Review of The Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

                                                                                    

Roth, Veronica.  The Chosen Ones.  HMH, 2020.

 

Fifteen years ago, Sloan Andrews and four other teens helped to defeat “The Dark One”, a diabolical villain intent on destroying the world.  Since then, they have been hailed as heroes and become celebrities.  Sloan, living in Chicago, has PTSD and resents being dogged by the press, while Matthew Weeks, the group’s leader and Sloan’s boyfriend, attends many charitable events.  Ines and Albie also live in Chicago, and Albie is struggling with substance abuse.  Esther lives in California, taking care of her sick mother, and is a social influencer.  All of them have had a hard time adjusting to a “normal” life.

 

On the tenth anniversary of The Dark One’s death, the five heroes attend the dedication of the Ten Years Monument and the Ten Years Peace Gala.  Shortly afterward, one of the five commits suicide, and during his funeral, three of others are thrown into an alternate, parallel version of Chicago.  It turns out that The Dark One is not actually dead; he has just been waiting.   The three, now twenty-somethings, must learn new, magical powers to defeat him, once again.

 

Veronica Roth, well-known for her young adult novels, has taken the dive into adult fiction, with this first installment in a new series. The book is divided into three parts and is written in third person.  Part One, which deals with the backstory, is extremely slow, and I struggled through it.  However, when I got to Part Two, things began to pick up speed.

 

The author shows off her incredible world-building expertise, blending old and new architecture together to create a different but distinctive version of Chicago.  There are lots of action scenes, unusual magic, and a twist at the end of the novel that I didn’t anticipate.  The characters are highly developed and multi-layered.

 

Comprehensive interviews, government documents, literary works, and transcripts are included in the book to help the reader understand the backstory.  To prepare for writing the novel, the author read many government documents on the CIA website, as well as on The Black Vault, which is the largest privately-run archive of declassified documents in the world.  She also read many celebrity profiles in order to define Sloan’s character.

 

High school librarians might consider purchasing this book as an adult crossover novel.  Hand it to fans of Veronica Roth and those who enjoy action and adventure stories.  I recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it four out of five stars!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for allowing me to read and review this book!

Review of The Shadow Wand by Laurie Forest

Forest, Laurie.  The Shadow Wand.  Inkyard, 2020.

 

The Shadow Wand, the third book in The Black Witch Chronicles, takes up where The Iron Flower ends.  Elloren Gardner now knows she is The Black Witch, which has been prophesized, but she must learn how to use her power in order to help the Resistance.  She is sent to her Fastmate, Commander Lukas Grey, Head of the Mage Guard, for protection.  They must work together so that High Mage Marcus Vogel and the Gardnerians under his control do not capture her and use her power for evil.

 

Not wanting to give too much away, Elloren finds out who are her allies and who are her foes.  However, since many who would ally with her don’t realize she is fighting for the Resistance, she is in grave danger from both sides.  She undergoes rigorous training and must learn alternative methods of using her power.  Readers will also learn what has become of Elloren’s friends and family who have been scattered far and wide in Erthia.

 

As in the previous books, Laurie Forest has again managed to weave lush and gorgeous world-building into this edition.  Not only that, but the characters and evil creatures are dynamic, and some are just terrifying!  The love scenes are extremely intense and steamy, which will be swoon-worthy and satisfying for many fans.

 

The book is divided into six parts, starting with character backstories.  The beginning of the book does start off rather slowly as the author works to catch readers up on what has happened to Elleron’s friends and family since the end of The Iron Flower.  Viewpoints change across chapters as we learn what has transpired with each character.  During the course of the book, the plot speeds up and becomes action-packed.  

 

There is still discrimination and persecution among races, as in the earlier stories; this only adds to the shock and empathy one feels toward the victimized species.  Much to my dismay, the Lupine siblings, Jarod and Diana, do not make an appearance in this book.  They are my favorite characters, and I hope we will see them in the next installment.  There is a shocking cliff-hanger ending!  I can’t wait for the next book, The Demon Tide, which won’t come out until June of 2021.  Yes, unfortunately, we must wait an entire year!

 

Hand this book to fantasy lovers and those who have enjoyed the series.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it 5 out of 5 fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader’s copy of The Shadow Wand.

Review of The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

Forest, Laurie.  The Black Witch.  Harlequin Teen, 2017.

After their parents are killed, Elloren Gardner and her brothers move to a small town and live with their kind uncle, who serves as their guardian.  Their uncle does not want the siblings to become “wandfasted”, a type of ceremonial betrothal, until they have finished their studies.  Elloren looks just like her grandmother, Carnissa Gardner.  She has been told that she has no magic powers, unlike her famous grandmother, who was the prophesied Black Witch and had level five magic—the most powerful known.

Elloren’s political aunt, Vyvian Gardner, tells Elloren she will pay for her to attend the prestigious Verpax University and whisks her away to her spacious castle.   At a party given in her honor, Aunt Vyvian introduces Elloren to Lukas Gray, a handsome, eligible Gardnerian bachelor, because she wants Elloren to wandfast to him.  She refuses, so her aunt makes her life miserable at Verpax, forcing Elloren to live with two winged “demon” icarals, work in a kitchen where she is taunted by “low-class” Urisk servants and shunned by a mysterious, handsome Kelt.  Much to her horror, she is also forced to become lab partners with a male lupine in one of her classes.  There’s no way to avoid other races because Verpax accepts everyone!

Elloren is also bullied by the jealous Fallon Bane, who wants to wandfast to Lukas Gray, and is the person everyone believes might be the next prophesied Black Witch.  Elloren slowly begins to realize that everything she has been told about other races is veiled in lies, and Gardnerian history is not as she has been taught.  All races are looking for the next Black Witch and the coming of the new, powerful, evil icaral, both of which have been foretold.  As Elloren comes to trust her misfit roommates and classmates, she must ignore everything that she has learned about hate, judgment, and fear.

This recently released novel by Laurie Forest is the first in a new series by the same name.  This is Ms. Forest’s debut novel, and she has burst upon the scene amidst some controversy.  While some have heralded her novel, others have scorned it for its handling of prejudice and racism.  I happen to be among those who think it is a brilliant fantasy story.

The world-building in The Black Witch is lush and descriptive.  Verpax University is somewhat reminiscent of Hogwarts Academy.  The characters are well-developed, even down to the secondary characters.  After viewing Ms. Forest’s Pinterest page and her Twitter tweets, it is easy to see how much thought and research went into her characters' descriptions.  The prose and dialogue are beautiful and captivating.  I especially like the lupines and their blunt, literal outlook on life.

The main themes in the novel are prejudice, racism, xenophobia, and propaganda.  The different races in the book have been taught that all other races are evil, calculating, and inferior, and their race is the only one which is superior to all others.  Elloren, her friends, and her brothers learn slowly to ignore what they have been taught for many years and accept and befriend those different from them.  Although Elloren is not quick to realize that others’ views have influenced her opinions, there are more sequels to come so that she will be able to grow more in the future.  That she was able to work with others to bring about change was welcome and refreshing.

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This novel is a real page turner!  I highly recommend it for middle school, high school, and public libraries and give it 5 out of 5 fleur de lis!

Review of Plague by Michael Grant

Plague: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant; Katherine Tegen Books, 2011.

In this fourth book in the Gone series by Michael Grant, the kids discover that flying snakes called greenies are spreading parasites through their droppings. The parasites eat the infected host and eventually hatch as huge insects, or “gut roaches”, which cannot be killed by Sam’s blazing powers. Hunter is the first person to succumb to the parasites. Additionally, a deadly flu is spreading among the kids. This flu literally causes the sick person to cough up his lungs and die. Unfortunately, the flu is immune to Lana’s healing touch.

Perdido Beach is running out of water, and Albert has sent Sam and three others on a quest to explore Lake Tramanto. Brittney/Drake has escaped, kidnapped Jamal, and is heading toward “The Darkness”. Caine shows up in Perdido Beach to help save the kids from the gut roaches. Little Pete causes it to rain, which brings all the kids out into the streets to play in the water.

As you can see, there are two main plots in this novel and too many subplots to even mention. Having not read the first three books in the series, I was totally lost when I started reading Plague. I had to go back, read detailed synopses of the previous books and make extensive notes just to understand what was going on. The characters are all so different, and there are many conflicts, cliques, and side stories. The kids have formed their own sort of society and their own form of government. I don’t honestly see how the characters have survived, and some of them have not, with all the obstacles that are constantly being put in their way! The novel is exciting and is a real page-turner, despite the sometimes

Plague cannot really be read as a stand-along novel. I encourage people who want to read the book to read the first three books before this one. I recommend this book for high school and public libraries, but only if the first three books are in their collections.