Title: The Selection
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian Fiction
Rating: 5/5
“True love is usually the most inconvenient kind.”
In this dystopian world, every family is placed into a caste that signifies their wealth. The only way to move up is to marry someone in a caste above you or to enter The Selection. The Selection is a fierce competition where women of all castes compete against one another to win the heart of the prince and become the new princess. For most girls, being chosen to participate in The Selection is a gift, but for America Singer, it is anything but. Forced to participate, America does her best to blend in, but soon falls down a dangerous path as other participants become aware that the Prince’s attention is on her.
“I hope you find someone you can’t live without. I really do. And I hope you never have to know what it’s like to have to try and live without them.”
The Selection is the first book to a five book series. In this review, I will give my opinion for the overall series.
The series started off really strong with the first book and ended with a bang in the last one. The second book was a little slower, but it still had many exciting twists and action scenes which held my interest. The fourth book, The Heir, centers around new characters which gives the story a fresh new start and the final book wraps both stories up in a tight knit bow.
This series is great for young adult readers or anyone who enjoyed reading series such as Divergent by Veronica Roth and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. All of these series are filled with action packed scenes and romance. The idea of society being divided into groups based on wealth is also present in all three series.
As you may already suspect, The Selection has underlying themes about division of wealth and systematic oppression. Some of the girls who enter The Selection are from poor families that barely have enough funds to put food on the table, while others are from wealthy noble families that enter The Selection in hopes of gaining a new title. It is discovered early in the first book that The Selection is often rigged where a noble female always wins. The royal family only allows the other castes to attend to give the illusion that anyone has a chance of escaping their current caste. Similar to the wealth system in the United States, the rich continue to get richer and the poor continue to suffer with the illusion that everyone makes their own destiny.
“No, I’m not choosing him or you. I’m choosing me.”
Kiera Cass created a series that readers of all ages can enjoy. Each book is fairly short so you can read through the series very quickly. If you are on the fence about it, just read the first book and your decision will be made!
