Book Review: Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

Chosen Ones is the first adult fiction novel from Veronica Roth of Divergent fame. That said, it feels very YA. It’s sort of an Avengers/X-Men type of story that also includes magic and ultimately is a coming of age story for one character. I didn’t love it as there are some problems with it, but I also enjoyed parts of it so I have a mixed review here.

Chosen Ones has a lot of really interesting ideas within it. The story begins at the 10 year anniversary of when the “Chosen Ones” defeated the “Dark One,” an evil magical being. The story feels taken right from Marvel in many ways. I mean, a group with various abilities assembles to defeat an enemy? Yes we’ve seen it before. But, since this all takes place 10 years LATER, it begins with an exploration of the aftermath of those events and that is an interesting twist. We are introduced to characters who are still struggling, even 10 years later, to grapple with what they lost. PTSD, addiction, and interesting reactions to fame are explored. The story is told in third person yet focuses entirely on Sloane, which made the narrative voice choice an odd one. I think this would have all been a lot more convincing if it was just told from her POV. Sloane is cynical, abrasive, and doesn’t know how to get over what happened and move on to a normal life.
The story sort of goes nowhere for awhile, and then, without giving away too much of the plot, parallel universes are explored. This is always interesting but also not a new concept; V.E. Schwab does it much better with the Darker Shade of Magic trilogy (a series so compelling there are Take me to Kell London t-shirts). As Sloane tries to make sense of this other world, we are left to consider what makes someone good or evil, loyalty, and to try to understand a head scratching and sometimes dull application of magic. The story bogs down heavily here and nothing much happens for much too long.
Finally, Sloane has some revelations, things pick up speed again, and then things finally get really good. Magic stops being pedantically explained and just gets interesting, and some fun twists are thrown in. The end wrapped up quite firmly and satisfactorily so I am unsure why this is first in a series. It feels like this story is very much over, although characters can always have a new chapter in their lives!
Overall, I liked the idea of exploring how heroes feel after they are done being heroes, I liked Sloane’s journey of self discovery, and I really enjoyed some of the creativity of the story. However, there are also plot points that are murky, absolutely no character development for anyone except Sloane, and some very slow and slogging parts to the novel. Be prepared for some slow parts, but also be prepared for some really interesting ideas.
One final note…as with the Divergent series, this is set in Chicago. I found this to be enjoyable since I love Chicago also.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I read this one well past its publication date of spring 2020. I barely read anything in 2020. Mea culpa.

Book Review: Where Ravens Roost by Karin Nordin

Publication date: February 17th, 2021

This is an enjoyable murder mystery set in the northern part of Sweden. It’s almost winter, it gets dark close to noon, it’s a small town where people rarely get away. Think dark, bleak, hopeless. The setting helps echo the difficulties our main character has. Kjeld, a detective who works further south in a large city, returns to his remote northern home after a desperate and panicked voicemail message from his long-estranged father. Kjeld navigates strained family dynamics while grappling with his father’s advanced Alzheimer’s, past hurts and grievances, oh and a possible murder on his family’s property.

On top of all that, Kjeld is in trouble with his own police department, has difficulties forming healthy relationships of any kind, and is quite selfish. Nevertheless, flaws and all, he’s an enjoyable character to follow and root for, and the mystery is interesting. I did figure out one twist extremely early on. It was so obvious I sort of wondered if the author purposely revealed that one, just to get the reader thinking about what it meant on a larger scale. It certainly did not hinder my enjoyment of the story, and there were other nice surprises. The final reveals were not at all shocking, but more of a natural progression of logical events. I would call this more of a character study/murder mystery than tightly wound suspense; I enjoyed reading it.

Oh and yes there really are ravens, who are pretty integral to the story. They lend a nice symbolism of family dynamics with them appearing as precious and wonderful to one character and scary and terrifying to another. That dichotomy is at the root of Kjeld’s difficulties with his father. And, they lend a nice creepy vibe to the story and setting.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Best of January 2021

In January I read seven novels, watched several TV series, and watched only one movie, which was so terrible I can’t remember a single thing about it. It’s a cold month – might as well spend it on the couch!

Here is a recap of what I enjoyed:

Books

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The best book I read in January is hands down this classic . It’s a short novel set in the 1950s, with a butler traveling through the English countryside reminiscing about his earlier days serving a great English household. Honestly, it sounded kind of boring and when I first started it I thought it would be a sort of quaint Downton Abbey-type of story. I was wrong. Ishiguro is so good at subtlety, and this novel is truly brilliant. Amidst descriptions of butler servitude and small villages and landscapes, there are themes about loyalty and love and a lot of philosophical questions regarding right and wrong, the English class system in the early 1900s, and being true to one’s self. The story overall is quite simple but underneath the main story is a tremendous amount to consider and the book is simply packed with meaning. One of the best books I have read in a long time.

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
This is a spinoff, so to speak, from Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle, a series of 4 books with varying degrees of success. Interestingly, I learned that the author was struggling with a major undiagnosed illness for several years while writing the final book in that series, and acknowledges the gaps in the story, the confusing writing, etc. You have to wonder why her editor didn’t say something. Her story is fascinating and you can read it here: https://maggiestiefvater.com/the-year-of-wonder/
Anyway, Call Down the Hawk focuses solely on Ronan – one of the characters from the Raven Cycle – his brothers, and we have a couple of new characters as well. Ronan is a dreamer, which means he is able to dream things into being. This is sometimes awesome and sometimes dangerous and always complicated. In this novel we learn there are more dreamers and there are those bent on destroying dreamers (they have their reasons). It’s a beautifully written story with interesting and complex characters, fun storylines, magic, mystery, and Ronan. To have read the Raven Cycle books is to love Ronan, but it’s not required to have read them to enjoy Call Down the Hawk.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
This is a novel about the grooming and subsequent sexual abuse of teenage girls, Vanessa in particular. The topic is distasteful, to be sure, but the author handles it with care. The story goes back and forth in time between present day where Vanessa is in her 30s, and tracking the story of her abuse starting when she was 15. What really stands out here is how the abuse has shaped Vanessa as an adult. She is confused, conflicted and feels love, hate, shame, excitement, anger, hurt, betrayal. Just to name a few. This is thought provoking, complex, and very well written.

The Unwind Dystology by Neal Shusterman
What is a dystology? It is a series of 4 books based on a dystopian society. In Shusterman’s nightmare, the battle over abortion turned into a literal war, and somehow the solution becomes the “unwinding” of teenagers between the ages of 13-17. Unwinding uses cutting edge technology to turn a person into the “divided state” – removing all parts of their body for implantation in someone else. All body parts must be used, which means legally the unwound is still alive – in many pieces. Creepy? Uh, yes. I never really felt the connection between abortion rights and unwinding made any sense, but it’s not important. The four books follow several teenagers as they battle against unwinding. The books have a lot of action and adventure, throughout the books there is character development, and there are a lot of interesting concepts. There are times when unwinding is narrated. It’s disturbing. I was reminded of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go – another brilliant book – although it’s completely different overall.

TV Series
Game of Thrones on HBO
I have now watched 7 seasons of GoT. I am actually nervous to watch the last season. There are only 6 episodes and I recall how angry fans were when it debuted. It doesn’t seem like 6 episodes is enough to tie up all the loose ends we currently have.
I’m nervous because I have really enjoyed the series. There have been episodes of battles that were too intense for me, and some of the gratuitous sex and nudity gets old, but the characters are wonderful – or awful. Yelling “You’re so stupid Cersei” at the TV is almost as much fun as watching the Mother of Dragons turn into a queen worth fighting for, or cheering Arya on as she struggles to survive, or laughing at Tyrion, or admiring Jon Snow. The storylines are very complex. It took me a couple seasons to get characters straight. I have not read the books and I can see where that would be helpful in knowing backstory in the earlier seasons. Worth all the hype.

Yellowstone on Peacock
I started this series in 2020 but wrapped it up at the start of the year. This is a current series, with a 4th season under development. This follows the Dutton family, who own a ranch in Montana “the size of Rhode Island.” They are in a constant battle to keep their land, fighting off Native Americans, big bad corporations, and even the state government. However, the Duttons are not what you would call heroes as they engage in a lot of shady dealings themselves. The only truly honorable character is the Native American chairman, who just wants land back for his people. Despite the Duttons not being squeaky clean , rooting for Beth Dutton, all sharp edges that you do NOT want to mess with, is tons of fun. This is an enjoyable drama and has beautiful landscapes. I am looking forward to the next season.

February has been even colder than January, so I should have another solid month of entertainment to review in a few weeks!