Love is terrifying, and exciting. It's exhilarating, earth-shattering, and alarming. Eadlyn Schreave knows all of these things as she's entering her final days to choose a husband, but refuses to face the vulnerability that comes will all these feelings. Like all of us, she's spent her life protecting her heart, and isn't ready to let go. Of course, her heart also comes with the weighty cost of a crown, so which boy will survive the girl and the job? The Selection series ends in a whirlwind as Eadlyn prepares for the rest of her life. After so much growth and character development, Eadlyn is a princess readers root for, because she is wholly herself. And, in the end, she makes the choice that's best for herself, because that is what's best for the country.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.
After her mother's terrifying heart attack, Princess Eadlyn Schreave decides that no matter what, her Selection will end with marriage. That's how she ends up eliminating the boys down to the Elite, the six boys who have given reason for this insular girl to let her guard down. But of course, as acting regent, her life isn't all romantic. Juggling politics and love is no easy feat, but Eadlyn makes it look easy. Naturally, Eadlyn is struggling: how will she get her people to love her? Which boy does she love? A fast-paced series ending, The Crown keeps readers hooked until the very last page.
Eadlyn's character has been such a joy to plot and understand through her two whirlwind novels and her unexpected Selection. She started out as bratty, and abrasive, a sort of main character readers might not immediately empathize with. But, throughout The Heir, we see her for who she truly is: a girl scared of disappointing anybody. This is thrilling to note as we enter The Crown, as she begins to make heartbreaking choices and as she gives up her life for the people in her country. In fact, she makes a full transformation from bratty princess to selfless queen. In the end, readers can't help cheering for her as she hugs her newly-announced fiancé. I admit, I didn't like Eadlyn all that much during my first reads, expecting her to be lovable and sweet. When that wasn't the case, I gave up on her, and didn't notice all her amazing and inspiring qualities. I wish I'd seen it before: her confidence, her poise, her determination and her transformative selflessness by the end of it all. To me, she was a character defined by growth, and showed readers that people can become stronger after impossible hardship and devastating change. Out of all the females in The Selection series, Eadlyn was the best-written, and quite possibly the most relatable in reflecting how much people learn and grow over the course of their teenage and early adult-hood years.
The first time I read this book, I gave it two stars (gasp, I know, I feel terrible about it now). Going into this read, I wanted to know why I had thought it deserved so low a rating. I started to draw parallels between America's and Eadlyn's stories. Both women ended up with unlikely men and a higher position of power than they dreamed possible. Both women suffered a family tragedy that was the catalyst for their decision making. Both women chose their unlikely companion for life despite how that choice stood in opposition of what other people could have wanted and/or did want. In a way, the plots of these two women can be charted as a full circle. But they aren't exactly the same either. I realize now that I didn't like Eadlyn's story because it wasn't exactly America's, which would have been unfair. Had Eadlyn's story been an exact replica of her parents', it would not have made for an entertaining piece of fiction that would have taught readers anything. The character-centric nature of this part of the series is what sets it apart from its romance-centric half, making these stories two halves of a whole. In some ways, the same, but in the important ways, completely different.
I was disappointed at how quickly this series was drawn to a close, to be quite honest. The Elite is narrowed down basically for Eadlyn, and by the time we reach the end, it seemed as if Eadlyn had already made up her mind on what she wanted before this sequel had began. In that way, the duology nature of Eadlyn's story felt too long and too short. The brevity of the ending (when the coronation and engagement run up right next to each other, specifically), felt rushed. I understand it -- there are no enemies like there were in the first three books, and no way to slow the story down except by drawing out the politics of the novel. Personally, I've been enchanted by the world-building in this series and how it's grown over the course of five books, and would have loved to see more. However, too much of that would have made the book seem drawn out. It seems that the lesser of two evils was chosen here with the rapid release of the ending events, and the announcement of Eadlyn's future husband. I'm not quite sure I 100% agree with it -- I think, had there been time, there might have been a more satisfactory pace to the story. But I'm glad that the novel covered all of these events, with enough room for Eadlyn's growth of character and enough suspense to keep readers going.
I keep thinking about Eadlyn's choice of husband, too, now that I've finished this book for the second time. (Here would be a good place to skip to the next paragraph if you're avoiding spoilers!) Going in, I knew who it was going to be, so I looked out for the moments in which built Eadlyn's love for him. The hints in The Heir felt obvious, as if I should have noticed them, but subtle enough to where I didn't. When I got to The Crown, I kept paying attention and, having read the ending already, knew what to expect. But what did Eadlyn's choosing of Erik truly mean? I think, in some ways, it was Eadlyn's stubbornness -- she didn't want to choose a man from the Selection and, in a way, she didn't. It is fairytale-esque, the same way Maxon and America's romance felt, but Eadlyn's had a more whirlwind feel to it (which might be attributed to the fast pace of the novel itself). But I think Eadlyn's choosing of Erik felt like a bigger statement relating to love than anyone could truly articulate in words. In fact, the best way to put it would be in understanding America's words from the very first book: I'm choosing me. That's exactly what Eadlyn's done, in an inspiring, hopeful, fearful, and heartwarming way.
Unfortunately, unlike how there are so many bonus stories relating back to the first three novels of the The Selection series, there is no such bonus content from Eadlyn's generation. Well, except this bonus epilogue. Either way, I'm disappointed Eadlyn's journey came to a close after finally having understood her character and her motivations. Especially since I'd finally started to like her! Hopefully, Cass gives us another likeable main character on par with America and Eadlyn in her new novel, The Betrothed. Stay tuned for my review of Cass's seventh novel, due to release May 5th!
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