Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

12 reviews

christinereads1823's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thoroughly engrossing, full of twists and an interesting take on magic systems. Roth's flawed characters with sharp edges and unresolved trauma sing, exploring the complexities of being a hero after your adventure ends - and then what happens when you're asked to do it again.

I did guess the character-based plot twists (I felt they were pretty obvious) but not the worldbuilding-based ones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Suicide, and Kidnapping

loop_laurens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A unique and gripping read that confronts the reality and aftermath of being a teenage chosen one. 

Chosen Ones forces the reader to view the familiar trope in a new light, exploring the trauma and aftermath of being, in essence, groomed to fight an evil. The combination of a flawed, complicated antihero, realistic depictions of how different people cope with trauma, an engaging plot, and the well paced snippets of backstory in the format of reports and articles made this a difficult to put down, thouroughly immersive read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

kadtide's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

joshuas_space's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Cancer

elle_dee's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

leonormsousa's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

TRIGGER WARNINGS 

violence, death, mental illness (PTSD), panic attacks, emotional abuse, kidnapping, torture, murder, gore, blood, injury/injury detail, suicide, addiction, drug abuse, alcoholism, chronic pain, grief, cancer

REPRESENTATION 

MC with PTSD, Black SC, Mexican-American lesbian SC, disabled SC

REVIEW
Although I did enjoy the Divergent series, I have some mixed feelings towards it (especially the last book) and so I probably would have never picked up Chosen Ones was it not for Beatriz talking about it. It wasn’t even a favourite of hers but somehow, the way she talked about the book really got me invested in it. Since I’m a mood reader, being really invested means it took me about a year to buy it and then another year to finally get around to reading it 🙈. Anyway, this was just a big introduction so I can thank Beatriz for what was actually a great recommendation but also appreciate bookstagram for making me read books I probably never would.

Moving on to the book itself, I enjoyed it quite a lot: solid 4 stars for me. But even though I did enjoy it for what it was, I can’t help but think about how GOOOOOOD this book would be if, using the same starting point, it was more a sort of literary fiction. Does this make no sense? No?! Yeah, that sounds about right… But let me explain.

My absolute favourite part about this book was the characters. It’s not that the plot was not interesting but for me personally, it felt like an ok plot. But the characters… THE. CHA. RAC. TERS. I loved them and their dynamics. This book starts off as an exploration of trauma, unwanted fame and relationships, with a dash of misogyny and racism and I was living for it. Honestly, that was all I needed. And it’s not that I didn’t get it throughout the entire book; I did; it’s just that I kept wondering about what if there wasn’t another adventure or wtv for our main characters; what if we got the whole book to talk about trauma?! (Am I a masochist? Oh yes, oh yes!)

So, summarizing what I just wrote: I liked this book but it makes me slightly angry that it had so much potential to be much more than what it was but because it stuck to its fantasy genre, it didn’t. Obviously, this is not an anger directed at anyone (especially not the author, she did do a great job!), it’s more a frustration directed at the world itself.

Now that I’ve got that off my system and since this is getting quite big already, here are some short sentences with short opinions:
- very cool magic system/sci-fi world, would have been great if there was more space/time to exploit it.
- plot was slightly predictable
- liked the zombies
- would have liked to see Ines embark on the journey with the other Chosen Ones and not get left behind
- loved the approach on relationships, especially Matt-Sloane
- the Chicago depiction was pretty cool but for someone who’s not familiar with it, it got a bit confusing sometimes
- great perspective on “the chosen one” concept
- I might have a small crush on Sloane <3

And that’s it for today, folks! In general, I had a good time reading this and if there was a second book, I would definitely be reading it! Now I’m gonna go cry a bit because I can’t find fanart for these amazing characters 😥 And when I’m finished crying, I’m gonna start looking for books about trauma because apparently, that’s something I enjoy spending my time with 😝

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer

nutm3g's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Chosen Ones was an enjoyable read, and it felt as if Veronica Roth as grown as a writer since her Divergent series days. I personally MUCH preferred this book to that series as a whole. Chosen Ones plays around with the idea of what exactly is a "chosen one" and the idea that it truly is not set in stone as a single person (or group of persons), but rather on who simply succeeds when the time comes. Basically, it subverts the chosen one trope while also bringing up the idea of what happens next. This book explored how these kids were affected and the trauma they carried into their adult lives as a result of risking their lives as children for the sake of the world. Chosen Ones also touched on the idea that a savior truly has to be morally grey in order to survive. I also enjoyed how the 3 Parts of the novel were split in very distinct ways to the setting, which is all I can say without spoiling anything. I am not sure if Veronica will decide to actually turn this into a series, and it truthfully works perfectly as a standalone novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Religious bigotry

rachelgronbach's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Kidnapping

jashanac's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is quite different from anything else I've read - there were definitely times where the magic itself and the whole

different dimensions

thing didn't really make sense/click in my brain... but I just kind of went with it and accepted it. Ha! 

I just really enjoyed the exploration of what it means to be a "chosen one", once the Big Bad is defeated and what the effects of that could be. And then the exploration of good versus evil in general - I liked what Veronica Roth did with that. It felt like a fresh take on it for me. 

I am VERY curious about how things are going to pan out with the WILD ending... ! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, and Torture

imcharlottek's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Roth does something so interesting in this book that it’s hard to explain. You really do find yourself relating to, getting annoyed with and feeling sympathy for these characters, which sets them apart in my mind. 

I also enjoyed the structure of the book, with its interspersed government papers and news/book excerpts.

My only issue is sometimes the writing felt a little odd - “Creepmaster 2000” doesn’t quite feel like something your average late 20-something would say. 

Overall, this read genuinely gripped me. I struggled to put it down and finished it in 2.5 days (which is very unusual for me). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism