The Chosen One Review

Title: The Chosen One
Author: Carol Lynch Williams
Buy It At: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Chosen One is a story about a young, teen girl named Kyra who lives in a compound run by a religious cult leader. She is only thirteen years old when the cult leader comes to her father and tells him that God has chosen for her to marry her Uncle and become one of his many wives. Despite no one being happy with the match, no one will help Kyra escape and the marriage cannot be stopped. Kyra makes the life changing decision to break out of the compound and gain her freedom.

The Chosen One is obviously a take on the FLDS cult though the book does not outright state the religion of the characters.

Kyra's story might be fictional but the issues she faced are very real and do happen to many young girls living in the FLDS compounds. This is a world where women have no choices when it comes to anything and must always "be sweet" so they don't upset the men. The Chosen One gives readers a brief glimpse into what such a life is like for a teenage girl. All Kyra wants is to spent time with the boy she likes, read books and play the piano. Instead, she must prepare to marry a man more than twice her age and get ready to become a wife and bare children.

This is a young adult novel so the story is easier to read and does not go into a lot of details compared to FLDS Mormon and polygamy books aimed at adults. So, while we know Kyra's story it is just one girl's story. The book does not give a lot of details about the cult, community or living situations of other members on the compound because this is just Kyra's story.

Still, I personally think it was better that the book focused on one girl's story instead of trying to cover a wide range of topics. Especially because this is a young adult book.

While I absolutely loved the story, some of the writing was a little off putting to me. At times the writing style tried to be too pose-like for my taste.

The Chosen One was a very interesting and captivating read. You cannot help but hope and cheer for Kyra as she struggles with wanting to escape the marriage (which means leaving the compound, her family and the only life she has ever known).

Rating: 4 out of 5