Chosen by Kiersten White (ARC Review)

Title: Chosen
Author: Kiersten White
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Date published: January 7, 2020

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Note: This book is part of a series, so there may be spoilers for a previous book/books in the synopsis below.

Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle—including her still-distant mother—Nina has her hands full. Plus, though she gained back her Slayer powers from Leo, they’re not feeling quite right after being held by the seriously evil succubus Eve, a.k.a. fake Watcher’s Council member and Leo’s mom.

And while Nina is dealing with the darkness inside, there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere, in connection with Sean’s demon drug ring as well as someone a bit closer to home. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right?

The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Kiersten White is one of my favourite authors. I am also a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and anything inspired by, and similar, to it. It should then come as no surprise that the second book in White’s Buffy spin-off series was one of my most-anticipated releases of 2020. What I personally found surprising was how much I struggled with Chosen. When I finished Slayer, I was left feeling very curious to see what would happen next in this Buffy duology. I found the start of Chosen to be very slow for me. But I figured that this might be normal since this is the sequel in a series but also the end of a series. I don’t read a lot of duologies, so I decided to just keep going and see what would happen next.

I struggled with the middle of the book as well, as well as what was happening. This isn’t a spoiler since it’s mentioned in the synopsis…but the main character, Nina’s, twin sister has left her side and part of the story definitely focused on Nina’s struggle with this. My negative reaction to this (i.e. anxiety and sadness) was purely personal due to my personal experiences, and I don’t consider this to be a poor plot choice or anything like that. But it did leave me feeling distraught, which coloured my overall experience. I found the ending of the book and the series as a whole to be alright but not quite what I was expecting. That being said, I’m sure that many readers will love this book and series as a whole, and White definitely still continues being one of my favourite authors!

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for teens and young readers, including And I Darken, Now I Rise, Bright We Burn, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and Slayer. She lives with her family near the ocean in San Diego, where she perpetually lurks in the shadows. Visit Kiersten online at KierstenWhite.com and follow @KierstenWhite on Twitter.