The Selection by Kiera Cass

Amazon affiliate link

My daughter pushed this book on me. As soon as she finished it, she went and bought all four books in the series for her Kindle and read them in two days. She loves the tv show The Bachelor/ette, so I can see why she loves this book.

Mix up manufactured romantic competition of The Bachelor with the oppressive governmental control of the Capitol from The Hunger Games and you can begin to imagine the world that America Singer lives in. Every time a royal prince comes of age to marry, he must select his wife from contestants drawn from the common people of the districts of the future country in what used to be the United States. All contestants must live in the castle and have plenty of opportunities to mingle with each other and the prince. Winning the prince’s heart automatically brings the girl and her famly to the top social class of Ones.

Society is strictly stratified and movement between the numbered classes is limited. Even though America’s family struggles as Fives (artists), America loves music–singing and playing instruments. However, she is in love with a neighboring Six (servant class), and thinks she is willing to give up her slight status as a five in order to marry him.

America wants nothing to do with the contest to find a princess, but she reluctantly enters at the insistance of her mother and her boyfriend. To her surprise, she is the winner for her district and heads to the Capital to meet the prince. Even though she makes it clear to the prince that she is only there to help her familiy (they receive a stipend for each week she remains in the competition), Prince Maxim is quite taken with her. I imagine he finds her blunt honesty quite refreshing. And he is open to learning more about the plight of the people throughout his country.

I enjoyed the story, but was not as caught up in it as she was (though I finished the book in less than a day.) I liked America , but I think I’m getting tired of the love triangles. I enjoyed the story much better before love interest #1 showed back up. After dumping her, the first boyfriend Aspen shows back up as a royal guard (yep, he got called up by the draft.) I wish he would have stayed out of the picture so America could pursue other avenues of thought.

There are several interesting ideas Kiera Cass could explore–and that I want to know more about. What will Prince Maxim do about the inequality throughout the kingdom? Who are the different bands of rebels that attack the kingdom and what do they want? Why are there no history books? I hope the rest of the series explores these issues more than which guy America should end up with. I suppose it’s too much to ask that she be happy with herself?

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.

Leave a Reply