The Selection
Ratings443
Average rating3.7
This book has a real undertone of The Hunger Games about it - future society changed by war in which the society has been segregated. A young girl is selected from her village to compete in a competition which could end her family's struggle for food and survival.
Sounding familiar but the similarities didn't end there, girl is in love with a boy from her village but is whisked away by a team who make her over in preparation for the competition. This competition however is not a fight to the death but one to decide whom the Prince of the Kingdom will marry and 37 girls need to vie for his hand.
I really loved this book probably because it had all the strong plot lines that made me love The Hunger Games so much. I liked America the lead character and loved the whole love triangle between America, her first love Aspen and Prince Maxon. I'm going Team Maxon!!
A set of 3 books in the series will see the story to it's conclusion, with book 2 ‘The Elite' being available now and 3 still to be published. I cannot wait for more but at £1.99 I felt this book was worth it but I'm not sure the 2nd is worth its current price tag of £4.98 - I will be waiting a while to see if it drops just a little
Incredibly trite. Good for tweens who still love fairy tales but are taking an interest in fashion and love triangles. For anyone else you've got to be pretty bored.
There are little scraps of distopian future, reality show, and politics tropes and more focus on any of those could have made it more interesting but mostly it's all about fashion, bland friendships, and PG makeout scenes. The narrator dodges saying words like “sex” or “rape” but the topics come up multiple times.
I listened to the audiobook, which is incredibly lackluster. The reader has just one “male” voice, so it can get confusing on the few occasions two males are actually interacting. Her “female” voice is her normal speaking voice, so there's no variation there. Spoken aloud, the names of the two love interests, Maxon and Aspen, are similar enough that I got confused several times.
ik moet dit boek even goed late bezinken. ik weet niet zo goed wat ik ervan moet vinden.
Amazing start to the series. I really enjoyed the different characters and learning about them. America is definitely a strong main character and I loved reading about her relationships with different characters in the book, especially Marlee and Maxon.
Not the best quality book- but was a fun read! The plot isn't perfect and I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters more deeply. But I thought it was a really interesting idea and it kept my attention enough that I want to read the sequels!
Each time a Prince comes of age, a Selection occurs, to find the Prince a wife from a member of the public. America Singer is a seventeen year old girl who is a Five. She never wanted to be Selected, and when she was, it changes everything.
Overall, this book wasn't too bad. It was quite different, at least, not exactly the same as some of the other ones out there. The romance in the book drags on for an awful long time though. I've just finished the third book and it dragged on throughout that one as well! Despite that, I enjoyed the plot. America is a really down-to-Earth character that, despite her circumstances, is somehow relatable, even though her name is annoying as hell.
Yet again, we have a YA book with a love triangle! How unique! The love triangle really wasn't necessary. It didn't add anything to the plot. The romance was having enough trouble as it was without a love triangle!
I'm not really sure why I went on to read the rest of the books. I wouldn't really recommend anyone else to read it, unless you want one of those stories where the love is awfully annoying and eye-roll worthy.
I have read this book many times. It's an immensely frustrating book to read. I love the main plot and the premise, but fuck is America a horrible character, she is constantly unsure of literal facts, is the most doubtful and unrelatable character in this entire book. And Aspen is a giant fucking dick. I am really only reading this for Maxin over and over.
Its a very conflicting opinion to have but I do enjoy this book a lot.
To be totally honest, I went into this book expecting to hate every word of it. Lately it seems that every popular YA book is either dystopian, fantasy, or a combination of the two. The Selection just seemed like yet another play on a Hunger Games type story; this one just added The Bachelor into the mix. And in regards to that assumption and pretty much all the others I made, I was correct. The characters had ridiculous names, one dimensional personalities, and the story was absolutely typical. Now I know that I probably shouldn't have even read it because of all the assumptions I make about popular dystopian YA, but this one had a gorgeous cover and a few of my reader friends love the series so I thought I'd give it a shot. It lived up to all my low expectations BUT I couldn't put it down. In the past I have really struggled with finishing some YA dystopia (i.e. The Maze Runner) but this one I finished in a day, only pausing to get a drink or a bathroom break. I'm not sure why I was so enthralled in it considering my previous opinions, but I didn't hate the characters despite their flat personalities and struggle with being just too beautiful and kind. I somehow felt a connection with them and although it was predictable, still wanted to see what happened next. I actually really enjoyed reading the book, the imagery was lovely, as well as Cass's writing style. I plan on reading The Elite and I'm anxious to see what happens with the rebels more than anything. What are they looking for??
Read this because of... https://thewritingcrafter.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/the-selection/
Ahh, Loved this..
Oh, I just love Maxon and America. Their kind of love, but also a really close friendship is so cute and awkward at the same time. I only hate America for keeping Maxon in the dark for so long, even though he made it all pretty clear. But the book is really good. I love Kiera's writing and I adore her for her writing!
Let me start off by saying, this is not a good book. It is NOT original, imaginative, surprising, or thought provoking.
However, I was really entertained. I was interested and am reading the second book, which is a pretty good indicator that I enjoyed it. This book IS a quick, fun, light read and if you are looking for that, read this book.
“I hope you find someone you can't live without.I really do. And I hope you never have to know what it's like to have to try and live without them.”
Read this during Christmas time and it was a welcome break from all those cheesy Christmas romances I have tried to read and dnfed for the past few days. I loved most of the characters in the book and even tho America annoyed me at times I was able to get past that:)
“It's always the fear of looking stupid that stops you from being awesome.”
I loved all the vibes of the various dresses, the food and the palace❤️❤️
“No, I'm not choosing him or you. I'm choosing me.”
And the growing romance was amazing, but I hated the fact that Aspen appeared as a guard ughhh why why whyyyyy America and Maxon were getting along well and Aspen had to come and become a guard ughhh I was sooo freaking mad coz of this!!!!!!!
I read this in a day and cant wait to read the books from d rest of the series!!
Originally read May 6,2012.
I read all the negative comments after I purchased this book, so I didn't think I was that excited to read it anymore. I thought I had just wasted my money. However, I loved this book! I don't exactly know what drew me in so much but when I picked it up on Saturday night I couldn't stop reading. more to come...
Originally read May 6,2012.
Second reading: May 2013
Dit was een reread voor mij en nog steeds ben ik net zo hiped over de serie als de eerste keer dat ik het las. Heel makkelijk weg te lezen en een geweldig verhaal met leuke personages!
This story is like the “Bachelor” meets “Hunger Games”. Its sort of painful yet still addictive.
Kind of like the bachelor for teenagers except he didn't pick the winner by the end of this book, lol. Now I really want to read the rest of the books to find out what happens.
I'm so impressed by this book! I was unsure whether I was going to think it was way too cheesy or cliché, but I'm actually just really happy with it! I couldn't stop reading once the Selection started!
I didn't like that America was already in a happy relationship, when she was shipped of to the Selection, but I have a theory of how it all will turn out, so I'm not taking it too hard, except for the fact that I just KNOW it will create problems in the next books. Typical.
This book is pretty terrible, but i have so much fun reading that is a shame give him the same rating that i give to others pretty terrible book.
Definitly will read all the trilogy (but truly don't recomend to anybody)
4 stars I'm surprised I liked this as much, and I feel that I am way too invested in this whole selection competition thing. It's like I'm suddenly 15 again, watching America's Next Top Model. I'm kind of ashamed, but also not. It's different than other dystopian series, but it's also really predictable and love triangles, can we not anymore? America is a great protagonist though. I love how smart and strong she is and she has such a good heart. The Prince ain't bad either, I suppose.
edit: this review aged like milk lmao no
My heart.. I loved this book since the second I picked it up. It was an easy read but I had to pause just to take it all in. I love Maxon and America so much. I don't know why people dislike America she is so genuine, so what if she had feelings for Maxon too. Aspen broke up with her and hurt her. She didn't expect to fall for Maxon but it happened. I SHIP SOOOOOO HARD LIKE MY BABIES I CRY
Not going to lie, I kind of rushed into this one. I barely read the synopsis before jumping right into it, mostly because of the pretty cover. Yes, I judged a book by its cover and was quite disappointed. Maybe it's because I'm not a young adult anymore, I don't know, but this book seemed very childish to me. That's not to say I don't enjoy the Young Adult genre immensely, because I do, but this one fell extremely short for me. It seemed many people on my friend's list were reading it and have liked it and I decided to give it a chance for this exact reason.
First of, am I the only one who was extremely annoyed by all the grammar and spelling mistakes I found in this rather short book? I couldn't even believe my eyes, I thought the proofreaders would have done a better job before putting this book out to be published. This issue is rather unforgivable for me because there's nothing that ruins a book more for me than spelling mistakes and improper grammar.
Further on, the writing, in my opinion, was overly simplistic. Like so simplistic that I thought the vocabulary was extremely limited and this book should have been geared toward teens and preteens as opposed to young adults.
The whole fairy-tale, “poor-girl-comes-in-and-makes-the-prince-fall-in-love-with-her plot” was just too naive and uncomplicated for me. I love messed up story lines, the more fucked up, the better. But this one was rather predictable and although once she had the love-triangle going I thought there might be hope yet, once it was clear who she was going to choose, I lost all interest and faith in this book completely.
It also very much bothered me that America, who apparently has been in love with Aspen for over two years or so, just gave up on the relationship so easily, pretty much as soon as she saw Maxon and he started taking an interest in her. I mean, if she actually truly loved him I don't think it would have been so easy for her to just move on and take into consideration the fact that she might start developing feelings for Maxon. I guess that's just from experience but that part wasn't realistic to me. It's like Cass was trying really hard to fit everything together perfectly and therefore her heroine fell short in remaining true to herself, acting instead like any other naive girl who is swept of her feet by the grandiosity of the situation she is thrust upon. I had bigger expectations from America, especially since she seemed different and had known more of life than the other girls.
Also, the book itself was a little too much like a soap opera for me. I mean non of the problems that America encountered in this book were very heart-breaking in any way. Except for Aspen breaking up with her, the rest of it was just girls trying to get Maxon's attention in every superficial way possible. I also didn't like America acting so “whorish” with both Maxon and Aspen (at the same time!), especially because of her love for Aspen that she kept mentioning all throughout the book. It seemed to me that America changed as soon as she arrived at the castle and met handsome Prince Maxon and then was also swept away by the beautiful gowns, grandiose setting and delicious food/entertainment.
This book was definitely not my cup of tea, although I can see younger kids reading this book and enjoying it. Personally, I prefer books that are a little deeper and make me think and ponder long after the book is done. Of course, I did give the next book in this series a chance, especially because it was rather short and a very easy read, although my expectations were much lower this time around.