The short version of this review goes something like UGH WHY. I NEED MORE.
Here’s the formal version:
Many girls dream of being princess at some point. In Kiera Cass’s popular series, there is a competition going on to marry the prince and win the crown. I joined the fandom late, falling hopelessly for the first book, BUT…
The Elite left me reeling.
I find myself in an awkward position as a loyal reader: I love the Selection series, but I do not love the main character, America Singer.
Something about this book kept me reading regardless to how angry it made me. The Elite has a vivid, magical feel, as if someone took a classic faery tale and dropped it in an explosive dystopian universe.
I loved the first book more than I liked The Elite, but still couldn’t put this book down.
If you don’t like spoilers, stop reading now. Here’s why The Elite made me so angry.
America’s finding it impossible to decide whether she wants Prince Maxon or her ex-boyfriend, Aspen. Yet she does stupid things out of jealousy when Maxon notices her keeping a distance. She can’t stand to see Maxon talk to the other girls in the palace, girls who are only there because she won’t tell him she loves him. Literally in the first chapter he offers to put an end to the whole Selection process and choose her. It’s like she brought all this pain on herself, but she’s blaming other people.
Perhaps I kept reading because I like Maxon. He’s got the broken soul of someone whose life has always been dictated by his mother and father. He wants someone to love him, but since the person he loves has pushed him away, he’s lost and seeking affection from other people. He would do anything for America if she would only show she’d do the same.
It takes forever for her to change her mind. America waits until things get really, really bad before she realizes she’s being an idiot.
By the end of the book I’m not so much rooting for America to win as I am for Maxon to be happy, and I feel like it’s for his sake that I’m devouring the next book. He deserves happiness. Aspen just annoyed me.
Even though I put down The Elite with such mixed feelings, I find I still love this series and I need to know how it ends. Something about the Selection books keeps me engrossed despite how much America bugs me. I hope that she’s learned her lesson and will make wiser decisions in The One; so many people are counting on her to be queen and make a difference. Because she’s from one of the lower castes, she’s a favorite among them. She knows what it’s like to be poor, and this is her chance to do something about it.
Readers who didn’t like The Selection won’t like The Elite, but people hopelessly hooked like I am will keep reading till the end. It’s hard to find a series with the magic and pull to do that. This is a love-it-or-hate-it series, and even though I kind of want to throw the book at America’s head right now, I love the series.
Find my review of The Selection here. And now I’m off to find my copy of The One, because thankfully I have the boxed set.
Mariella Hunt 