Author: Giselle Simlett
Series: The Chosen Saga #1
Genres: YA, Fiction
Publisher: WWS Publishing Ltd
Source: Kindle ARC
Pages: 363
Publication: December 29th, 2015
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SYNOPSIS: A girl with a past she tries to forget, and a future she can’t even imagine.
Leonie Woodville wants to live an unremarkable life. She wants routine, she wants repetition, she wants predictability. So when she explodes in a blaze of light one morning on the way to her college, it’s enough to put a real crimp in her day.
And things only get weirder…
Leonie learns from her father that she is last of the Pulsar, a phenomenally powerful member of a magical species called the Chosen. It will be her sole duty to protect the Imperium, a governing hierarchy, from all enemies, and to exceed the reputation of the Pulsar before her. So – no pressure there, then.
Leonie is swept away from her rigorous normality and taken to a world of magic. There, she is forced into a ceremony to join her soul to a guardian, Korren, who is both incredibly handsome and intensely troubled, a relationship for which ‘it’s complicated’ just really doesn’t cut it.
But Leonie is soon to learn that this ancient world is no paradise. With violent dissidents intent to overthrow the Imperium, and dark entities with their own agenda, she and Korren find themselves caught in a war where they will have to overcome their differences if they are to survive.
Dare to dream. Dare to hope. Dare to be a legend.
Book One in The Chosen Saga.
I received a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I didn't know what to expect from this book but it surprised me for the good! The summary kind of reminded me of Daughter of Smoke and Bone for some reason and I can still see some resemblance but I do not mind resemblances. Every book has "copy-cat" others in one way or another. A lot of humans and a lot of different ideas but most of them overlap at some point, that's okay. I truly enjoyed this book.
THE WORLD: We start in Earth. Our dimension but soon we move over to the Chosen realm called Duwyn which is controlled by the Imperium. The Imperium is like a capital... you know they have a Council formed by the strongest and smartest Chosen. Well, that's in theory but I bet you having the right connections does wonders. Anyway, by the description in the book I picture Duwyn as very beautiful and bright, it has 3 moons instead of 1 and trees have weird colors and shapes... I don't know why but I picture the Imperium a little bit like Asgard in the Thor movie. Something similar to this:
Well, the story doesn't exactly happen at the Imperium but at a temple in Duwyn where Leonie and Korren have to be soul-bound and Leonie has to learn how to control her powers but anyway, I tell you that the Imperium thingy is important. Hold on to that knowledge.
Well, the story doesn't exactly happen at the Imperium but at a temple in Duwyn where Leonie and Korren have to be soul-bound and Leonie has to learn how to control her powers but anyway, I tell you that the Imperium thingy is important. Hold on to that knowledge.
CHARACTERS: The main character is Leonie Woodville. She's a 16 year old girl living somewhere in the middle of nowhere with her dad Orin but suddenly one day she finds out she's a Chosen, people with powers who lived in a different realm but sometimes are allowed to live on Earth. The Chosen are divided into 4 "categories" according to strength and guess what? Leonie is la crème de la crème, she's a Pulsar. The Chosen with more power (after Pulsar) are Thrones and there are quite a few of them... for example the majority of the Council members. Thrones and Pulsar, because they're so important, receive protection from a different species, the Kytaen, that get to soul-bind to the Chosen. The selected bodyguard for Leonie is Korren, the angriest and most revengeful kytaen of all (bwahaha!).
Things get really messy in the last half of the book, we have Leonie and Korren dealing with their soul-binding, we have rebels doing what rebels do, we have the Council planning their own stuff... etc etc. Basically it is a chessboard and everybody is playing the game.
Things get really messy in the last half of the book, we have Leonie and Korren dealing with their soul-binding, we have rebels doing what rebels do, we have the Council planning their own stuff... etc etc. Basically it is a chessboard and everybody is playing the game.
LOVE: There is no romance per say but there is definitely some tension between two characters. I ship them already, darn I'm so going to suffer.
PLUS: I don't know, I liked all. I like Leonie and Korren as characters the best because they're the most interesting ones. I liked the whole plot which I can already tell is going to get even messier! yay I live for fantasy plots which include a lot of different possibilities but manages to stay straight forward... sometimes they get so complicated that you don't know what you're reading anymore but Giselle writes this one very well. Everything relevant and necessary for this book is explained well.
MINUS: Sometimes Leonie had this complex of "I cannot be so powerful, I suck, I'm just a girl" that we commonly see in a loooot of YA books but it wasn't too annoying so I really enjoyed the book in general. Bravo, an applause. The ending is a cliffhanger though! Why do you do this to me? I need the second one!
PLUS: I don't know, I liked all. I like Leonie and Korren as characters the best because they're the most interesting ones. I liked the whole plot which I can already tell is going to get even messier! yay I live for fantasy plots which include a lot of different possibilities but manages to stay straight forward... sometimes they get so complicated that you don't know what you're reading anymore but Giselle writes this one very well. Everything relevant and necessary for this book is explained well.
MINUS: Sometimes Leonie had this complex of "I cannot be so powerful, I suck, I'm just a girl" that we commonly see in a loooot of YA books but it wasn't too annoying so I really enjoyed the book in general. Bravo, an applause. The ending is a cliffhanger though! Why do you do this to me? I need the second one!
OVERALL: 4.5 stars. Great debut! I need my answers though, I won't be happy until I read the finale and know if my favorite characters will be fine forever and ever...
Girl of Myth and Legend will be published at the end of December. You can pre-order it on Amazon (psstt Kindle is really cheap. Paperback should be also possible). It could be a great late Christmas present, we all have that one relative who is always late right? It is also available via NetGalley right now! So go get it!
What do you guys think about GIRL OF MYTH AND LEGEND?
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