Review: The Chosen Path

The Chosen Path by Jason Hershey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To Live To Die, the first Thelonious Mitchell story, was a deeply emotional read. It touched upon a very real topic, it gave so much depth, and as a whole sent a very deep message. Despite this, I couldn’t quite bring myself to give it a four star rating. It had potential yet little things prevented me from going all the way – namely, it felt as though things were told rather than shown.

Fortunately, The Chosen Path massively improved upon this point. Whereas the first book told you how things are, in this one we are also shown how things are. We get to gauge emotions, and we get to experience things alongside the characters. Thus, that little thing that prevented me from giving a four star rating in the first story was gone in this one. The Chosen Path easily earned a four star rating.

As with the first book, The Chosen Path is a very quick read. Depending upon your reading speed it is possible to complete this one in under an hour. As with the first book, though, the length of the story fails to influence the emotional depth of the book. The Chosen Path has just as much emotional depth as To Live To Die, yet it is a very different kind of story. The Thelonious Mitchell stories seem to be snapshots of our main character’s life, and in this one we get to see another turning point. In this one we deal with the big ‘l’: love.

I’m always tentative when deeply emotional reads try to deal with love. I find, more often than I’d like, the story slips into clichés. The emotional depth often vanishes as the author tries to ensure a happily ever after, as the author tries to fit in those mind blowing scenes we see in the movies. Fortunately, Jason Hershey does not fall victim to the traps. The Chosen Path remains a deeply emotional read about growing up, giving us a sensitive read about love whilst staying realistic. I’m so glad to see an author approach the topic in the way Jason Hershey has – not everything is rainbows and butterflies when it comes to real life, and Jason Hershey demonstrates the good and the bad side by side. Honestly, all the marks right there for writing such true to life fiction.

One thing everyone should know before entering this read, however, is that it ends on a cliff-hanger. The story of Thelonious Mitchell has more to come, and this one will leave you curious as to what exact choice our main character has made this time. I’m so excited to see what the third story brings. Whilst I’m not usually a massive fan of stories where the life of the character seems to be shown in snapshots, I’m finding it works perfectly with this one. Jason Hershey writes with such emotional depth that you cannot help but fall in love with the main character and get wrapped up in his life.

Bring on the third book, I say!

As a final note, I would like to thank the author for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review. It’s very much appreciated, and I cannot wait to see where you take your story from here.

View all my reviews