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Reviewed by:
  • Unchosen by Katharyn Blair
  • Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor

Blair, Katharyn Unchosen. Tegen/HarperCollins, 2021 [416p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062657640 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780062657664 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 7-10

"We were so ready for the fall of mankind. But, when it actually came—we didn't see it coming." So says seventeen-year-old Charlotte two years after the illness known as the Crimson, spread by eye contact alone, has rampaged through the continents and turned humans into flesh-eating, monstrous yet sapient Vessels. Only Charlotte and her two siblings know their little sister is the Chosen One who could break the curse that has caused the plague, so when bad guys show up looking for said Chosen One to bring to the Vessel Queen, Charlotte volunteers herself; fortunately, she's soon rescued but her saviors are looking to break the curse too, and now she's got to come up with some convincing lies if she's going to keep her sisters safe. While the details of the curse itself are a bit murky, this is still an effectively built dystopia with terrifying monsters and equally horrible humans, and it's made especially disturbing by the fact that it only takes two years for the entire world to devolve into a brutal hellhole. Charlotte's believable as the oftenoverlooked middle sibling who was content to remain in the shadows of both her sisters' successes and who now is understandably overwhelmed with suddenly having to save the world, or at least having to pretend she can. Blair takes a hard swing at capitalism and patriarchy in a pointed ending that pits Charlotte's selflessness against selfish men's curses and greed.

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