“He shook his head. ‘No. You and me and Esther and Ines… we’re bound for life. It’s like marriage. Better or worse. Sickness and health…‘”
Veronica Roth
This recent release came across my radar while scrolling through books on Amazon and I immediately placed a hold on it. This book is different from Veronica Roth’s other books and series, such as Divergent, and Red Queen. This is Roth’s first adult book.
Set in the modern world 10 years after battling the Dark One nearly to death, along with four other chosen ones, controversial anti-heroine Sloane Andrews still suffers from PTSD. Sloane is famous for “the worst thing that ever happened to her,” under constant scrutiny from the press and public, when she would much rather have not been chosen. However, it is unlikely to stop when she and her friends are pulled into an alternative universe, with their own version of the Dark One –and she has to defeat him all over again.
Veronica Roth has always been good at creating characters that feel real, with true emotions and so relatable in their decisions, and this book is no exception. How Sloane is an anti-heroine yet still morally good is remarkable. It’s great how we can see her journey throughout the book.
This book dealt with important topics in today’s society such as judgments and sexism- The way the press portrayed Sloane was nothing short of hateful. There was a segment in the book in which Sloane was looking for her Spanx- because if she didn’t wear it, the press would zoom in on her stomach and speculate on whether Sloane was pregnant or if she gained a few pounds, either way, none of the public’s opinion. In an interview with Roth, she discussed how freeing it felt to write about Sloane because “she does not care.”
| Character | ★★★★★ |
| Plot | ★★★★☆ |
| Ending | ★★★★☆ |
| Storytelling | ★★★★★ |
