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ailendb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gun violence and Death of parent
sienna1508's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Classism
kallio08's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence
emilia_18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Death of parent
kate_drumm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.25
This series follows our protagonist, America Singer, as she gets selected for a Bachelor-esque competition to win Prince Maxon's heart in the dystopian world of Illea. To complicate matters, she is still in love with her ex, Aspen, who dumped her over his misogynistic ideas of love and providing, and (of course) she's poor.
Firstly, America herself: This girl's name is AMERICA, no really, like the country, SINGER. And guess what her job is. That's right, singing. Throughout the entire series, America is trying to be the not-like-other-girls 'quirky' option for the prince, who of course doesn't like him at the start, wants to be friends, and then falls deeply and obviously in love with him, confused about every one of these feelings all the way. She spends two-thirds of the series confused and needing "time", and the other third expressing every feeling and deep dark secret she has to whoever will listen.
Stupid character names and one-dimensional characters: Yes I know it's been said before, but who names their child, never mind their character 'Tiny', 'Marlee' or 'Aspen'?? I'm aware it's a dystopia and strange character names come with the territory, but seriously, there's a limit, and I think 'Kotor' crosses it a tad too far. Besides the atrocious names, the characters themselves have zero development or dimension. You have the standard Mean Girl, the Quirky Protagonist, the Devoted Best Friend, and the Always Willing to Serve Maids. And this almost never changes.
The plot, or lack thereof: The general plot outline of this series is obvious, America goes to the palace and tries to win Maxon's heart as the oh-so-loveable prince sorts through all the girls to try and pick a wife. However, Cass tries to include so many subplots and provides no explanation of them nor context as to how they fit into the wider storyline or world.
Misogyny: The series is FILLED TO THE BRIM with misogyny, yet it's never addressed and is even accepted. America is told that all girls are out to backstab each other, and just accepts this as fact and assumes she will be betrayed by the other Selected girls. America has 2 sisters who seem to have always been perfectly lovely and kind to her, yet she just follows the dreadful idea that all girls are horrible people. The Selected are treated as Maxon's property, who must not be with anyone other than Maxon, even though he can go around and do whatever he likes with the group of about 20 girls. They're all expected to spend extended amounts of time in the "Women's Room", reading magazines, drinking tea, and having mild and pleasant conversations with each other, waiting for Maxon to ask them on a date. This seems like an exceptionally misogynistic and boring way to pass the time, and instead of commenting on this, Cass just treats it as what's expected.
No chemistry between the love interests: To be honest, I've had more chemistry with my maths textbook than either of the main couples in this series have had with each other. Their conversations seem dry and their banter is non-existent. I found it really difficult to root for America and Maxon when I just felt there was NOTHING between them.
Worldbuilding: Cass' worldbuilding is HORRIFIC. We're told that it's a dystopia with Castes, and that the lower Castes (5-8) are poor and often go hungry. However, America (a Five) has her own room, a refrigerator AND a television, and gets popcorn to watch her movies with. This doesn't really paint the picture of the poor starving girl on the verge of homelessness. And it all could have been avoided with some simple explanation. There's also nothing about what kind of area America (or anyone for that matter) lives in: suburbs, rural areas, the middle of a remote forest, who knows?
As for the dystopian world itself, apparently China invaded America long ago after America couldn't pay China the money it owed. As if China was going to invade, sail on over, and just find a secret stockpile of gold bars hidden in the bottom of the White House that they were pretending didn't exist or something. And when China can't find their precious money, they rename the country the American States of China (eye roll, I know) and uses the American people as labour. But then, just to keep things interesting Russia gets involved, trying to fight a war on two fronts. (Which are never specified by the way, so we just have to assume Cass means America and China.) But as we've all learnt from the history classes Cass apparently never took, (seriously, maybe if she'd gone to a history class she'd know that the way she wrote this country's history is preposterous) you should never fight a war on two fronts. While Russia and China are fighting amongst themselves like a couple of spoiled two-year-olds, a wealthy old man decides to just declare himself the new ruler and rename the country AFTER HIMSELF.
Problematic ideas of love: Maxon declares that he wants a wife for ILLEA to love, and to be HIS companion and HIS confidante. At no point does anyone question whether he would like to become someone's confidante or someone's companion. Even putting aside all the public figure responsibilities of the princess role (obviously she has to be good for Illea and be decent at diplomacy), surely the Selected girls would like him to be their husband as well? Why does everything in the marriage have to be for him?
Dialogue: The dialogue in this series has to be some of the worst ever written. There is no tension at all, even when characters are arguing or keeping secrets.
Overall, this series could have been a really well-written and developed commentary on misogyny and classism in a dystopian, Caste-based and monarchial society. With fleshed-out characters and a better plotline, Cass could have really had something. Unfortunately, her writing ensures none of that exists. I would say it's written for primary schoolers, but the sexual content erases that as a viable option. I still don't know how she managed to create 3 main books out of something that could have so easily been one 300-page novel. The only reason I would encourage you to read this is so you can laugh about it with your friends and know what not to do if you write yourself.
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual content
emilyandherroomofbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
WHY DID SHE KILL CELESTE IN ONE SENTENCE THEN THAT WAS IT-
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
his_fav_bookworm11's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Violence and Death of parent
wet_towlette's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
lisa_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Yes, I know that there are even more books about before the Selection and after the Selection and who knows.. maybe I will read them one day but right now I think I'm done with this series. In a good way though!
I enjoyed the ending and I liked it even though I still believe that this series could have been way shorter and it obviously has many flaws. The world building was weak and there are many plot holes. Many things are never really explained and some parts if the story are not well thought through.
It's definitely not a masterpiece but that did not make me enjoy it less. It felt old and made me feel kind of nostalgic even though I have never read it before. I liked it and it was a cute enough romance.
My rating is 4 stars even though rationally it is not as good as most other books I have rated 4 stars but since I did enjoy it I don't want to give it less.
I still don't particularly care about all the characters and I thought it was really strange how the author just killed so many off for plot convenience in the end.
Maxon needed to be king so obviously his parents die, Anne had a crush on Aspen but he chose Mary so obviously she dies and Celeste was a bad person and even though she is now redeemed she still has to pay for what she did and dies.
I guess I just wish America was a bit more independent and not so much a 'not-like-other-girls' girl.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
gothmiku's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Confinement and Classism
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy