The Selection [Hardcover]

Reaction before reading this book: I know I may be a sucker for falling for this cover, but look at it! I totally want to go to that party.

Reaction after reading this book: I no longer want to go to this party.

Full disclosure: I did not read this entire book. I took notes for the first 88 pages, read to page 168, and then skimmed the rest. I think reading more than half the book qualifies as giving it a fair shot. Those who do not agree are welcome to move on to other reviews without comment.

The Selection arrives with a gorgeous cover and interesting premise. What if a lottery allowed 35 teenage girls to compete for the hand of a handsome prince? I thought this might be a fun and fluffy read, so I pushed aside my initial misgivings about the names and pounced on the chance to read the ARC. Turns out, sometimes your gut is just trying to do its job, as I kept struggling with the book until I finally admitted that I didn't find a single aspect of this story that I enjoyed. Somehow I missed the early blurb that described this novel as a mash-up between the The Bachelor and The Hunger Games, which is unfortunate because the comparison to the television show is pretty spot-on. Mentioning it in the same breath as The Hunger Games is a travesty, however, since this book barely qualifies as a dystopian novel--and certainly the quality of the story, characters, themes, and writing don't come even close to comparing.

Here are some facts which may help you decide whether you want to read this book:

Character Names: Our main character's name is America Singer. Guess what she does. Her boyfriend's name is Aspen. Prince Charming's name is Prince Maxon Schreave, who must marry a "True Daughter of Iléa." Other names include Queen Amberly, King Clarkson, Tiny, Kriss, Marlee, Bariel, Gavril, Kamber, and Sosie.

Attempts to Make This Novel Dystopian: Sketchy caste system. Talk of provinces. Girls are required to wait until marriage to have sex. Infrastructure Committees. Occasional mentions of hunger and lack of makeup.

Writing: Very obvious protestations that are easily seen through. Juvenile dialogue. A lot of whispering to convey dramatic statements. A plethora of exclamation points.

Bachelor-like Elements: Contestants vying for a "perfect" guy. Appearance fees. Contracts. Gossiping. Sabotage. Tears. Eliminations. Television specials. Icky elements. But no limos and no rose ceremonies! Booo.

Most Annoying Element of All: The story ends on a cliffhanger, as if there was so much going on in this one book, it could not be contained in a single volume.

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Random Quotes:

Why did Mom have to push me so much? Wasn't she happy? Didn't she love Dad? Why wasn't this good enough for her?

"Please don't call me gorgeous. First my mom, then May, now you. It's getting on my nerves." By the way Aspen was looking at me, I could tell I wasn't helping my "I'm not pretty" case. He smiled.

Aspen was dressed in white. He looked angelic.

That was it. I slapped him. "You idiot!" I whisper-yelled at him. "I hate him! I loved you! I wanted you; all I ever wanted was you!"

"If you don't want me to be in love with you, you're going to have to stop looking so lovely."

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So. Whether you'll enjoy this book depends on whether you find any of the above details appealing. If, like me, they make you want to pull out your hair, it may be best to either try this one out at the library first or just admire the pretty cover design from a safe distance.

Putting aside the fact that this probably would have worked better as a straightforward fairy tale without the pseudo-dystopian details, as well as the annoying focus on boys boys boys being the be-all and end-all of this book, the whole thing wasn't really a very enjoyable reading experience to me, not even as mindless entertainment. Every scene, every character, and every plot development was predictable and worse yet, a cliché, and the dialogue and machinations felt painfully juvenile throughout the entire story. I almost wish this were a middle grade novel, except that there are a few too many make out scenes for that. Plus I don't think I would have enjoyed this even at the age of 8.

As always, these kinds of books are just a matter of taste. All in all, I really don't have violent feelings about The Selection the way I do with such books as The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer or Elizabeth Miles' Fury, but I'm afraid I can't say that I found very much about it that was redeeming, either.

FYI: After 24 hours of this review going live on GoodReads, some pretty horrible developments occurred. Just search for the book on that site and read the review if you're interested. I fully expect this review to be down-voted here, given all the plotting and sock puppet shenanigans associated with this book, but frankly the information in this review is something I would like to have known before I attempted to read it.

*There are minor spoilers in this review, but quite honestly, there isn't much to spoil in this book if you know anything about common sense.*

I am just going to jump into what I thought about this book, since you have probably read the synopsis already.

1. Character Names. Our three characters caught up in a hopeless love triangle are America Singer, Aspen Leger, and Prince Maxon Schreave. Speaking of which, why does the royal family have a last name? Yeah, it's all the FUTURE and stuff, but no. Just no. Other horrific names include Amberly, Clarkson, Markson, Kamber, Gavril, Mitsy, Kota, Gerad (I swear I thought that name was a typo at first), Sosie, Celeste, Emmica, and Tallulah. And no, before anyone disagrees with this complaint, a rose by any other name does NOT smell as sweet.

2. Love triangle. Love triangles are fine in YA literature, if you can make them work. Here? Well, we have two star-crossed lovers by chapter 3 already, and the third point in the triangle is added later on. All three characters' so-called "love" for each other seemed dramatic, fake, and cheesy. And boring and unnecessary.

3. Whiny narrator. America's voice, to put it lightly, stinks. By page 231, when she remarks "No wonder I'd never had any friends. I was shockingly bad at it.", I wanted to throw the book against the wall. Believe me, I would've, except I didn't want to pay $18 to the library for damaging a book already beyond repair. America sounds like a five year old. She is given what everyone else considers an amazing chance, and she wants to throw it away. She nearly does throw it away by being disrespectful and by throwing temper tantrums. America's voice was so bleeping bad that I wanted Celeste, the bully in this book, to beat her up.

4. Other characters. All the other girls competing in the Selection were carbon copies of each other, except Celeste, as previously mentioned before. The love interests were boring. I felt bad for Aspen and Maxon trying to put up with America. But then again, Aspen and Maxon were idiots themselves.

5. The dystopian world. Honestly, I'm not even sure it can be considered dystopian. For half of the book we are left in the dark about the origins of this world. Then, when /everything/ is finally /revealed/ (note the sarcasm), it is an unbelievable and unoriginal explanation. Speaking about unbelievable and unoriginal, the caste system was also describable using those two words.

6. The plot, or lack of. I am not a good plot predicter. However, even I managed to figure out what was going to happen. The answer? Nothing. Okay, fine, the number of girls goes down by 30, and America's still there. Did we all expect this? Yes, yes we did. This book's plot does not move beyond its dust jacket summary. America gets chosen. America stays in a palace. WHOOPEE.

7. The ending. There is nothing worse than a cliffhanger ending than a needless cliffhanger ending. Some cliffhanger endings may be good. But in The Selection? IT WAS AGGRAVATING. WHY, would you choose such an AWKWARD time to end? The story could /easily/ have been contained in one book. I was expecting something to happen at the end, but no. It. Just. /Ended./

8. Mini detail holes. Example: on page 38 it mentions that that Eights are the homeless and the wandering. Then, on page 39: "...and turned the TV to the public access channel. It was the one channel you didn't have to pay to have, so even the Eights could get it if they had a TV." Excuse me? Didn't you just tell me that the Eights are freaking homeless people? I think a TV is not high on their list of priorities, yes?

9. Bad writing. Example: on page 15: "And that was bad." Oh my goodness. And that was bad? *Headdesk* Please, Kiera Cass, are you a writer? And then on page 107 America uses a word like acquiesced. I'm not even sure I can explain how terrible this is. Oh, and you know how lots of authors end chapters with action cliffhangers? Well, here Ms. Cass ends SO. MANY. CHAPTERS. with America wishing she had Aspen/Maxon. Please excuse me while I go and facepalm myself repeatedly.

10. This book was boring in general. Usually, dystopian reads fly by very quickly for me, but not this one. A snail was faster than the pace of this book. Nothing was interesting. Whatever interesting premise it had fell flat.

Oh, and does anyone want icing on their cake? If so, I present to you, reason number 11: The author of this book voted down negative reviews of this book. For anyone who wants more details, look for Wendy Darling's review (it should be the most helpful one), and read the last paragraph if you haven't done so already. Frankly, I don't care if the author makes 1,000 accounts and votes this review down. It'll just prove my point. So, Ms. Cass, feel free to do so.

Although my life thus far has been short, I have read many, many books. There are only two books that I have ever read that I would give one star: Twilight, and this book. So maybe The Selection can be the heir to the Twilight throne. And I don't mean that as a compliment.

--reviewed by a teenager.

I LOVED The Selection! It was the prefect mix of Hunger Games, The Bachelor and my obsession with the royal family! First let me say that this book has the MOST beautiful cover I have ever seen! Huge props to whoever created this masterpiece of a cover..Without even reading the synopsis...the cover IMMEDIATELY grabs you!! Oh and The Tiffany blue with the little tiara, *LOVE*!!!

The reader finds themselves in a future world where the United States no longer exists and a royal family now rules the country know as Illea. The people are categorized into groups numbered One through Eight, with One being the highest. The main character, America, is a Five and earns her living by signing and playing musical instruments. Their family often goes hungry and gets by on very little. America knows that her mother wants nothing but the best for her which means marrying a man ranked higher than a Five. However, America finds herself in love with a Six named Aspen. Immediately the reader wants them to find a way to be together!

The Prince is now of the age to find a wife and the royal family decides to have a selection competition. All the young ladies who were eligible wasted no time entering their name for the selection. America was pressured by her family and Aspen to enter the competition. She agreed only because she thought she would never be picked for the top 35! When she heard her name called she was shocked! She had made it into the selection and would be leaving her family to live in the castle with Prince Maxon.

The way of life at the castle surprises America in more ways than one. This is when the reader starts feeling torn, Team Maxon or Team Aspen! Right now I am leaning toward Team Maxon, because I think America would make a wonderful Princess and be able to help her country! Kiera Cass has created a world that you just totally divulge yourself into...I loved every aspect of the story.. I cannot wait for The Elite!!!!!! I will be reading it ASAP! I give The Selection 5 plus stars!!!