SciFiNow - 06.2020

072 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

Chosen Ones

Post-YA fantasy

Release 7 April

Writer Veronica Roth

Publisher Hodder & Stoughton

Price £14.99

We love a bit of YA dystopian fi ction here

at SciFiNow – strong female lead, a seemingly

all-powerful bad guy, a big battle, perhaps a love

interest... now, imagine if an author of one of the

most successful YA dystopian fi ction series in

recent years wrote a novel about what happens

after these kids save the world. Well, imagine no

further as Veronica Roth (author of the Divergent

series) has done just that.

Chosen Ones is set ten years after the big

battle with the all-powerful bad guy, the Dark

One (it’s okay, the very fi rst chapter hilariously

discusses how terrible that name is). Our strong

female lead, Sloane Andrews, is now pushing 30

and her and her love interest (and leader of our

group of heroes), Matthew Weekes, are living in

domestic bliss. Well... not quite... you see, life

isn’t like that.

Sloane and her group of fellow ‘chosen ones’

including Golden Boy Matthew, fl amboyant Esther,

shy Albert and serious Ines were told when they

were just 15 that they were destined to defeat the

Dark One and were subsequently ripped from their

homes and forced to live in a secret facility with the

army and US government offi cials. It then took fi ve

years for the group to defeat the Dark One, during

which time family members died, they committed

atrocities including mass murder and, as in Sloane

and Albert’s case, were victims of both kidnap

and torture. 

Now, these are all elements we’ve seen in YA

sci-fi and fantasy fi ction but have we ever sat

down and thought what affect that would have on

teenagers? Roth has and she (probably quite rightly)

thinks that would screw a person up. Now, 15 years

after the team were plucked from obscurity, they’re

living in the limelight and suffering the after effects

of severe trauma. Albert is now a drug addict, Ines

still sets traps in her house in case someone attacks,

Esther channels her insecurities into her social

media presence and plastering on a thick mask of

makeup and Matthew has clearly blocked the real

trauma of what happened to them – refusing to

believe anything is wrong with them.

Sloane, meanwhile, was the Dark One’s

favourite and she’s still haunted by her kidnapping

experience – she suffers night terrors and has

reliance on prescription medication to get through

the day. The world may be celebrating ten years

without the Dark One, but our heroes still live with

what he did to them every day. So when the chosen

ones fi nd themselves in a similar big battle, they’re

(quite understandably) not sure if they will win this

time round...

Chosen Ones is an absolute delight to read.

Roth intersperses hefty themes like PTSD and

drug addiction (this is less YA fi ction and more

AA fi ction) with witty, engaging dialogue and a

group of characters who are all at once completely

identifi able and surprising. The novel is also very

clever – touching upon the tropes of fantasy YA

fi ction while creating an almost completely new

genre in itself – post-YA fantasy fi ction perhaps?

Whether you’re a fan of YA fantasy or not, this is

a must read. 

Rachael Harper

    

Tell us what you’re reading on Twitter or Facebook

YOUR READS

#BookClub -

currently sat in @

WstoneSheffi eld

cafe with The

Faceless Old Woman Who

Lives In Your Home and it’s

rather good.”

@andyangel44

“Currently

reading... The

Sirens Of Titan by

Kurt Vonnegut...”

@SeaCrabBooks

“Just started High

Fire by Eoin Colfer,

really enjoying it

so far. #BookClub”

@NealBunting

“Stargate SG1:

Four Dragons

by Diana Dru

Bot sf ord.”

@sgcgate

“Honor Among

Thieves by Rachel

Caine and Ann

Aguirre. I have

not read the other two books

yet (Honor Bound and Honor

Lost) but I look forward to it.”

@Copper_Boom

BOOK CLUB

Chosen Ones

What have you been reading this month?

072_SFN_170 Lead Book Rev.indd 72 18/03/2020 13:19

072 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

Chosen Ones

Post-YA fantasy

Release 7 April
Writer Veronica Roth
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Price £14.99

We love a bit of YA dystopian fi ction here
at SciFiNow – strong female lead, a seemingly
all-powerful bad guy, a big battle, perhaps a love
interest... now, imagine if an author of one of the
most successful YA dystopian fi ction series in
recent years wrote a novel about what happens
after these kids save the world. Well, imagine no
further as Veronica Roth (author of the Divergent
series) has done just that.
Chosen Ones is set ten years after the big
battle with the all-powerful bad guy, the Dark
One (it’s okay, the very fi rst chapter hilariously
discusses how terrible that name is). Our strong
female lead, Sloane Andrews, is now pushing 30
and her and her love interest (and leader of our
group of heroes), Matthew Weekes, are living in
domestic bliss. Well... not quite... you see, life
isn’t like that.
Sloane and her group of fellow ‘chosen ones’
including Golden Boy Matthew, fl amboyant Esther,
shy Albert and serious Ines were told when they
were just 15 that they were destined to defeat the
Dark One and were subsequently ripped from their
homes and forced to live in a secret facility with the
army and US government offi cials. It then took fi ve
years for the group to defeat the Dark One, during
which time family members died, they committed
atrocities including mass murder and, as in Sloane
and Albert’s case, were victims of both kidnap
and torture. 
Now, these are all elements we’ve seen in YA
sci-fi and fantasy fi ction but have we ever sat
down and thought what affect that would have on
teenagers? Roth has and she (probably quite rightly)
thinks that would screw a person up. Now, 15 years
after the team were plucked from obscurity, they’re
living in the limelight and suffering the after effects
of severe trauma. Albert is now a drug addict, Ines
still sets traps in her house in case someone attacks,
Esther channels her insecurities into her social
media presence and plastering on a thick mask of
makeup and Matthew has clearly blocked the real
trauma of what happened to them – refusing to
believe anything is wrong with them.
Sloane, meanwhile, was the Dark One’s

favourite and she’s still haunted by her kidnapping

experience – she suffers night terrors and has

reliance on prescription medication to get through

the day. The world may be celebrating ten years

without the Dark One, but our heroes still live with

what he did to them every day. So when the chosen

ones fi nd themselves in a similar big battle, they’re

(quite understandably) not sure if they will win this

time round...

Chosen Ones is an absolute delight to read.

Roth intersperses hefty themes like PTSD and

drug addiction (this is less YA fi ction and more

AA fi ction) with witty, engaging dialogue and a

group of characters who are all at once completely

identifi able and surprising. The novel is also very

clever – touching upon the tropes of fantasy YA

fi ction while creating an almost completely new

genre in itself – post-YA fantasy fi ction perhaps?

Whether you’re a fan of YA fantasy or not, this is

a must read. 

Rachael Harper

    

Tell us what you’re reading on Twitter or Facebook

YOUR READS

#BookClub -

currently sat in @

WstoneSheffi eld

cafe with The

Faceless Old Woman Who

Lives In Your Home and it’s

rather good.”

@andyangel44

“Currently

reading... The

Sirens Of Titan by

Kurt Vonnegut...”

@SeaCrabBooks

“Just started High

Fire by Eoin Colfer,

really enjoying it

so far. #BookClub”

@NealBunting

“Stargate SG1:

Four Dragons

by Diana Dru

Bot sf ord.”

@sgcgate

“Honor Among

Thieves by Rachel

Caine and Ann

Aguirre. I have

not read the other two books

yet (Honor Bound and Honor

Lost) but I look forward to it.”

@Copper_Boom

BOOK CLUB

Chosen Ones

What have you been reading this month?