Book Review: The Elite and The One

The Elite
by Kiera Cass
Harper Teen, 2013
Genre: YA, Romance
Source: borrowed from library
Rating: 2 out of 5

The One
by Kiera Cass
Harper Teen, 2014
Genre: YA, Romance
Source: borrowed from library
Rating: 3 out of 5

In the second and third installments of The Selection series, America Singer is still in the race for Prince Maxon's heart.  While he's giving her time to come to terms with her feelings for him and whether or not she wants to be queen, America is just trying to manage her way through the competition.  Aspen's appointment as her guard doesn't help her figure out her feelings because every time he is near her, she remembers him and how he loved her.  Plus, Maxon is spending a lot of time with the other girls, now that there's only six of them, and America doesn't like it.  It isn't until she takes a risk and Maxon's father wants her gone, does she realize just how much she truly does love the prince and how she will fight to be the one he chooses.  Now she has the King out to sabotage her even more than the three remaining girls.  America finds herself in the middle of political upheaval, trying to win a competition, help her country, and stay true to herself.

I decided to include review for both of these books together because I raced through them within a few days in order to find out what happened in the end.  I will say that The Elite was even more of the same, with America beginning to get a little more interesting.  With six girls in the competition, it became more aggravating that Maxon continued to date all these girls and America (as well as the others) was expected to sit around and wait for him.  What helped move the story along was the addition of some political and moral dilemmas America finds herself in and how she reacts towards them.  Each reaction causes more problems for her and those she loves.  But it wasn't until the last book that I really felt that this took shape and America's role in her country became solidified--even if she doesn't become queen.  Also there some surprising parts that I wasn't expecting to happen.

The most annoying parts of the book were the love triangle-ness, which somewhat diminishes within the third book, but not really.  It would be more accurate to say it just got too complicated and muddled to be a triangle anymore.  What made me enjoy the third book was how America came into her own and stuck by her beliefs in all ways that she was given a chance to do so.

I will not go on and read the other books that deal with future children of Illea.  For me, the door is closed on the Selection since I now know how this selection ended.  That's all I needed and now I can move on to another book.

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Audiobook Review: The Selection

The Selection
Kiera Cass
Performed by: Amy Rubinate
Harper Teen, 2012
Genre: YA, Romance
Source: Purchased
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

America Singer is a Five, an artist and is in love with Aspen, who is a Six.  They meet in secret and hope to one day be able to marry, but America knows her mother would never approve.  When the King and Queen announce that The Selection will soon begin, America is pressured by her family and Aspen to enter.  She does, hoping to get them off her back, but when she is picked as one of The Selected, America must leave her family, her life as a Five, and travel to the capital of Illea where she will compete against thirty five other girls from many different castes for the heart of Prince Maxon.  Although she doesn't want to, America goes because she knows it will help her family financially, planning to keep herself there as long as possible without actually vying for the prince's affection.  When she meets Prince Maxon, though, America realizes that maybe she will have to rethink her plans, but can she really compete against all these other girls, some of whom are Twos?

Illea is a country set up in a caste system, allowing people within a caste to only perform certain jobs, therefore keeping them stuck financially, except if they are able to marry up or, in rare cases, to buy their way up to the next level.  It's a horrible system and we see that immediately through America's home life.  Although she loves Aspen, who is a caste below her, she cannot let her family know this or they would stop her from seeing him.  If she were to marry him, she would become his caste.  The Selection is a process meant to appease the masses, allowing multiple girls from the lower castes to compete for the prince's love and ultimately the crown.  It's ridiculous.

I'm not sure why I read this book, honestly.  Many of my students have read it and a few friends and everyone loved it, but I kept cringing at the comparison to The Bachelor.  I cannot stand that show (sorry if you're a fan).  So why did I read it?  Peer pressure.  I opted to listen to it instead on my runs, thinking that might make it better.  I'm not sure it did because I was not a fan of the performance itself.  What I did enjoy was the buildup of whether or not America would stay and whether or not Maxon would let her. Although I am pretty sure how it's all going to end up, there is enough back and forth that I can't tell just HOW it will happen.

Some things I'm not a fan of: the love triangle.  OH MY GOSH the love triangle.  I am so annoyed by America's back and forth of Aspen to Maxon and back to Aspen, but not when Maxon is with her, then it's back to him again.  Ugh.  Plus, the whole thing where Maxon is dating multiple women at the same time, but America is forbidden to even be thinking about or communicating with someone else is so....annoying.  It truly bothers me.  And as I just finish reading the second book and am already on book three, I'm even more annoyed by all of this silliness.  Because that's what it is.  Silly.

Yet here I am, needing to find out what happens.  Wanting to know how she ends up with Maxon, because at this point (knowing there are books out already about their future children and whatnot) it's obvious that will happen.  So there is something to be said about the quality of the story because it is keeping me interested.  I do wish they had gotten someone else to read this audiobook, though.  I think I may have enjoyed it more than I did.  I chose to read  the second and third one instead of listening to them.

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