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mi_chlo's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Grief
rynaissanceenby's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Torture, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism
CW: Zombiesria_carina's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
But I expected something entirely else when reading the blurb ... because the plot twists where just a bit heavy and nearly genre-changing in my opinion. Sadly, I think many of the things weren't explained profoundly and after reading half of the book the rest until the end felt rushed while the first half was dull at times. In comparison to other recently read books I think a solid 3 will do. It's not bad but it's just no favourite either.
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Abandonment
Minor: Cancer
abygaylemarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Mental illness and Violence
Minor: Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Terminal illness
ellamc's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore, Medical content, and Death of parent
takarakeireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Cancer and Racism
rae42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
joshuas_space's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Cancer
elle_dee's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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 😝
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