Book Review #43: The Girl Who Wasn’t Chosen by A.Y. Johlin

Hello Dear Reader!

Welcome to another book review! This one is special because it’s an ARC read from a new debut author! Welcome to the publishing world, A.Y. Johlin, and congratulations on publishing your first book!

This review is on The Girl Who Wasn’t Chosen, a middle grade fantasy novel that takes place in the wonderful and mysterious land of Solia. I absolutely loved the main character of this book and how she acted her age, which was twelve. There were also a lot of layers to this book that I personally wasn’t expecting, and I found all of it to be a very pleasant surprise! I also loved the themes of this book, which I will be going over in more detail down below.

But, before I get into that, here is the synopsis (from A.Y. Johlin):

Leda Roubis is used to being ignored. As the middle child of seven siblings, her whole life has been spent living in their numerous shadows.

Fortunately for her, the Skycharter, a mysterious prophet from a foreign world, has decided to visit her village to choose the Sun, a hero capable of freeing her country from a cursed land. The title promises Leda will never be ignored again. It’s just too bad he gives it to someone else instead.

But when the real Sun fails to stop bandits from wrecking her village and hurting her family, Leda decides to defeat them herself. To achieve her goal, she’ll have to face glowing wolves, a whacky monster, and one snobby elk. However, between puzzling over enchanted maps and trekking through a strange forest, defeating bad guys turns out to be harder than it looks. Especially when you’ve never picked up a sword before.

End synopsis! Now, let’s get into the review!

Main character and narrator Leda Roubis, as mentioned in the back-cover summary, is ignored basically every day of her life. Throughout the book, she’s described as a normal-looking girl who’s easily forgettable. Long story short, most everyone believes there is nothing special about her, with the exception of her dad, of course. He’s easily one of my favorite characters because he’s one of the very few who constantly acknowledges Leda. He even calls her his coolest daughter.

Going back to this twelve-year-old main character, though Leda is labeled the forgettable one, as a reader, there’s a lot to remember about her. She’s passionate and has a lot of drive, and she can also be very resourceful. Though she does have times where she’s really immature and a bit annoying, she is receptive of feedback and criticism, and she’s got a big heart.

Surrounding Leda is a friendly leafer named Phemus, a mysterious girl who’s great at using potions named Val, her best childhood friend who just so happens to be great at commanding animals with whistles named Jorge, and an elk full of attitude named Pine. Together, they make up a charming little friend group that goes up against the bandits.

And speaking of the bandits, I was really surprised at the level of depth they had. A couple of them were really quirky, and there was one, a really cool girl whose name I shall not spoil, who I came to really like. The main villain, who I shall also not spoil, shocked me. To put it simply, it was a plot twist I was not expecting. All of them were really distinct in personality and morals, and these are slowly revealed throughout the book.

The world of The Girl Who Wasn’t Chosen is huge, and I say that because we only visited places on one side of the huge mountain range mentioned in the book. There are about thirteen villages that are mentioned to exist, and we only visit two of them and hear of one of them! There are also quite a few mentions of the outsiders, who the people of Solia admire. A lot of the plot, especially at the end of the book, revolves around these outsiders, and I think there is a lot of lore to them that hasn’t been explored yet. Finally, what I love about this magical world is that there is a good mix of regular creatures and magical creatures and how each of these creatures fulfills a certain role in the order of nature.

Now, the thing I love most about this book revolves around the phrase, “make do with what you have.” To me personally, by the end of the book, it ultimately means to be happy with who you are, which I think it an important lesson to learn. You don’t have to be grand or flashy or popular to be happy in life. You just have to be happy with and love yourself.

I really couldn’t find anything I disliked about this book. Everything seemed really well-thought out, even the cliffhanger ending that I don’t feel upset over. The only thing that kind of poked at me was Leda’s random and sometimes, in my opinion, unnecessary interjections and comments, especially during scenes that were supposed to be really intense. At those times, I have to remember that this book is middle-grade, and she’s also twelve. Her little quips that I find a bit annoying are probably really funny to the middle-grade age group. Also, it just bothers me a little bit that kids in the twelve to fourteen age range are able to go up against a big group of full-grown adults. Just a bit unrealistic to me, but it makes for a fun and charming read!

So, The Girl Who Wasn’t Chosen rating:

4.5/5 and looking forward to that sequel, because the cliffhanger’s got me curious! If you are looking for a more light-hearted and fun adventure read full of fun characters, great character development, and villains that have depth, then I seriously recommend this book!

And congratulations again to A.Y. Johlin for publishing her first book!

Thanks for reading!