Hey guys! I'm Trina and this is my non spoiler
series review over The Selection series by
Kiera Cass. There are 5 books total in this
series but there are actually 2 different
parts to the series. There's the original
trilogy that follows one character, and then
there's a duology that continues the story
20 years later. The original trilogy consists
of The Selection, The Elite, and The One.
And the continuation duology consists of The
Heir and The Crown. I'm going to start out
by talking about just the original trilogy.
So, the premise that started this entire series
is that this is a young adult dystopian romance.
This world has different caste systems so
there's the upper class and then the low and
lowest class and our main character whose
name is America Singer, and yes that is a
ridiculous character name, she is from one
of the lower classes and she is drawn from
a nationwide lottery to go to the palace and
compete for the love of the prince because
the royal family has this thing called a selection
every time there is a male heir who's about
to ascend the throne so he can find himself
a wife. This is a lot like The Bachelor or
The Bachelorette TV shows. So yep, it sounds
cheesy and dramatic and that's because it
is. There's a time and place for book like
that and I really ate them up. I don't remember
how I found this series but I'm pretty sure
I had it in my head that I was not going to
like this at all and then I heard either a
good review or a friend recommended it to
me and I picked the first book up and I could
not put it down! I am a really slow reader
so when a book can grip me and make me read
the entire thing in a day or stay up all night
long reading it, I love that kind of reading
experience. So yeah, these books are pretty
fluffy. There's not a lot to them. They don't
explore some things that maybe a better quality
book would explore, but this was a fun reading
experience and so I have a deep love for this
series because of the experience that they
gave me. All 3 books of the original trilogy
gripped me the same way and I had to stay
up to finish these books because I was just
obsessed. I could not put them down. As ridiculous
as you think these characters are being, I
had to flip to page and just do one more chapter,
and then another, and then another until I
was done with the book. So if you're looking
for a series that will do that to you, this
is that series. With the first 3 books I was
always insanely gripped by them and I felt
like the romance and the chemistry between
the main character America and Prince Maxon
was really great. It was really giving me
all the feels and I just really wanted them
to get together. However, there is a huge
love triangle in this series and that is what
drove me crazy about it, especially in the
2nd book The Elite. America was just flip
flopping with her choice between these 2 guys
she wanted to be with. That did drive me really
crazy when I was reading that book and I am
one of the most tolerant people of love triangles
- they don't bother me that much, but this
one in particular really did. However, I couldn't
put it down. I had to find out what was going
to happen. In hindsight, after I know how
everything ended, I do feel like that love
triangle served a purpose. It was there intentionally.
It was there because Maxon was this prince
in charge of selecting his wife out of 35
girls and I feel like the love triangle, and
giving America a second love interest was
done in order to put some power back into
her hands too. I think she needed to make
an active decision about who she wanted to
be with and so I really appreciated that.
So, a big critique that a lot of people have
of this series is the dystopian element is
really shallow. It's really light on the dystopia,
and that is true. It's just kind of a backdrop.
However, I feel like that dystopian backdrop
was a necessary element for anybody to ever
believe it's ok to have a competition like
this where you are seriously deciding the
fate of your kingdom/nation, who is going
to lead your kingdom, based on something that's
set up a lot like The Bachelor. The 3rd book,
The One, does get a lot more into the government
and the dystopian system because they're facing
this group of rebels who want to overthrow
this class system so you do get some of the
politics but the romance is definitely the
main focus of this series. I wouldn't hold
it's lack of dystopian elements against it
because that just wasn't the point to me.
I was really satisfied with the ending. I
don't think that there needed to be the companion
series with The Heir and The Crown. However,
when you really like a series you sometimes
just really want to know more. The main strength
of The Heir duology in my opinion is that
this time the main character, the point of
view that we are following, is the princess
in charge. She is the one doing the choosing
and so we have all these suitors and we don't
know who she's going to choose, whereas in
the original trilogy we were following a contestant
who didn't have as much choice. With Eadlyn
there's like 30 options and you really don't
know where she's going to go so there was
more mystery to it. I did enjoy seeing it
from her side. The biggest critique that I
had of this duology is that there was not
enough romance. I know that Kiera Cass is
wonderful at creating romantic tension and
this whole will-they-won't-they thing but
in these 2 books there just was none of that.
The final outcome was exactly what I wanted
it to be and yet I just was not convinced
if it at all. I couldn't see it, I couldn't
picture any kind of future for this, I felt
none of the feels, and that was a terrible
feeling for me because I really was rooting
for this thing to happen and when it did I
didn't care because it was done so quickly,
without any development, without any tension
having been built. So, this duology was pretty
dissatisfying to me, but that does not erase
the fact that I really really loved the first
3 books. Also, I don't think I mentioned this,
but these last 2 books do show you the outcomes
of a lot of the characters from the original
trilogy so if you have a really strong attachment
to these characters, you might see what happens
to them 20 years later in these books so that
is a big reason to continue reading, if you
just wanted more of the characters that you
loved before. So I want to do a little comparison
of the first 3 vs the new 3. One of the biggest
critiques that everybody has about both of
these are the main characters and how annoying
they are. In my opinion, I do prefer America
between the two girls, but I feel like Eadlyn's
personality was exactly what a princess who
had grown up in great privilege would have
been like, whereas America, who had grown
up in poverty, she wanted to stand up and
be stubborn about the things she believed
should have changed in their society. I really
feel like there was a lot of purpose to both
of them being the way that they were. I don't
dislike either of their characters. I think
it's pretty clear that I definitely prefer
the original trilogy in this series. I like
Kiera Cass's writing. I know that she can
draw out tension and make you root for characters
and make you frustrated. She's given me like
a whole range of different emotions throughout
the course of this series and that's something
that I appreciate. So those are my thoughts
over The Selection series by Kiera Cass. Overall,
it's a series that I had a lot of fun with.
You know, there's a time and place for the
fluffy romances. So if you're just looking
for something light and easy to read I would
recommend it. If you've finished the series
and read The Crown, let me know what you thought
of it. Were you satisfied with that ending?
I look forward to talking with you guys and
discussing this series further. Thank you
so much for watching and I'll see you in the comments. Bye!
(music only)
