Series Review - The Selection

The Selection

Kiera Cass

Now that I am starting this review, I think it is one of the biggest posts I have done to date, and I know I have done a few huge posts in the past. But I am trying to do a spoiler free review of 7 books here, we have the original three books that made up the trilogy (The Selection, The Elite and The One) the duology that was added to the series (The Heir and The Crown) plus two companion novellas (The Prince and The Queen)

Because this is trying not to give anything away I am doing the first three books as a group.

The world is a dystopian, that reminded me a lot of the Hunger Games set up. Casts based on numbers (One being Royalty, Eights being the lowest of the low) determine your rank and your job, you are born into your cast and  it is very hard to go up a number but very easy to go down. More than anything the society was a backdrop, politics are present but romance is very much the focus. We meet America Singer, a Five as she enters "The Selection" which is pretty much the Bachelor Tv show for Prince Maxon. There are 35 contestants randomly chosen from each province, and Fives are the lowest represented class. We also have a love triangle that goes on - normally I hate those but if you get through the tedious bits, it honestly adds a lot to the story (I hate to admit that but there it is). 

I was introduced to this series as "the best trash I have read since Twilight" and they were so right. Yes the book is shallow and there are lots of flaws, its not perfect. But I totally couldn't put these down I read the first three books and then the two novellas in three days and I would have done it in two if I'd had the time. 

I was going to leave these until last and had picked up The Heir but after the first 25 pages I put it down and went back to these. I just wasn't ready to leave the original characters yet. We get to see the Selection from Maxon's, Aspen's and Marlee's points of view. We also have a "prequel" of sorts with a glimpse into Amberly's Selection. The Queen and the Favourite were my two best picks, The Prince was enjoyable but didn't really give us anything new and the writing style doesn't mesh as well with a male voice. Aspen was my least favourite character in the books anyway, I can see how his role was needed but I still don't like him, so this was my lowest rated book. These books also come in a bind-up called Happily Ever After although I got each one separately

I read these books because I wanted to know where America and Maxon had ended up, and in the end I was left hoping for more from those characters and less from the main characters (their eldest daughter and her selection) of this book. By the end of The Crown I was happier with the characters but the initial behaviour ruined them for me in a lot of ways. They were rude and bratty and spoiled. There was no explanation for a lot of the behaviour either (like she was so stuck up and guarded because _______ enter reason here) and I just couldn't see America and Maxon allowing that behaviour from their child particularly their heir (but its not like she was really hiding it so they must have known).... Yea just didn't like it as much.