23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I'd recommend it for young kids, June 30, 2010
"Chosen Ones" is a Middle Grade fantasy novel, but I think kids ages 5-9 would actually enjoy the story (being read to them) the most. There were some black and white drawings of the events in the story, but unfortunately they weren't that accurate to the details in the text.
The first half of the story was full of detail--most of it unnecessary to the story--which slowed the action. Very little happened. Many of the details were also very obviously based off of various "Chronicles of Narnia" books, but the details the author chose to mimic were not the sense-of-wonder inspiring ones. The kids (one named Peter) jump into a glowing pool at a Professor's house in England and end up on an island that has smart (though not talking) animals and people and they're expected to fulfill a prophecy. In the second half of the novel, the action picked up and the story became original.
The characters tended to be one-dimensional; they were defined by one trait and didn't act beyond it. Also, most of the potential crisis points where solved very easily and quickly, so the suspense was lacking in my opinion--though young children might find it exciting.
I sometimes didn't understand why the children or villains acted the way they did. For example, no explanation was given for why our hero children (aged 13 and 14) still went to the castle after they ran into evil warriors that were clearly from the castle. Also, there were a number of unrealistic non-fantasy elements. Most were minor things that weren't critical to the story, but others were critical--like a slave being able to create a complex technology that's new to him from a sketch in one day.
There were some quotes from the Bible, though anyone not familiar with the Bible probably wouldn't recognize that's what they were, and some Bible-like parallels (like a Passover-like meal of remembrance). The slaves worshiped a Lord of Hosts, their name for their Creator god. The two hero children had one magical power, and another, good character could do magic. There was no bad language or sex.
I read this story out loud to a 12-year-old girl. She fidgeted during the first half but became more interested during the second half. Throughout the story, she said things like, "Why did they do that? That doesn't make sense" or "Yeah, right, no one's that dumb" or "No kid would know how to build that!" At the end, she said, "I still don't get such-and-such." However, she said she did enjoy the story (though she's not interested in reading it again--usually she re-reads books that she loves), and she'd be interested in reading the second book in the series.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
McGrath does fantasy, May 21, 2010
Alister has made the move into the influential fantasy fiction market after concentrating on his main gifts in theology and apologetics. The result is a well crafted, enjoyable story that is fun and positive. We really need more books like this and I hope it does well. It does have a Narnia-esque feel to it as others have pointed out but that in no way takes away from it's own charm.
Other christian fantasy books I really like are:
Godstone - The Kairos Boxes100 Cupboards (100 Cupboards, Bk 1)
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you like Narnia (who doesn't?), you'll like this, April 17, 2010
Peter and Julia's grandparents' garden was built by a monk five hundred years ago in preparation of the Chosen Ones. He was murdered shortly after. Now, even on moonless nights, the garden emits an eerie silver glow. Enchanted, the children are drawn into the garden's pool, waking to wind themselves in the land of Aedyn.
If this book was any more of a Narnia copycat, McGrath would probably be sued for copyright infringement. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing; almost everybody copies somebody else to a certian extent, so why not copy one of the masters?
Chosen Ones get no points for originality, but you still won't be able to keep from liking it. It feels like reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe again, just with half the kids and an alternate ending.
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