Chosen

The Immortal Ones, Book 1

By: Shade Owens

Narrated by: Amanda Davidson

One dose is all it takes to become immortal.

Every year, a lottery is held for the hard-working people of Lutum.

The prize? Eternal life.

And everyone wants it. Well, everyone except for 17-year-old Silverstasia Blackwood. She doesn't think it's fair that the rich get to live luxurious lives while the people of Lutum are enslaved, forced to work hard every day to support the immortals.

When something unexpected happens during this year's annual lottery, Silver makes a bold move that surprises everyone.

Now, everything is about to change.

©2022 Shade Owens (P)2023 Shade Owens

Not for me

I thought this would be much more exciting it’s really more of a slow burn or set up for the next novel in the series. It didn’t keep my attention but perhaps book 2 works.

Plot: Good. Main character: Not so much.

First of all, as a fan of The Hunger Games (and dystopian stories in general), as well as most vampire novels, I really enjoyed the concept of 'Chosen', the first book in The Immortal Ones series by Shade Owens. Even though much of the storyline in this book is quite similar to The Hunger Games (the different divisions, instead of districts, producing a specific item for the benefit of President Crane as opposed to President Snow, and has defenders rather than peacekeepers, along with a teenaged girl chosen by lottery who's ready to take down the system), this story, for the most part, does become its own... and it's good.

That said, Silver drove me to the edge of insanity. I almost gave up listening 3 or 4 times. The overall plot itself is what kept me going. While the narrator did fine, I'm unsure whether her delivery helped make Silver so annoying (because I think it might have emphasized how clueless Silver was... about anything and everything). Silver had to be the dumbest main character in all the many, many books I've read (or listened to) which made her unlikeable. That fact alone would've kept me from going any further with the series, except for the reviews of the second installment of The Immortal Ones, which assures Silver isn't nearly as annoying or clueless in book 2. Therefore, since I'm curious just how Silver and the camp of girls training to take on Olympus (sorry if it's misspelled; I listened rather than read the book) will fare, I'm gonna give it a shot.

So, here's the deal. If you can handle a main character who stupidly questions literally everything... for example (and I may be paraphrasing by a word or two): 'maybe I shouldn't have asked,' or 'maybe I shouldn't have done that,' et al. No duh! How many times were you told not to ask or not to do that?! ... then I would recommend 'Chosen'. However, if you can't abide seriously clueless main characters (even though they are supposedly destined for great things), you might want to give this book a pass.

great story

like it all fast paced and entertaining! loved the characters and twist, great read/listening to

Resistance

I love a great story of the beginning of an uprising. Looking forward to the next book.

What you would expect

In my humble opinion this book is a typical dystopian story. It didn’t have a new plot or twist to quite hook me in. I liked it but wasn’t wowed