The Selection (The Selection #1)

by Kiera Cass

pages: 336

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Young Adult dystopia is still quite popular and I bring you a review this week of “The Selection” by Kiera Cass.  Perhaps it’s the distaste we currently hold towards dating (I mean really, it does suck) or our fascination with reality TV, but this series swept the charts by storm.

After reading the first book, I can see why.  You don’t even see the end of “The Selection” process in the concluding pages of this book.  The heck is up with that? Of course, by then you are completely hooked and want to know the rest, though you can guess the predictability that the main character will end up winning the game.  (What kind of story would it be if she came in second? Right?)

This has all the makings of what we love in dystopia.

Young and reluctant heroine? Check. America wants nothing to do with this process and only joins in at the request of her boyfriend and pressure from her mother.

Love triangle: Boyfriend left at home, check.  Prince of the land? Check

Screwed up society: Castes that you are born into and patriarchy. Check and double-check.

Rebels hating the status quo: Apparently from the North AND the South. Blue and Grey, unite!

Not America: Yeah, seems as though we’ve fallen to China and then created a monarchy made up of all North America. I can dig it. Kudos for naming the heroine America, though.

I read this quickly, love the heroine, hate her arch-rival, and am enjoying the process.  When this gets made into a movie, I’m there.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting impatiently for the next book to become available in the library. Curses! Must. Not. Buy.  (You know, I’m gonna…)

–Lady O