Author: Kiera Cass
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Pages: 339
Publication Date: 4/24/2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
★★★★☆
The first book in the captivating, #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series! Discover a breathless fairy-tale romance with swoon-worthy characters, glittering gowns, fierce intrigue, and a dystopian world that will captivate readers who loved Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Ally Condie’s Matched, and Lauren Oliver’s Delirium.
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, 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, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want.
Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.
There's a formula for these sorts of books. Take one part inexperienced author, add a dash of cloudy* female protagonist, combine together with a "dystopian" setting, and voila! You have a young adult "dystopian" story.
I'd like to say that I'm not being fair, especially considering how much I enjoyed this book and how much effort I'm putting into not being influenced by the opinions of others, but that's how I feel about this book.
It's how I feel about a lot of these young adult fantasies.
I need to take a moment to explain why I use "dystopian" in quotes in this case. The setting of The Selection is futuristic and set in a time when the people of North America no longer have the privileges that we currently enjoy.
It rides on the coattails of stories such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Delirium. I honestly can't blame the author for wanting to take advantage of the popularity of these stories. Considering how much I love dystopian settings, I read this book precisely for that reason.
I'm a sucker for a good dystopia.
There's two problems with The Selection, if you're a fan of dystopian stories.
The first is that the setting isn't believable. As with most of these teen dystopias, this is not a story that could happen. I'm not going to discuss my personal political views, but I will establish that there are some wonderful dystopian stories written for adults that are believable, things that could actually happen.
Most of the popular teen dystopian stories would never happen in the real world. It does not, in my opinion, mean that they are not dystopias, only that they exist within the realm of pure fantasy.
The other problem with calling The Selection a dystopia is that it lacks some of the necessary components. Dividing the people by caste lacks the "oomph" of the oppression demonstrated in other books in its category.
What I'm trying to say is that the society of The Selection just isn't that bad, and the story takes place outside of it for the majority of the story.
You need to know this if you're selecting a story based on its genre. Readers who are looking for good dystopian stories may want to give this one a pass.
Or maybe not, because I was looking for a good dystopian story.
What The Selection is is a good story, period. There are a lot of things wrong with this book. More things wrong than right, if I'm honest with you. But the story captivated me in spite of those things.
There's not a lot to say about what I loved about this book. Suffice it to say that the story pulled me through the novel from start to finish in a single day. That means something, at least to me.
If you love a good story and you can overlook a lot of flaws, I think that you'll probably like this book.
