Title: The
Choosing
Series: A Seer
Novel
Author: Rachelle Dekker
Published Date: May 19, 2015
Publisher: Tyndale
House Publishers
Format: paperback
Pages: 448
ISBN: 978-1496402240
Genre: dystopian
Add to: Goodreads
Purchase:
Amazon
Rating: 3 1/2
stars
Synopsis: “Not
to be Chosen would yield a cruel fate of my own making.”
Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—would end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.
But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. The whispers contradict everything she’s been told; yet they resonate deep within.
Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, but she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.
Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—would end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.
But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. The whispers contradict everything she’s been told; yet they resonate deep within.
Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, but she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.
My Review: I
received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I truly thought this book would drag, I mean come on, it is
450ish pages long. I was surprised when I started it one day and finished it
the next. Carrington’s story pulled me in to the point where I needed to know
what would happen next.
The society created by the author is painful at times to read,
how much women’s rights have fallen since now, but it set up an amazing tension
between what Carrington was raised to believe, and finding her own self-worth.
Had she actually been Chosen, she never would have searched her own self-worth.
She was just as happy in the society as everyone else, never questioning, as
long as things went as expected. Even when they didn’t, she never showed any
hint of rebellion.
This book isn’t like other dystopian books, where the
heroine is an obvious choice, already standing out from society with her
rebellious deeds or ideas, always questioning society as it is. Carrington is
just as well-trained as every other mindless sheep in that society.
Over all, this book is an interesting read. Does the end set
up for a good enough cliff-hanger for me to crave the next in the series? Not
so much, and that disappoints me.
About the Author:
The oldest daughter of New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker, Rachelle Dekker was inspired early on to discover truth through storytelling. She graduated with a degree in communications and spent several years in marketing and corporate recruiting before making the transition to write full-time. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Daniel, and their diva cat, Blair. Visit her online at rachelledekker.com.
This is a hard question because it has many answers. I wanted to write a theme-based novel about identity. I wanted to write a dystopian novel. I wanted to write in a world that was familiar, but in a setting where I could change the way the world worked. It actually is several ideas I’d been toying with pulled into one story. Once I landed on Carrington’s core revelation and story arc, I simply fell in love with her as a character and drew the rest of the story around her. That’s usually how it works for me. I come up with a character, good or bad, and create the story from there.
2. You based your main character, Carrington, off of your younger sister. In what ways is Carrington like her?
It’s more the beliefs that Carrington struggles with that remind me of my sister. The idea of worth, of not feeling like you’re enough, or questioning whether anyone would choose you. Carrington came about as I spent time with my sister and her college-age friends and saw that a large majority of them were searching for significance, searching for worth—none more than my sister at the time.
3. Throughout the book, Carrington struggles with understanding her identity and worth and what is true. Why did you decide to write about the theme of identity?
Someone once asked me, If you could leave one message for your younger sisters, what would it be? The answer was always the same: I would pray they knew what they were worth. Identity is everything. There isn’t a theme that doesn’t start with identity, or circle back to identity. Knowing who you truly are is the greatest journey we face. Am I enough; am I worth it? I believe everyone faces these questions, and I sought out to explore them through this story.
