A review by cmallerywriter
The Chosen: Contender Book 1 by Taran Matharu

3.0

The audience for this book will be eager to see what comes next for sure. There is a page turning quality to this story. However there is a lot of unexplained elements to the story that seem rather disjointed. The main characters motivation and personality are left really muddied by the choices he makes. He has in his mind that he is very much a victim of his circumstances and can't seem to shake that sense thru out the story. There is no character growth, which is something I like to see in a good YA novel. The author is definitely a history buff which I can appreciate, but even those elements feel rushed and not properly explored. Maybe as the series continues there will be a further explanation of things. This first book felt like a mix of genres, sci fi, history, and adventure. There is some good ideas, but I felt it needed further development.