The only description for The Choosing on both the publisher's site as well as the two online book stores that sell it is as follows: A story about a girl torn between body and soul and her eventful journey into womanhood and self realisation. There are no further details about what this story is about other than it is a fantasy and just over 23,000 words in length.
Though there is no rating, the author has provided that it might not be suitable for those under 17 years old. This warning might be a bit too severe though, since The Choosing reads like a young adult (YA) novel. The words flow and are very descriptive, and it's a quick read. Ms. Saran is very good at using all the senses in her writing, which is imperative to pull the readers in and keep them interested.
Young Adult or NC-17?
It is fair to compare the sex and violence in this novella as those books written by Christopher Pike, who is also a YA author. He packs his stories with things normal teenagers wouldn't dream of doing, but he appeals to adults as well. Since Akassa, the heroine, starts her story as an eight year old, and it ends with her just out of her teens, it makes the most sense for this to be called a young adult novella.
Akassa lives in a world with sorcerers, dragons, faeries and unicorns, and the author takes great pains to describe everything with vivid detail. That is definitely a strong aspect of her writing, which is fueled by her active imagination.
Sorcery, Magic and Dragons
The basic premise of The Choosing is that Akassa wants to be pure, so she can become a sorceress. She is told that once every five years, The Unicorn chooses from the girls in the village, and he picks the Pure One. This girl will then become a sorceress. Akassa is not picked but is noticed by the unicorn. This leads her on her journey of self-discovery, which teaches her that purity comes from within.
Though the setting of this novella is a fantasy world, the Valley of the Flowers felt a bit out of place. To this reviewer it seemed merely a redesigned Sodom and Gomorrah that just didn't fit with the mythological beings in the rest of the story. Luckily, Akassa is only there for a short time before continuing with her journey. Still, the sex mentioned is censored at best and won't be anything too shocking for age groups above PG.
While the story is a bit disjointed in parts and seems to go off topic several times, almost all the questions raised during her journey are finally answered at the end. Though that end comes suddenly and left this reviewer surprised there wasn't more.
More Words and History are Needed to Improve Depth
This novella could easily have been longer, and it probably should have. Dragons are briefly mentioned, but they are not explored. What happened to the girl the unicorn chose instead of Akassa? She could have been sacrificed to the dragons for all the reader knows.
Some scenes ended so abruptly that it almost seemed parts were missing, and the chapters were too short. As descriptive as Ms. Saran is, she should have had no problem giving a bit more back story.
With all that said it's clearly an engaging story, especially for someone who has only a few hours to spend reading. This isn't a book that will weigh down the reader or take too much of her time, just overlook the few typos missed during the editing process.
If I were to give the author any advice, it would be to include a higher resolution photo at the beginning and to clean up the grammar mistakes. Other than that, good job.
Source:
- Saran, Anita. The Choosing. Solstice Publishing, 2011.
Judith Lee - Judith has been a writer for over two decades. She is also a blogger and book/movie reviewer.
