Magic schools are not a new concept in literature. You know the drill. Someone reaches an age in their life, they have someone show up and tell them they’re special, magical, and need to come to a secret school to harness their power. And occasionally, this person will be the ‘chosen one’ to defeat a villain along the way. We all know those stories, right? Well, what happens when someone is picked to go to a magical school…and they’re not the perfect candidate the school first anticipated? And they’re far from being the chosen one at all? I give you, ‘The Not so Chosen One‘, a new magical debut book from Kate Emery.
Book: The Not So Chosen One
Author: Kate Emery
Release date: 05/07/2022
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
I was kindly given the chance to read an early copy of this book through Netgalley and what a fun ride it was! This book will probably not change the course of history. But from the first page of reading, I was hooked. This book reminded me what reading is all about; reading is about discovering stories, reading about magic and adventure and wonder. As I read this book, I loved joining Lucy as she went to a magical school, as she made friends with characters I couldn’t help but love, as she sat in on magic lessons – and we got to learn about magic with her!
The book does not delay with the plot. It moves quickly and is a fast-paced and really easy read, which made it easy for me to fly through it all in only two days! It’s worth me saying, that just because a book is a quick and easy read, that doesn’t in any way take away my enjoyment for the book. Sometimes a quick, easy and fun story to fly through is exactly what we need! As it is, I think this book did wonders for my reading, as when I finished it I instantly wanted to read more books, with this one having reminded me how magical reading is and why I love it so! I also instantly wanted to know if this book is going to have a sequel, but given that this book isn’t even out yet, I think that is a little premature thinking on my part…
The fast-paced plot I found engrossing and intriguing. There was magic, adventure, strange occurrences and a mystery to be solved. There was also a second subplot which I spent the first half of the book wondering about its relevance, only to have the penny drop in the second half of the book. I think it was actually all really cleverly woven together, and even when I figured some parts of the plot out, there were still so many questions running around in my head and I loved seeing how everything got answered and neatly tied up by the end! I enjoyed the world-building and learning about Drake’s magic school, how they keep it a secret from the outside world and everyone who doesn’t know about magic. I even liked the lessons on the magic we got to have a glimpse into in some of the chapters! I could tell this is a world that’s had a lot of thought put into it by the author. All of this combined with the plot twists and turns throughout the book meant I sped my way through it, desperate to know what came next and how everything would turn out in the end.
‘The Not So Chosen One‘ does cover some more complex themes and complex characters, but in a way that is accessible for younger audiences, which I not only liked that they were included, but think doing it in this way does take quite a bit of skill to do, and do it right – as can be seen in this book, which is indeed a great example of it being done right. Although I will say, sometimes I felt a little confused if this book is Ya OR NA (New Adult), as whilst it mostly reads like YA and the content feels YA, occasionally explicit language would be used that I would expect in an adult book. Or maybe these words just don’t have as strong an effect in Australia as they do here in the UK! It wasn’t something that bothered me, but something to be aware of if you’re wanting to read and/or recommend this book to someone.
I found whilst the characters didn’t have huge amounts of depth to them and weren’t the most well-written characters ever, I did still love them nonetheless. They have natural charm and cheekiness that brought them to life and made them enjoyable to read about and made their personalities jump right out of the pages. I loved their ‘normal-ness’ – their sarcasm and banter peppered throughout the pages, that actually did get me to laugh out loud a couple of times. In fact, after finishing the books, I found I was missing these characters and was wanting to read about them some more! The characters, the world-building, and the plot are the three key ingredients for making a good book – for me, anyway – and luckily, ‘The Not SO Chosen One‘ delivered on all three of these elements!
Will this book change history? No. Is it groundbreaking? Probably not. But it’s put a spin on the traditional ‘chosen one’ trope which felt fresh to me, and it had enough twists thrown into the book to keep me hanging and wanting more. Plus, a huge part of reading is to escape, to have adventures through books, to have fun. And if that is what you’re looking for, then ‘The Not So Chosen One‘ can provide just that. I had a wonderful time powering my way through this magical book quicker than I’ve read a lot of books lately – and now, I just want more! After an ending that has clearly been left open to interpretation, I can only hope this means this is not the last we have seen of Lucy and her adventures, nor Drake’s magic school.
The Not So Chosen One is out in the UK on July 5th.
To find out more about the book or Kate Emery, visit her website here: https://www.kateemery.com.au/
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