Chosen Ones(Lost Souls)Author: Tiffany TruittPublisher: Entangled Publishing, 2012Genre: YA Dystopia
What if you were mankind’s last chance at survival?
Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.
Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until the day she begins work at Templeton, the training facility for newly created Chosen Ones. There, she meets James, a Chosen One whose odd love of music and reading rivals only her own. The attraction between the two is immediate in its intensity—and overwhelming in its danger.
But there is more to the goings-on at Templeton than Tess ever knew, and as the veil is lifted from her eyes, she uncovers a dark underground movement bent not on taking down the Chosen Ones, but the Council itself. Will Tess be able to stand up to those who would oppress her, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?
Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.
Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until the day she begins work at Templeton, the training facility for newly created Chosen Ones. There, she meets James, a Chosen One whose odd love of music and reading rivals only her own. The attraction between the two is immediate in its intensity—and overwhelming in its danger.
But there is more to the goings-on at Templeton than Tess ever knew, and as the veil is lifted from her eyes, she uncovers a dark underground movement bent not on taking down the Chosen Ones, but the Council itself. Will Tess be able to stand up to those who would oppress her, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?
My Review:
They taught us all the wrong things growing up. They didn't teach us what it meant to want. Or that there was a certain kind of purity in feeling.
Chosen Ones sets of with a strong premise and an excitingly horrifying first chapter, where we see Tess getting branded for her sister's transgression of falling in love and getting pregnant. All her life, Tess has been taught that to have feelings is wrong. In her world, women are seen as dangerous because they're the ones to 'give into emotions' easily. They are strongly discouraged to have feelings, and relationships between male and females are strictly forbidden. Tess has always kept a tight hold on her emotions, but that one day in the piano room with the mysterious chosen one, her control started to slip. James is unlike any chosen ones she has encountered before. Not only because of the tiny scar on his chin, which makes him flawed, but because of the way he reacts to her. Through heartbreak, anger, and love, Tess will find out the truth about the chosen one's system, and she will need to decide if it's worth it to make a stand.
I thought most of the times Tess was trying to emulate the chosen ones, or at least the perfect idea everyone had of them, by being dispassionate. Her emotionless views of things around her, the hardcore uncaring ideas she had of just about everything made me not like her. I knew the point was that she did have feelings but years of brainwash by the council made her constantly try to convince herself she did not have feelings. Tess isolates herself from the horrible world around her, but when she opens her eyes and decides to challenge the world, it's beautiful. But she keeps thinking in that detached way, and I just couldn't connect with her at any moment.
This story makes a great point of showing that the heart can't be controlled, and emotions can't be tamed. It all comes down to being human, even if you're genetically engineered. I also liked the way the Frankenstein story is weaved in, and how James compares himself to it when I saw him as the most human/natural person there. I saw and believed in his connection with Tess (with all those steamy make out sessions, who wouldn’t?), but she just made me doubt its purity every step of the way. You like him—you hate him, you think of him as human—you think he's a monster, you trust him—you doubt him? I just wanted to slap her and tell her to get her shit together.
Overall, Chosen Ones is a great story about being courageous enough to stand up for yourself and for others. If there is one thing that I liked about Tess was the fact that she saw that keeping quiet was wrong, and if no one else was ready to make a stand then why not her. As this is a first POV story I thought there was a lot of narrative, and I really wanted more action and dialogue weaved in to it. Or maybe that’s just my opinion because I didn't like Tess that much…
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review*
Favorite Quotes:
The chosen ones may have been wielding the power, but the naturals created them. We gave away everything.
~
I knew what everyone thought of me—they thought I had no heart. I did. It beat the same as everyone else's. I was just better at controlling it.
~
Maybe he didn't have a soul. But maybe something else made one a human. Maybe us naturals had forgotten what it meant to be one. But this boy, with his questions and insecurities, seemed more human than was possible.
And it was beautiful.
