By Tera Kinsman
Hey, everybody! It’s time for another YA book review! So far, I’ve reviewed the first three books in The Selection series by Kiera Cass. (If you want to read these reviews, click here for The Selection, here for The Elite, and here for The One.)
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| Image courtesy of HarperCollins |
Book Summary from
Publisher:
“Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about
how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the
Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon – and they lived happily ever
after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no
interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she’d put off marriage
for as long as possible.
But a princess’s life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn
can’t escape her very own Selection – no matter how fervently she protests.
Eadlyn doesn’t expect her
story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just
capture Eadlyn’s heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of
her … and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible
as she’s always thought.”
My Summary and
Thoughts:
Eadlyn Schreave is not an average eighteen-year old girl. As
the daughter of King Maxon and Queen America, she has been trained her whole
life to become the next ruler of Illéa. This means, among her many other
duties, she is expected to marry and produce an heir. And she isn’t happy about
it.
Twenty years ago, her father’s first act as king was to
dissolve the caste system that had been the backbone of Illéa’s society from
the beginning. At first, people rejoiced in the new era of equality. Without
the old, unfair labels, people were free to be whoever they wanted to be. But
now, people are rioting, and the country’s leaders don’t know why. They’d
phased the castes out gradually to give people time to adjust, and it had
seemed that the country had done so happily. But, prejudice can still be found,
and old caste labels still limit people.
Eadlyn’s parents finally come up with a solution – one that
they see as ingenious and she sees as insane – for Eadlyn to have her own
Selection. They see it as an opportunity to give the people something to
celebrate and give them time to think of a way to defuse the tensions, as well
as a way to do something wonderful for Eadlyn, to give her the chance to fall
in love. Eadlyn sees it as little better than marrying her off for an alliance
(something her parents promised they would never do) and rather pointless in
the end. She’s not the type of girl to fall in love, and her parents can’t
force people to be fair and let prejudices fade.
So, she negotiates. She agrees to go through with the
Selection on one condition: If she hasn’t found a suitable prince in three
months, she doesn’t have to get married. This leaves her a perfect loophole, or
so she thinks. She’ll just scare her suitors off, intimidate them into leaving,
and then get on with her life. But some of the suitors begin to find their way
past the walls she’s put up and into her heart. Will she fall in love after
all?
I’m so glad that Kiera Cass chose to continue the Selection
series, because I love this series more with every book. This time, we get to
see the Selection not from the viewpoint of the Selected, but from the Selector
herself. Eadlyn is a strong and sassy girl, and quite often a hilarious
narrator. She can be frustrating at times, but you care for her anyway. And the
romance is this book is perfect and exasperating all at once. In the first
three books, I knew exactly who I wanted to end up together. But The Heir leaves no clues as to who
Eadlyn will choose, and I can’t decide any more than she can. There are so many
new characters to love, and the suitors are part of that. And the stakes are
just as high for Eadlyn as they were for America. Eadlyn’s world is changing
more everyday. Some changes are good, and she may gain the love of her life.
Some changes are terrifying, and she may lose the people she’s always loved.
Happily Ever After, a
collection of all four Selection novellas and bonus materials, is coming out in
October of this year, so hopefully, we’ll have a review of that soon!
Comments! If you
were the prince or princess of Illéa, would you want a Selection to be hosted,
or would you want to try to fall in love on your own? Let me know in the
comments!
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