Still Chosen: Another Unwanted Adventure by Stephanie G. Olson Published by Self Published on January 7, 2025
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 354
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon
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You’re still The Chosen One. If someone needs to face the new evil in the world, you’re it.
When Phoebe was sixteen, she died to save the world. Not ideal, but it was the only way to destroy the power-mad wizard who was ripping a hole in the universe. Besides, she came back to life, so it all worked out, right? Twenty years later, Phoebe is queen of the realm and while the kingdom is finally at peace, the routine of life has grown dull – until the divine messenger from her youth reappears with evidence of the dead wizard’s return and demands Phoebe stop him once again.
Phoebe has no interest in another harrowing adventure since her personal life fell apart after the last one: her old friends haven’t spoken to her in years, the “love of her life” is long gone, and she hasn't performed real magic in nearly a decade. But she knows if the wizard turns out to be alive it will be her fault for failing. Oh, and he’ll try to tear apart the universe again. Whatever the evil is, Phoebe needs to get strong enough to stop it from destroying everything she loves, because she’s the only one who can.
It turns out, once you’re The Chosen One, you’re always The Chosen One – and destiny is forever.
Cover Art by Greta SandquistCover Design by Hrabe Designs
I loved the premise of this story.
Phoebe was only 16 when the Ethereal Mercury (a cat-like familiar to the goddesses) let her know that she was the Chosen One. The goddesses had blessed her with all four magical powers: ice fire, earth, and souls so that she could defeat Zaletor, the Eternal Emperor who had been ruling with an iron fist for 200 years and pawn of the disgraced goddess Kalexia. Mercury told her that she would sacrifice her life to defeat the evil Emperor and his dark magic. On their way to the wastelands where Zaletor had his castle, Phoebe and Mercury met Tristan, Axel, Jax and Becky, who joined them in their plans to destroy Zaletor. After a fierce battle, Phoebe gave her life to defeat Zaletor, accepting her sacrifice to save her new found family and protect the Kingdom. Only she had been unaware that Mercury requested the goddesses that Phoebe could be resurrected as a blessing for her bravery.
Twenty years later Queen Phoebe is now preparing for the 20th anniversary festival of their defeat of Zaletor, a festival she was quite tired of replaying year after year, when Mercury once again shows up to let her know that the goddesses have felt the dark magic once again out in the wastelands and that Phoebe needed to grab her friends and come defeat it. Phoebe said, “Thanks but no thanks. She already did that” but Mercury explained that “Once the Chosen One, always the Chosen One” and that she needed to step up.
Queen Phoebe, now the ripe age of 36, and her friends haven’t spoken in quite some time. Phoebe has spent the last 20 years as Queen, taking care of the people of the lands, not working her magic and preparing for battle. Sooo, Phoebe might’ve put on a little extra weight and gotten a little slower wielding her magic. But she does agree to sneak out of the castle with Mercury to investigate the dark magic. Once again, along the way Phoebe and Mercury meet new friends who joined her on her quest, but when they find that somebody is trying to resurrect Zaletor’s magic they go to find Tristan, Jax and Axel, so they can help Phoebe once again defeat and finish the job for real. The problem is that her friends have also moved on and aren’t thrilled to risk death to go battle evil once again. Phoebe is the Chosen One and she doesn’t want to fight, so she gets it, but she really needs their help. She can’t let Zaletor resurrect. So what’s an aging Chosen One supposed to do?
THOUGHTS:
I loved this premise, and I grabbed this as my next read because I really wanted to see what was gonna happen. Because saving the world for a 16 year-old is easy. At 36, not so much.
I really enjoyed the storytelling. It had some interesting thoughts. Phoebe and Tristan were teenage “great loves,” but as time went on, and the battles were over, they started drifting apart. We find the Tristan has moved on and gotten married and had a family, but the people looked at Phoebe, wondering what she did to send Tristan away and waiting for her great love to return to her. Every time Phoebe tries to find a new romance, the people look at her with sad faces like she’s unfaithful to her great love.
Years after the battle, Becky was killed after trying to defeat some pirates, the teens realized that they were simply mortal and it changed their family dynamic. They all started going their own way, leaving Phoebe sitting alone on the throne. She went from being a street kid to the queen, in a guilded cage, responsible for everyone in the kingdom. She did her best to try and take care of the poor and the orphans and give them all a better life than what she had known, but as she travels around on her second quest, she sees that there is still injustice and tyranny in the smaller cities. Her Council has kept this from her and she feels like a failure as the queen.
Of course, the best part of the story–as an older adult myself– is the idea that all these grand adventures are featuring people in their teens and 20s. They learning to sword fight and use magic and battle evil with their young bodies and fearless minds. Two decades of sitting around and going to council meetings (or working in a cubicle) and you don’t have the energy or the physical ability to wield a sword against your enemy for long without throwing your back out. At one point, Mercury tells Phoebe to backflip into the middle of the mob, and attack like last time, and Phoebe’s like “ain’t gonna happen.”
This is the first novel by this author, so I will forgive some of the sections of the story that seemed glossed over or could’ve used more to fill in the storytelling. That will come with experience, but it was a very interesting idea, a well told story with memorable characters. Some of them could’ve been flushed out a little bit more but again for at first novel it was well done.
Favorite Scene:
“I’d always thought it must have been fun, what all you did,” Ness admitted, picking at a slice of bread. “It sounded like a grand adventure. But now that I’m part of it, it’s terrifying. How were you ever brave enough to do it as teens?”
“Easy,” Jax laughed, “we thought we were invincible.”
Ness looked doubtful, but I shrugged. “It’s true. Even though I knew I was destined to die, I couldn’t imagine dying before defeating Zaletor. It was arrogance and stupidity, but I can’t criticize past us too much. We got the job done, after all.” I considered the broken crown and added, “Mostly.”
“Most teens lack a strong sense of self-preservation,” Mercury added. “It’s why saving the world tends to be a young person’s game.”
Jax grunted in agreement. “Remember the night we spent staking out a prison, waiting for that demon-man, Broin, to show up? My back aches now just thinking of crouching in that position for hours.”
“How could I forget? The bastard didn’t show until three in the morning. I think the last time I stayed up that late was fifteen years ago when the High Priestess insisted on doing a moonlight feast.” I glanced sheepishly at Mercury. “The year after, I may have told them the Goddesses felt my presence at the event was unnecessary.”
Laughter rang out through the room.
“Hells,” Jax chuckled, shaking his head. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing all of this again.”
I blew out a breath. “At least we’re wiser this time…right?”
Mercury looked conspicuously at the ceiling, and I threw a crust of bread at their silver face. Their starry eyes narrowed in challenge, and before I knew it a wedge of cheese was flying at me on a gust of wind. I batted it away, cackling at the absurdity of it all.
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