Also by this author: Nine, Millie Maven and the Bronze Medallion, Millie Maven and the Golden Vial, Millie Maven and the White Sword, Millie Maven, And They Found Dragons
Series: Seer #1
Published by Tyndale on May 19, 2015
Genres: Fiction, Christian, Suspense, Speculative
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
“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.
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.
In the not-too-distant future of a not-that-implausible world, Carrington Hale prepares for The Choosing. It’s what all girls her age have done since society picked itself up after the Ruining. They have stood before the eligible men of their society and presented themselves to be chosen.
To not be chosen would mean to be relegated to the lowest rung of society, to be taken from their family, to become an outcast, to be called a Lint. Carrington has been prepared her whole life for this moment…and yet she is not chosen. She finds her place with the dregs of society doing the menial work of the Authority.
But as she settles in, rumors of rebellion begin to surface. Those who have been stripped of their identity and worth are finding it in the ravings of a man named Aaron who holds illegal meetings outside the city. He tells them of a Father who loves them and how perfect love casts out fear, of one who has chosen them before the creation of the world.
Carrington is tempted, but then another opportunity surfaces. Authority member Isaac is in need of a new wife. Normally, this would be forbidden. But the Authority makes an exception…so long as he chooses a Lint. He chooses Carrington.
There’s also the not-so-small issue of an uncaught serial killer murdering Lint women and Carrington’s budding relationship with Remko, a Lint guard at the facility she works at. The Choosing is a fast-paced thriller that keeps readers in awe to the very end.
Dekker does a great job of setting her world. We’re given hints of the backstory: humanity’s desire to live forever inadvertently killed most of them. The society that came out of this tragedy is rigid, law-based, and unfeeling. Ostensibly, it for humanity’s survival, but in reality it elevates the privileged few far above an exploited underclass.
I wish Dekker could have taken more time to dwell on this social aspect in the novel. This sort of thing is rather a standard trope and, with a bit more work, Dekker could have really made it her own. Instead, the focus turns toward life as a member of the Authority—which is an equally important, yet different facet of the story. Carrington quickly discovers that being Chosen isn’t the end of her problems, but instead sets up a new set of problems.
The story’s thematic strength guides it through, delivering thought-provoking messages amid an entertaining and engaging story. In her stunning debut novel, Rachelle Dekker plunges readers into a unique yet familiar-feeling dystopian society, where one girl’s longing for acceptance, identity, and purpose becomes a mind-bending, pulse-pounding journey that’ll leave you breathless and reeling. It’s a superb story!
