The Selection by Kiera Cass is absolutely one of my favorite books ever! It rank it among The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth and the Maze Runner Series by James Dashner. The Selection was recommended to me by one of my friends. She was on the second or third book of the series and had thoroughly enjoyed the series. When I saw The Selection in my English teacher’s classroom, I decided I would give it a go. Once I started the book, it was hard to put it down. I never wanted to though. I would read it in the beginning of class until the bell rang, sometimes during class, and before the bell rang to move on to my next class. I was immediately hooked when I started reading the Selection because it had so many details and Dystopian is one of my favorite genres to read.
The story is set in a dystopian society where every person is characterized by a number: one through eight. One’s where royalty and Eight’s were among the poorest homeless people. The main character, America, is a five. The jobs of Five’s are art, singing, and instruments. America is amazing at singing and she can play many instruments. One day, American receives a letter in the mail stating that she is eligible to apply for the Selection. The Selection is a groups of 35 girls that are in a competition for Prince Maxon’s heart because he has come of age. America agrees to fill out the form even though she has a boyfriend names Maxon.
Astonishingly, America is chosen to compete out of hundreds of girls who applied. America is immediately a star. She now wears fancy dresses and jewelry and sleeps in a huge room. America makes friends with Prince Maxon and they like to talk to each other about what they lives are about and many other things.
The book is about the ladies competing for Prince Maxon’s heart. America is the odd out from the crowd because she stands up for what she believes in and she is not afraid to do what she thinks is best. These books are written so well!
SPOILER: DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO READ THE SELECTION FOR THE FIRST TIME.
This book made me mostly happy and sometimes not that happy. It made me happy when Maxon kissed America and it made me unhappy when they were in a fight and were mad at each other. They always made up and this makes me happy too. This book made me cringe because when Maxon first kisses America. I was astonished. I knew that Maxon and America would fall in love. I just knew it because Maxon said that he would keep America until the very end. I really like how their relationship comes about. America tells him what it’s like to be a five; things he never knew, such as hunger. When she told him to imagine himself laying in bed with his wife, whoever it ended up to be, not being able to fall asleep because he hears her stomach growling, it made me shiver and speechless. This was graphic and it made me think about that if I was starving too. Maxon was obviously upset by this. He had actually felt what it was like to be a five. American is sorry and tries to back it up because she hadn’t wanted to upset him. I also especially enjoy the part where Maxon tells America that he knows how he feels about her and that he would end the selection right then and there if she wanted. But America wasn’t ready. She needed to decide if she wanted Aspen or if she wanted Maxon. Being with Aspen would make her a six and she would risk her children starving and possibly a hard life. Being with Maxon would make her princess and have lots of princess duties. She would also have maids and dresses and jewelry and everything she could ever want. She would also be photographed and recorded. She would have to worry about attacks on the palace being safe outside. But with both, she would have love. And that’s all that matters right? The second book, The Elite is America getting closer to the end of The Selection and deciding who she wants: Aspen or Maxon. These books are written so well!