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A review by kaadee
The Chosen by J.R. Ward
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Okaaaaaaay, where to start?
Well, this book was definitely something. I'm honestly not quite sure what. Let's start off by saying I think this book was wrongly placed. If you read these books in order AND YOU SHOULD BE you'd know that The Beast came before this one. Which no. It shouldn't have. Layla and Xcor's story has been building up for so long that they deserved the spot of The Beast instead of Rhage and Mary. Look, I love Rhage, he's one of my favorite males in this book series, but his bullshit was not as important as this was. It just felt really odd to go from happy-go-lucky Rhage and Mary's story that was interjected poorly to "Oh my god Qhuinn almost shot Layla in front of her kids" in this book. And that leads us to our next problem.
Qhuinn.
Pre-book 11 (Blay and Qhuinn's official story) I enjoyed Qhuinn. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was an arrogant asshole but honestly what man isn't in these books? So, like always I ignored it and continued on. Well, his book made me hate him, not Blay, him. I've had personal BEEF with Qhuinn since he ruined Blay and Saxton's relationships, so let's say I wasn't excited to hear more about him. This book made me hate him even more. If I could kill a fictional character for fun, it would indeed be Qhuinn. I lost it when he had the gun in Layla's face while she was protecting the twins. I lost it when he said Blay wasn't even the dad. I LOST IT WHEN HE ACTUALLY SHOT BULLETS. What is wrong with this man? The things he said to Layla are inexcusable and his bullshit apology, in the end, doesn't cover ANY of it for me. It doesn't excuse that he tried to kill Xcor TWICE when the dude wasn't even doing anything. Xcor was literally waking up from a coma the first time, and the second he was just minding his business. I don't like the things he said to Blay at all and the whole adoption whatever papers made me laugh. How can you tell someone how they aren't the father and never will be then turn around and give away your parental rights, c'mon MAN. And, he dogs on Xcor and Layla for being "forbidden love" when he's literally gay but whatever. shut up. ANYWAY. ENOUGH OF QHUINN Because I could rant about him all day haha.
LAYLA
Ok, look. I don't love Layla or hate Layla. She's not my favorite by far but I have no reason to despise her like so many in the BDB community do. I mean, she's just trying to live her best life with her man and kids. I understand I understand, she's a traitor, I get it. I don't care. AND NEITHER DOES WRATH. Wrath literally does not give a fuck after hearing about it for 5 minutes, unlike everyone else who has a personal beef with Layla. I mean, Qhuinn is up in arms (literally) and Tohrment won't stfu about his revenge. It's not like Xcor shot any of you, he shot Wrath. And Wrath does not care that Layla loves Xcor, so you shouldn't either. I don't agree with some of Layla's actions but I don't care! I really don't! You'd do it too if you were in love.
XCOR <3
I love Xcor so I'm biased as hell. Out of all the stupid men in this stupid ass series, Xcor appreciates his mate the most. The way he speaks about Layla, god, I wish a person would speak about me like that. Even on his death bed (twice I might add) he had nothing but love for her. In my mind, V is more sociopathic than Xcor is BY FAR. They made Xcor out to be this evil person who r@pes and kills but it's nothing that literally every person who went to the war camp hasn't done. So let's count V, Tohr, Darius hmmm XCOR. All of these people have been through that stuff and none of them are as crazy as V. (I also have a personal beef with Tohr because of the way he thinks about women but that's beside the point, we'll get to that when I bash him) I love Xcor. Can't say it enough. He's a changed person, but he's always been this person deep inside. He's going to be a great dad.
V
Ugh. If you read my review of V from his book, you'll know how I feel about him a bit. In theory, he's hot and mysterious, in reality, he's a sociopathic asshole who doesn't deserve anything. Even while he was saving Xcor all I could do is roll my eyes. He doesn't even care about ANYTHING. He's so numb and all he does is blame it on everyone around him. "Blah my mother is a god and hates me and my father is the bloodletter and ruined me" BRO. WE GET IT. He won't confront the issues he has with Jane not giving him enough attention which leads him to almost cheat. It's stupid. The whole thing is stupid. He prides himself on being logical but in reality, he's not logical at all. He's completely delusional. He's delusional to think that Jane can read his mind. He's delusional to think that he can be mean to everyone just because he's hurt on the inside. He's so bitter and I'm tired of it. I don't want to read about him in the next book, because I simply do not give a shit. I'm tired of V and his sob story.
TOHR
Another one of my least favorite characters. He's extremely bland and when he does say something of substance it's about his dead wife or about how he hates women. Every time he talks about Wellsie it's in the weirdest ways like he doesn't have a new wife or something. It's weird and I don't even know how to describe it and I just don't like it. The way he spoke to Layla was shocking (not really if you know Tohr) to say the least. He treated her like complete trash and him saying sorry doesn't redeem it. I hate when men speak about mothers like they have any idea how it is to be a mother. stupid. I enjoyed the ending he had with Xcor and them being brothers. Sure. It was cute I guess. I was happier for Xcor than Tohrment though.
Throe
Don't even bring him up because I simply have no idea.
LASSITER
Love him. I wasn't shocked he took the place of Scribe Virgin, especially after reading Axe's book (the blood legacy series) It was pretty obvious it was him. I was sobbing when he was saying "they're my family" while watching the fight go down because they truly are his family. It made me sad he has to make that decision with the people he loves as collateral. Anyway, can't wait for more of him because he's honestly my favorite character right now.
TREZ AND TRES
I don't care. I don't care about Trez because I barely even liked Selena. I know this is gonna be some weird thing where is Selena reincarnated or something I can already tell. It felt really out of place in this story because that happened like 2 books ago. I wanted more Layla and Xcor moments instead of Trez and his dead wife look-alike!
ASSAIL <3
This man has my whole heart. Only heard about him in passing (no POV) but seems like he's having a rough time in drug psychosis. Poor baby.
Well, this book was definitely something. I'm honestly not quite sure what. Let's start off by saying I think this book was wrongly placed. If you read these books in order AND YOU SHOULD BE you'd know that The Beast came before this one. Which no. It shouldn't have. Layla and Xcor's story has been building up for so long that they deserved the spot of The Beast instead of Rhage and Mary. Look, I love Rhage, he's one of my favorite males in this book series, but his bullshit was not as important as this was. It just felt really odd to go from happy-go-lucky Rhage and Mary's story that was interjected poorly to "Oh my god Qhuinn almost shot Layla in front of her kids" in this book. And that leads us to our next problem.
Qhuinn.
Pre-book 11 (Blay and Qhuinn's official story) I enjoyed Qhuinn. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was an arrogant asshole but honestly what man isn't in these books? So, like always I ignored it and continued on. Well, his book made me hate him, not Blay, him. I've had personal BEEF with Qhuinn since he ruined Blay and Saxton's relationships, so let's say I wasn't excited to hear more about him. This book made me hate him even more. If I could kill a fictional character for fun, it would indeed be Qhuinn. I lost it when he had the gun in Layla's face while she was protecting the twins. I lost it when he said Blay wasn't even the dad. I LOST IT WHEN HE ACTUALLY SHOT BULLETS. What is wrong with this man? The things he said to Layla are inexcusable and his bullshit apology, in the end, doesn't cover ANY of it for me. It doesn't excuse that he tried to kill Xcor TWICE when the dude wasn't even doing anything. Xcor was literally waking up from a coma the first time, and the second he was just minding his business. I don't like the things he said to Blay at all and the whole adoption whatever papers made me laugh. How can you tell someone how they aren't the father and never will be then turn around and give away your parental rights, c'mon MAN. And, he dogs on Xcor and Layla for being "forbidden love" when he's literally gay but whatever. shut up. ANYWAY. ENOUGH OF QHUINN Because I could rant about him all day haha.
LAYLA
Ok, look. I don't love Layla or hate Layla. She's not my favorite by far but I have no reason to despise her like so many in the BDB community do. I mean, she's just trying to live her best life with her man and kids. I understand I understand, she's a traitor, I get it. I don't care. AND NEITHER DOES WRATH. Wrath literally does not give a fuck after hearing about it for 5 minutes, unlike everyone else who has a personal beef with Layla. I mean, Qhuinn is up in arms (literally) and Tohrment won't stfu about his revenge. It's not like Xcor shot any of you, he shot Wrath. And Wrath does not care that Layla loves Xcor, so you shouldn't either. I don't agree with some of Layla's actions but I don't care! I really don't! You'd do it too if you were in love.
XCOR <3
I love Xcor so I'm biased as hell. Out of all the stupid men in this stupid ass series, Xcor appreciates his mate the most. The way he speaks about Layla, god, I wish a person would speak about me like that. Even on his death bed (twice I might add) he had nothing but love for her. In my mind, V is more sociopathic than Xcor is BY FAR. They made Xcor out to be this evil person who r@pes and kills but it's nothing that literally every person who went to the war camp hasn't done. So let's count V, Tohr, Darius hmmm XCOR. All of these people have been through that stuff and none of them are as crazy as V. (I also have a personal beef with Tohr because of the way he thinks about women but that's beside the point, we'll get to that when I bash him) I love Xcor. Can't say it enough. He's a changed person, but he's always been this person deep inside. He's going to be a great dad.
V
Ugh. If you read my review of V from his book, you'll know how I feel about him a bit. In theory, he's hot and mysterious, in reality, he's a sociopathic asshole who doesn't deserve anything. Even while he was saving Xcor all I could do is roll my eyes. He doesn't even care about ANYTHING. He's so numb and all he does is blame it on everyone around him. "Blah my mother is a god and hates me and my father is the bloodletter and ruined me" BRO. WE GET IT. He won't confront the issues he has with Jane not giving him enough attention which leads him to almost cheat. It's stupid. The whole thing is stupid. He prides himself on being logical but in reality, he's not logical at all. He's completely delusional. He's delusional to think that Jane can read his mind. He's delusional to think that he can be mean to everyone just because he's hurt on the inside. He's so bitter and I'm tired of it. I don't want to read about him in the next book, because I simply do not give a shit. I'm tired of V and his sob story.
TOHR
Another one of my least favorite characters. He's extremely bland and when he does say something of substance it's about his dead wife or about how he hates women. Every time he talks about Wellsie it's in the weirdest ways like he doesn't have a new wife or something. It's weird and I don't even know how to describe it and I just don't like it. The way he spoke to Layla was shocking (not really if you know Tohr) to say the least. He treated her like complete trash and him saying sorry doesn't redeem it. I hate when men speak about mothers like they have any idea how it is to be a mother. stupid. I enjoyed the ending he had with Xcor and them being brothers. Sure. It was cute I guess. I was happier for Xcor than Tohrment though.
Throe
Don't even bring him up because I simply have no idea.
LASSITER
Love him. I wasn't shocked he took the place of Scribe Virgin, especially after reading Axe's book (the blood legacy series) It was pretty obvious it was him. I was sobbing when he was saying "they're my family" while watching the fight go down because they truly are his family. It made me sad he has to make that decision with the people he loves as collateral. Anyway, can't wait for more of him because he's honestly my favorite character right now.
TREZ AND TRES
I don't care. I don't care about Trez because I barely even liked Selena. I know this is gonna be some weird thing where is Selena reincarnated or something I can already tell. It felt really out of place in this story because that happened like 2 books ago. I wanted more Layla and Xcor moments instead of Trez and his dead wife look-alike!
ASSAIL <3
This man has my whole heart. Only heard about him in passing (no POV) but seems like he's having a rough time in drug psychosis. Poor baby.