The Selection is my go-to beach read. It's fun, it's light -- what else do you need? In bright beach lighting, this is exactly the kind of novel I can finish with maximum enjoyment within a day so I can finish the whole series before the vacation ends. The pages of my copies are practically yellow with how many times I've read it (and how many times my sister has read it). Why is that? Why does a book with only average writing and average world-building have millions of dedicated readers, myself included? I've been thinking a lot about these questions before I sat down to write this review, and I think I've found the answer: the ease of reading that comes with the average prose and uncomplicated world lets the relatability of the characters shine, so we are finally able to fall in love with a prince, too. I would describe this novel as the combination of The Bachelor's contestant format, Divergent's dystopian caste-type system, and characters reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice's favorites. In this novel, every girl who has ever dreamed of falling in love with a prince can, and the blend of all of these characteristics makes it easy to be swept up into the seductions and secrets of Illéa.Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author, is the author of the Selection series which has gained a wide fanbase and is soon to be adapted for the screen. Cass graduated from Radford University with a B.S. in History. After growing up in South Carolina, she now lives in Virginia with her husband and two kids. In addition to the Selection series, Cass has written a standalone fantasy novel, The Siren, and her highly awaited seventh novel, The Betrothed, is out on May 5th. If you're interested in more of my reviews of Kiera Cass's work, you can find them all here.
The Selection begins with America Singer, your average teen girl who sings and performs for a living, as designated by her caste status as a Five. America is quite happy as a Five -- she loves playing her violin and singing -- and wants nothing to do with The Selection. This Bachelor-like process is how the prince of Illéa will chose his future wife, the future queen. But America doesn't want Prince Maxon, unlike the thousands of girls in Illéa; she has secret plans to marry her long-time love, Aspen, a Six. But when America's family pushes her to apply, she ends up at the castle with a broken heart. There, she meets Prince Maxon and the other Selected girls, slowly realizing that the life she had planned might not match the future she could obtain.
A lot of the characters in this novel are reminiscent of Jane Austen's beloved characters in Pride and Prejudice. I first caught this parallel when America's mother, Mrs. Singer, pushes her daughter to apply for The Selection -- America comments that her mother has always wanted her to "marry up." I laughed, thinking about Mrs. Bennett, and wondered if this parallel was intentional. I began to look at the other characters, most notably our protagonist. America reminds me strongly of Elizabeth, a female character with prejudices and strong individualistic traits. Both of these characters' prejudices are their downfalls and their individualities are their triumphs. America is against the Selection, and judges Maxon from his silent television appearances as someone no one could ever want to marry. Sounds just like Elizabeth, no? America's character arc resembles that of Elizabeth's, where halfway through she realizes her mistake, and makes it clear to Maxon how she feels at the book's ending. Pride and Prejudice does not have a sequel, so one can only guess at how America's character will continue to grow over the next two books, but I imagine I will continue to find complements between Elizabeth and America. Writing a character reminiscent of a beloved Austen character gives Cass some points, in my opinion. It felt like Cass was bringing back all that was good and bad of Elizabeth and giving her a new story, the same way other authors bring fairytales to life. If this parallel was intentional, I enjoyed and applaud it.
Something I wanted more out of, on the other hand, was the world-building of Illéa. After reading other recently published fantasy novels (Woven in Moonlight, Chain of Gold, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January to name a few), I was a little disappointed to note that the world-building of The Selection wasn't as up-to-par with these ones, even though The Selection series is technically a dystopia. The world itself felt so vast -- a caste system with a monarchy and rebels all within a country that vaguely felt like a torn-up United States -- but details and stories were only spared during the history lessons the Selected received and a few small yet notable conversations America had with Maxon. The Selection process hinges on the tradition of this new country -- why not go more in depth about the caste system, or the history of the nation? My only guess is that, like other dystopian trilogies, the first book is dedicated to getting you invested in the story and the character. In this, Cass succeeds. With the sparse details and stories we are given, we can draw just enough parallels between Illéa and our present day world to be curious, so at the end of the novel we're really left wondering what America will do. Readers could benefit from more explanation about why Illéa is the way it is, which is something Cass does address (if I remember correctly) in later novels of the series. Illéa, for now, remains uncomplicated, on the brink of becoming complex. We still have two more novels before it can fully unfold.
I have mentioned before the average prose. There are a lot of great benefits to average prose: it's easy to fall into the writing and consume the story faster; readers don't get tripped up by long, descriptive sentences or complicated diction; and average prose lets other parts of a story shine (say, plot and characters). There are some absolutely fantastic one liners (such as when America says, "I'm choosing me" and every girl who's read this book squeals because who doesn't love that?). There are also some really exciting scenes, like the one featured as a sneak peak on the literal first page. When someone says "average writing" it could be meant as a critique, but sometimes, average writing is what a novel needs. Maybe it's just that dystopia and writers (and dystopia writers) have grown into more complicated descriptions and a more diverse use of language, so looking back on this old favorite makes it stand out as "mundane." Readers have grown to expect prose that will wow them, along with stunning characters, complicated plots and a whole host of other "elevated" story elements. But I'm going to argue that the prose of this novel works in its favor. It can attract loads of readers, and draw older readers back time and time again.
For now, I'm excited to see where the series will grow from here. Even though it's my nth time reading this series, I've never read it with a critical eye, and can't remember everything (do you sometimes try to forget the middle of parts of books so you can be surprised over and over again?). America's adventure continues in The Elite, in which the group of 35 girls has been narrowed down to the Elite as Maxon gets closer to making his decision. I'm excited to look for America's character growth, a hopefully increasingly complex description and understanding of Illéa, and the potential for elevated prose (or even the steady maintenance of average prose and how it works in this series favor). The important thing to remember is that while some of these traits may sound like critiques, they're really truly not. Because, as I've mentioned before, I've read this series so many times and always fall in love with it. And, most importantly, I will continue to reread this series again and again (preferably on a beach, under the sun).
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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