Review: Rise of the Chosen

Rise of the Chosen by Anna Kopp
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rise of the Chosen is a fresh and absorbing zombie novel. It is book number one in the Lifeblood series, and I was happy to see that there was going to be a continuation of the story line. In Rise of the Chosen there are two types of zombies. The first, The Woken, are typical. Die, come back, kill everyone, the end. The second or The Chosen are similar to vampires in that they are stronger, faster and better than their human counterparts, but they are not bloodsuckers.

Our heroine Samantha’s father died a hero while protecting civilians from Woken bloodlust. While
Samantha is surviving and working towards joining the Watch Guard to follow in his footsteps, her mother has completely fallen apart and is losing the ability to function. Samantha is worried that her mother might commit suicide, which in their world, where the dead routinely rise, is a heinous crime.

I’m trying not to give away the story line, so I won’t go into more detail, but suffice it to say, the circumstances of Samantha’s father’s death weren’t what they seemed. In fact, they play a major role in upcoming events. Samantha herself isn’t what she seems either. Her destiny at this point is uncertain, but it appears that she will play a major role in the upcoming events. As the title tells us, The Chosen aren’t content with the role that society has given them, and times they-are-a-changin’.

One other spot of freshness in this novel, Sam is bisexual and she has a female love interest. I know many readers won’t think this is a big deal, but it is, there aren’t a lot of positive role-model bisexual protagonists out there. I sincerely hope that the author keeps this in mind when writing the future novels in the series, and doesn’t just fall back on the old “oh, she was confused and just hadn’t met the right guy” cop-out.

Since it’s the first in a series there are a lot of loose ends to be tied down in future novels. I’m looking forward to the next book to see if the author can continue to keep it fresh and interesting.


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