I was in that struggle with Sloane and it felt so real. The new danger, therefore, pushed me back a little. I was intrigued, however, and although bigger isn't always better, this new adventure did mostly work for me.
Sloane is technically not very likeable. She is grumpy, quick to jump to anger, and full of angst. Roth does a pretty good jump at grounding all these traits in experiences, which means that even if Sloane isn't always likeable she is understandable. We get less of a glimpse at the other Chosen Ones, who we mostly get to know through Sloane's perception of them. Her point-of-view, however, is frequently interrupted by what I would call meta-texts. Whether it is government reports on Prophecies, news articles on Chosen Ones, poems about surviving a near-apocalyptic event, all different kinds of voices come in to further extend the world within which Sloane operates. I very much enjoyed these "digressions" as they deepen the reading experience for me. They may feel disruptive to some, however. All in all, by the time we reached the end of Chosen Ones I could confidently say I had a good time. And yet, I was still wondering about that other novel, the one solely focused on a chosen hero trying to recover, trying to adapt, and, perhaps, failing. That thread was still there in Chosen Ones but hidden under Science Fiction and Fantasy paraphernalia.
Veronica Roth is most known for the Divergent books which is both a plus and a minus. While I enjoyed the novels I can also say they weren't great. There are interesting ideas there, interesting characters, but so much of it gets lost to genre tropes. Chosen Ones, in my opinion, shows definite development from there. Roth takes more time, story lines come together very well, the tropes, while present, are moved around to fit into the narrative she wants to tell, rather than vice versa. Because of this the book might move slowly for some, but it did work for me. Do I still want that other book? Yes! But for what Chosen Ones is, I did adore it. What can I say, I'm a hopeless lover of deeply flawed characters being deeply flawed together. I love it when two dark souls meet and acknowledge each other's darkness without flinching. It makes me weak. Much of this is helped by Dakota Fanning's narration, who brings a wryness and hidden warmth to Sloane that really brought her to life for me. Fanning never overdoes it with the moroseness or angst that could ruin a character like this. She is supported by a full cast who narrate the digressions mentioned above. This cast is made up by Veronica Roth, Victor Bevine, Gabriel Vaughan, Isabel Keating, Robin Miles, Kevin T. Collins, Vikas Adam, L.J. Gasner, Richard Ferrone, Carly Robins, Flynn Earl Jones, Emily Bauer, Kyla Garcia, David Shih, Edoardo Ballerini, Natasha Soudek, and Amy McFadden.
I give this novel/audiobook...
4 Universes!
While Chosen Ones didn't turn out to be the story I was expecting, I very much enjoyed my time with it. With interesting world-building and characters that made my heart clench it is definitely one I'd recommend.
Comments
Post a Comment