Published: April 2013 and June 2014 by HarperTeen
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Romance, Chick Lit
Pages: 336 pages and 323 pages
Format: Hardcover
The Elite: 6/10 The One: 7.5/10
This review is a little different as I am putting two reviews into one! I basically marathon-read the entire The Selection trilogy in less than a week, so to me, the storyline was fluid and straightforward. I didn't feel that making two separate reviews would be wise, so I just made one! However, because I'm fresh off the feelings, this review will mostly be a rant.
WARNING: Spoilers! Everywhere, there are spoilers. I mean, it's the middle and last book of a series, what do you expect?
These are the last two books in The Selection trilogy!
I was surprisingly delighted with this short, sweet trilogy. It's not that well written, but boy, did these characters wheedle their way into my heart. By the last book, I was just overcome with the feels.
Rant #1: Let's start with The Elite, book two. This is probably my least favorite of the bunch, simply because the intensity of the awkward love triangle heightened. It was so forced and awkward in the first place, so when Aspen and America had their little lovey moments I was pretty much screaming. And how stupid is America? Letting him into her room and wearing his bracelet and ugh. Girl, c'mon. You love Maxon. It was pretty obvious from that America was going to choose Maxon from the first book, so every time she held back from Maxon because "oh but the tree house with Aspen!" was infuriating. Oh, you're "unsure", America? Really? And the copious amount of times that America cry's is astounding. I can't deal. She goes from being a strong protagonist to breaking down like a baby because a boy was acting kind of stoic or passive... I hated that.
Oh man, though. The Maxon/America romance and it's accompanying tension was good. The dynamic of America finding out that the King abuses Maxon and her cleaning his wounds was so tender and well done. I liked the tension of America catching Maxon with Celeste and discovering his deeper relationship with Kriss. It was a good wake-up call that Maxon was still a free man, and was being wooed by more women than America.
I enjoyed how the Rebels made the atmosphere more tense and serious. Discovering that Illea and the King are tyrants was a nice immersive bit.
Overall? It wasn't a bad sequel. It's sets up the situation for The One. I loved the romance and romantic tensions, but hated a lot of the poor character arcs. Still, I enjoyed it and read it in a day.
Rant #2: Finally, the last installment of The Selection, The Elite.
Oh. The. Feels.
Okay, I'm so happy with the ending. It was perfect, albeit there were some unnecessary deaths. I do wish that the death of The Queen was more emotional. All we got was "She was gonna let me call her mom. Sad face." I wish Celeste had lived, I honestly do. I would much rather have had Marlee die or something.
Speaking of Celeste, (what a segue), most of the character arcs were either weak, predictable or nonexistent. Celeste's was my favorite one by far. Her sudden death was so crippling because I was just starting to like her!
I didn't like the stereotyping of Elise's character. I liked her quiet and stoic nature, but get this: she's Asian and her sole character goal is to bring honor to her family. Really? It definitely bugged me.
I loved the rebels. Especially the uncovering of the rebels living amongst our familiar cast of characters such as America's dad and Kriss. I wish we got more of an inside look at the inner working of the Northern Rebels. Where did they get weapons? How do they communicate to far off allies? Who trained them? How does their base function without alerting the monarch? And more. I felt that breezing over these details wasn't a good idea. I feel like the novels would have been so much more interesting and intriguing if we got to find out more about the Rebels.
The dying letters written by Mr. Singer was so emotional and well done. I sort of had an inkling that he might die, as America depended on him so much. Still, his death and parting words were so touching.
Overall, I think that The Selection is a great trilogy. It's super girly, with some dystopian elements. I found myself really enjoying it and finishing the whole series in less than a week (four days). I recommend it to anyone looking for an easy, romance read!
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