Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Selection

Top positive review

LOVE IT Parental Guidance included

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2016

America Singer is just an ordinary girl, that it, until she was chosen to enter a competition to become Prince Maxon's wife. But what about her boyfriend at home. And what if she does not want to be the Princess. As the stakes get higher and the competition gets fiercer, what will America choose? Love in the palace and royalty, or love at home with a peasant?

Loved this book. Great pace, great storyline, new idea/concept I had not read before. The characters were great had had personalities, liveliness, and were not dull at all. This was my favorite of the series. It kept me on the edge of seat and had so much suspense I read it in one sitting and could not put it down. Excellent read.

Parental Guidance:
This book doesn't have language, sex/nudity, or anything that would prevent anyone from reading it. 12+, anyone who can read this level would be great. This book is more for girls, too.

95 people found this helpful

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Tabby1249Top Contributor: Historical Fiction Books

‘Mean Girls’ meet ‘The Bachelor’

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2018

If you combined the dystopian setting of Hunger Games books with the backbiting and forced melodrama of ‘Mean Girls’ and The Bachelor TV series you’d have ‘The Selection.’ While I thoroughly enjoyed the Hunger Games books, I find The Bachelor insipid and boring. Unfortunately, The Selection is much more “Bachelor” than it is Hunger Games and because of that I am not inspired or motivated to continue the series even though book one leaves the reader hanging.

Below are some observations I noted as I read:
- Selection process reminiscent of Hunger Games series, but with less emotional engagement or risk
- The “Princes” selection process is The Bachelor model for selecting fiancés complete with ‘dates.’
- The heroine whines about everything that is different in her life resulting from her choice to participate in the selection. She made the choice to participate to benefit her family so suck it up, buttercup.
- The dialogue often reads like ‘Mean Girls’ in a girls’ locker room a month before prom: gossip, speculation, backbiting, wishful thinking, will he/won’t he ask me out; wild jealousy when girls talk about their respective dates with the Prince.
- Silly names for the new countries: Swendway, Honduragua; feels like the author couldn’t be troubled with more detailed world building.

Bottom line: this is a pale imitation of some of the other YA dystopian novels out there. If you want your young people to read about strong characters in difficult circumstances, look elsewhere.

254 people found this helpful

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Tabby1249Top Contributor: Historical Fiction Books

‘Mean Girls’ meet ‘The Bachelor’

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2018

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254 people found this helpful

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BigTrive

If you are not, nor have ever been, a silly 15 year old female teenage airhead, this is not the book or series for you.

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is definitely a series for 15 and under. I will say the writing and editing is good, but the characters, plausibility and story line isn't. Silly names made up by a teenager. Silly places also named by a teenager. The main character, America, is a classic, airhead, selfish teenager who takes far to long long to make her mind up and to do right by the main men in her life. I was irritated throughout most of this series and had a hard time finishing them. I truly regret the money I spent.

194 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Everything was super predictable. It was fine while you were reading ...

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2018

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Everything was super predictable. It was fine while you were reading it, but left a really bad flavor behind when you stopped. It was like watching a really bad movie, but you can't stop because you just need to get it over with and see how it ends so you can be done with it.

44 people found this helpful

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amanda edwards

Three stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2021

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A brief synopsis: A girl named America lives in a caste system where ones are rich and eights are poor. America and her family are fives, but America is in love with Aspen who is a six. As the prince of the land comes to age they begin the Selection. A bachelor-like contest where the prince gets to know thirty five women (selected at random) and has to make one his bride. America is selected as one of the thirty five, but she is reluctant. She knows that if she agrees to enter the Selection it could set her family up for life and even if she doesn’t win her whole family will move up in the caste system and receive money from the royals. But she loves Aspen and doesn’t want to risk losing him. She must find a way to please everyone and honor herself at the same time

My review: Alright. I gave this book three stars but there were definitely times in this book where I would’ve rated it two stars. As a main character, America is so very annoying. She is stubborn and constantly compliment fishing. She’s also very rude to people just because of their caste. Especially in the beginning she is super disrespectful to anyone of a higher class than her, even though those people were fully nice to her. She also seems to whine a lot. Also she makes some seriously stupid decisions. I plan on reading the next book in the series because I know how popular this series is and I am assuming it has to get good. There were times in this book where I was really interested. I just wish the characters were more likable. Also, I don’t trust Marlee at all. I understand we are supposed to like her but I think she’s hiding something and she seems really manipulative

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Diana

Full of drama and over the top characters, but not the kind we like. Entertaining, but a little mindless.

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2015

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Actual rating: 2.5

America doesn’t want what every girl wants. She doesn’t want to be part of an elaborate reality tv contest that will win her the hand of the handsome crown prince. She doesn’t want to be royalty. She just wants to be with the people she loves. And she wants to play her music. That’s it. Unfortunately for her, that’s not going to happen. America and her family are Fives which means that they rank low on the caste system and have to work to stay afloat. And times are getting rough. Pushed by her family to help support them and hurt by her boyfriend’s dismissal, she throws her name into the competition, never dreaming she’d get picked. Only she does. And then everything changes.

I don’t often read books heavy on romance, but a friend recommended it to me and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. America is a pretty strong character and I could relate to her as a reader. I found her honesty and loyalty admirable. Cass does a good job illustrating the struggles a family can face while living in near poverty. I enjoyed the family dynamic a lot and it definitely felt realistic to me, especially with what happens when someone in the family becomes successful (and both directions it can take). America’s relationship with her father and sister was heartwarming and often brought a smile to my face.

The world building is interesting, although a little spotty. The novel takes place in a post apocalyptic world in the future. We get different bits and pieces of history throughout the novel and references to holidays that no longer exist in the future. There’s mention of rebels and war and an insurgence, but it’s not clear how we got to this point. Hopefully, it will be explained in the sequels because I was more than a little confused at the state of things. However, the premise is pretty interesting and I like that there’s a caste system complete with all sorts of people who are assigned professions by their caste. Also interesting is that you can climb the social ladder and enter a caste above you if you’re lucky enough.

This book also features a pretty typical love triangle. Girl is torn between two boys; one of which she grew up with and the other she just met and had figured all wrong. What’s interesting is that her first love is painted as more of the bad boy rebel and the crown prince is the good, kind-natured nice guy. Her love for each boy is vastly different and she encounters issues as those relationships evolve. I felt that both boys could have done with a bit more personality as they seemed very basic and I would have liked more exploration into their characters. All in all, this is a good book to read at the beach or on a rainy day if you want to pass a few hours. I read it in one sitting and it felt like I flew through the pages. If you like romance, reality television, and the movie Miss Congeniality, you’ll probably like this book.

6 people found this helpful

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Lydia Chen

A little silly

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

I will give this book three stars because it was fairly entertaining and got through it quick enough. That being said, I will probably not purchase the second one.. so it wasn't THAT good.
There are a few aspects of the book that seem rather silly... kind of like how you would find teenage drama silly.
It was basically Hunger Games meets the Bachelor.
Pros:
-Easy read
-You most likely won't be emotionally invested, which is good if you just want to pass the time? Lol
-Funny? A little.. maybe

Cons..
-Heroine was disappointing and hard to connect with.. she is very caught up in her romantic drama and is supposedly an incredible musician yet never plays her instruments and seems to have no passion for it whatsoever in the face of her heartbreak etc. I'm a musician so this part irked me. In fact, she only played once in the whole book. It felt as if there was no substance to her.
-Too much teenageish drama... mean, jealous girls trying to outdo each other etc. Except for the heroine of course because she is above all that.. obviously.
-The world was rather silly.. silly new names for countries.. Illea is the US and Canada? Swendway is... Sweden?? Honduragura is who know where..

Conclusion:
I only paid two bucks so I'm not complaining, but I am not at all urged to buy the second.. it ended in a cliffhanger but I'm perfectly happy to be done.

One person found this helpful

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Shannel s.

Very disappointed.

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

When I first ordered this book I was super excited. Everybody told me the Selection series is super good, but I have to disagree. Although I see where the author was headed with this book, I feel as if the execution of the book came out wrong. It turned out to be overall pretty degrading towards women. I absolutely was revolted from the idea of 35 women competing for one man's attention (basically being based on looks) in result of them leading a country and becoming queen. Yes, before reading the book I was aware of the plot being somewhat like the bachelor/ bachelorette but I did not think the characters would be so air-headed. I thought it was pretty degrading towards women considering the fact that for one, the women must be “pure” before coming into the selection, the girls being selected is basically based on their looks, the girls having to compete with one another for the attention of a man, and doing things solely for the satisfaction from the prince. The whole book was basically a bunch of gas-lighting left and right between a prince, a solider, and hopeless girl. But I did indeed finish the book in 1 day, not in a good way though. It's the type of book where the storyline is horrible but you NEED to finish the book to figure out what's going to happen at the end. Surprise! The ending was even worse then I imagined, it was completely rushed. Like seriously? There needs to be a whole other book for the remaining 6 girls? I had so much hope for this book but it turned out to be an absolute bust. Overall I am beyond disappointed.

One person found this helpful

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Christina Rickman

A "Dystopian" Bachelor

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book was enjoyable to read but contained nothing of actual substance. I loved the Hunger Games and have torn through several dystopian teen romance series since then, in effort to find one even half as good as the Hunger Games (Divergent series, Matched series).

I usually review each of the series as a whole and with both the Divergent series and the Matched series, by the end of the book 3, I was seriously sick of the weak/one-dimensional characters and the convoluted and illogical dystopian societies. I therefore decided to review this book before I'd finished the series, while I was still somewhat interested in the characters and their world.

I enjoyed reading this book, but then again, I also liked watching the Bachelor. This book is 85% Bachelor and 15% dystopian society... the characters are divided into castes with the obvious implication that life is rougher in the lower castes. Beyond that, their society isn't given much substance. Rebel attacks are occasionally mentioned, and I'm sure the dystopian theme will be explored further in books 2 and 3, but I hope that this author is not going to make the same mistake that the authors of Divergent and Matched made; creating an overly complicated society in order to fill pages of an otherwise purely romantic-fluff novel. One of the reasons the Hunger Games was SO good was because Panem felt real... it's rules made sense, it's existence was plausible, and the author didn't try to compensate for lack of substance or character development with poorly thought-out plot twists and turns (which is EXACTLY what frustrated me about the Divergent series and the Matched series.... serums? the otherlands? the pilot? Come on).

This book is an easy and enjoyable beach read, but I wouldn't give it 5 stars because there is nothing terribly original about it- the protagonist is not all that interesting and there are definitely inconsistencies with her character - she's a performing musician but she doesn't like people looking at her? Her first love, Aspen, is about as one-dimensional/predictable as characters get: a lower caste guy who does the "noble" thing and breaks up with her, but never stops loving her (think Notebook). The evolving relationship between America (the protagonist) and the Prince has also been written a million times before- she makes it clear she doesn't want to be more than friends, but "ironically", the prince finds her more attractive than any of the other 34 girls.

BUT if you're not looking for complex characters or an interesting plot, and you're a sucker for Bachelor-esque competitions and predictable love-stories (which I am), than you will enjoy reading this book. Kiera Cass is a good writer and she keeps you interesting and engaged. I just hope she doesn't try to pretend her series is something it's not, by filling the second and third books with muddled, completely meaningless "dystopian" plot twists and turns.

4 people found this helpful

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Elizabeth

This did not make me want to finish the series

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is like reading a season of The Bachelor through the eyes of the most "Pick me, I'm not like other girls!!" Girl ever. There's not much substance to the story beyond a love triangle full of people it's hard to root for because they're flat.

3 people found this helpful

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HOOOOOOO BOY

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

I read this for a young adult book club that I'm a part of. And that's the only reason I finished it.

The pros:
-The dresses are nice
-It's short, and an easy read

The cons:
-The characters have no 3-dimentionality. They’re composites of YA romance archetypes, but with no defining features of their own.
- There’s no plot. There IS a premise -girls compete in a bachelorette type event to marry the prince- but by the end of the book the main character hasn’t grown or changed. Well, she’s now part of love triangle and has to choose between two guys – this is also the “climax.”
-The world building is bad. Why is this set in an (alleged) dystopia? The main dystopic elements are a caste system, a monarchy, and a law against pre-marital sex. These are main features of any traditional fairy tale – why not make this a fairy tale. None of the “dystopic features” are used as major story points, the characters don’t challenge or change these elements in any meaningful ways. Furthermore, the tone of this book is as light and sugary as marshmallow – not exactly conducive to a dark exploration of what our world could be.
-The heroine of the story is has no agency – she’s defined by her love interest’s actions. She gets dumped by love #1 at the beginning (she had the gall to use her money on him – thus proving he can’t be the provider she deserves), is selected (unwillingly) for The Princess-orette contest for love #2, and remains in the contest for weak reasons. She has no goals/expectations/dreams for herself outside of the romance. She hasn't even taken any active role or stance in the romance department, but has merely reacted to love#1 and love#2 actions towards herself.
-The heroine is a self-insert construct; a blank slate a la Bella Swan. She doesn't grow, change or define herself throughout the story.

I swear,I didn't start this book with any lofty expectations in mind - the bar was set pretty low. All I wanted was some light fun, and I was willing to be forgiving to some weaker aspects if the whole was entertaining. Instead I found myself getting angry at the characters/author, or thinking of more interesting avenues the story could have explored. Don't make my mistake. Go read something else.....

28 people found this helpful

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