Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Selection (The Selection Book Book 1)

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Didn't think I would love it this much

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2016

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I love dystopian novels, and have read all the usual suspects - Hunger Games, Divergent, Matched, Delirium, etc. I loved some, not so much others. When this kept showing up in my recommendations, I just assumed it was because it was so popular, and not necessarily for me. I figured I would read the first one and be done - I was so wrong!! I can't read them fast enough! It's an interesting world they live in, and that's what makes a great dystopian book - when the main characters are just doing something so simple, like falling in love, and yet it impacts the entire political and social scheme. There are really great characters, well developed and believable - sweet, conniving, funny, bitchy. I find myself rooting for girls that are not America, and still being unable to decide who I want America to end up with. It's a riveting story and I can't wait to read more!

73 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.

153 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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153 people found this helpful

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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

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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.

109 people found this helpful

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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.

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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

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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.

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Sierra Eggleston

Nothing I hated, but nothing I loved

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2015

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Another bandwagon book! Everyone and their grandmother has read The Selection, and seeing the pretty covers on every bookstagram account has finally dragged me on board. I really wanted to like it, and it was an easy one-day read, but overall I found The Selection to be just okay. I bought the whole series so even though I wasn’t crazy enthusiastic about this one, I’m going to continue on in the hopes that it will pick up.

Anyway, The Selection had previously been described to me as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor, which I’m going to say right now isn’t very accurate. In The Hunger Games, children are forced to fight to the death for entertainment. In The Selection, we are promised a “fierce competition” but the fights never get more vicious than a slightly torn dress. For the most part, these young women competing (of their own free will) to marry a Prince are really very friendly to one another, despite an undercurrent of jealousy.

There’s not much of a dystopia going on here, at least that the reader can see. Because of the caste system in America’s world, there is a big gap between rich and poor, with the lower classes often uneducated and hungry. But that’s not really that much different than in many places in the world today, even here in the US. The only other hint we see that not all is well is that the Royal Palace is at one point attacked by rebels. Nothing really comes of this attack other than princess-hopefuls getting scared and fainting. Nobody even seems to know what the rebels are rebelling against. So if you’re expecting a dystopia, don’t (not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with that).

Both love interests in The Selection irked me, which isn’t necessarily a problem character-wise, but the fact that America was constantly thinking about one or the other of these annoying boys was, well, annoying.

Aspen, America’s first love, was the hard-working yet perpetually poor boy next door. If we’re going with Hunger Games analogies here, he’s Gale, if Gatniss had actually happened. I liked Aspen at first, but when he couldn’t put aside his pride to be there for America I lost all respect for him (and any shreds that remained were lost at the end of the book, but I won’t spoil that). America should have also lost her respect for him, but she spends the whole book trying not to pine over him and doing it anyway.

Prince Maxon, who all the Selection girls are competing for, is assumed to be unlikeable, stiff and stuck-up. As America gets to know him he turns out to be more naive than anything else. I thought Maxon had the potential to be good, but he’s not there yet. He and America had a cute friendship dynamic with the potential to develop into something more, but he pulls the “I’m a prince and you’ll do what I say” card one time too many for me. America insists she has no feelings for him, until they kiss, and then she spends the rest of the book trying not to pine over him and doing it anyway. (Sensing a pattern here?)

And then there’s America herself. I desperately wanted to see her character develop into something stronger, because she has a very kind heart, she was beginning to move away from the idea that other girls needed to be her competition, and I feel like she was intelligent enough that she could really make a difference. The book seemed to be developing America this way until the very end, when a major backslide made it clear that America was still under the thumb of both Aspen and Maxon. She allowed herself to be put into a situation I’m disappointed about and basically forgot all her problems because two men are now fighting for her. One of the most quoted parts of the book, when America says “I’m not choosing him or you. I’m choosing me.” could have been so much better if I actually believed her. I’m really hoping that as the trilogy progresses, America learns to stand up for herself and not base her future around men, but at least in The Selection, I wasn’t thrilled with her character development.

www.geekglitter.com

Overall, there wasn’t anything I hated about The Selection, but there wasn’t anything I loved either. I’ll continue the series with caution, but I’m not rushing to put The Elite on the top of my TBR.

3 people found this helpful

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Christina Rickman

A "Dystopian" Bachelor

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2014

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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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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.....

24 people found this helpful

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EarthAngel

Easy read.

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book is very much like The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Cinderella all rolled into one.

Some similarities:

Illea is very much like Panem.
The Selection is pretty much like the Reaping.
Hunger Games has the tesserae, where families of The Selected are also compensated.
Hunger Games has "tributes", Selection has the "selected".
Hunger Games has "career tributes", the Selection has the "elite". The Hunger Games was broadcast on national TV as the ultimate in reality TV, so is The Selection.

The castes aren't unlike the districts in the Hunger Games or the factions in Divergent. Each caste specializes in their own industry, if you will. As a Five, America is only three tiers away from rock bottom.

Each of the Selected will get to travel to the capitol...I mean...the castle to stay with the royal family. Not unlike Katniss' trip to the castle...dang...I mean capitol, she is fitted for dresses, all while being filmed by a reality TV crew.

The names of the characters were quite distracting. (Names like Tiny, Tuesday, Gerad, and Kamber.) I don't know how one pronounces "Maxon". At first, I made it sound like "Jackson", which was really distracting and detracted from the story. I think "Mason" rolls off the tongue much easier.

Of course, there is the requisite love triangle. But it isn't entirely convincing. Much like Peeta and Katniss, there really isn't any chemistry between Aspen and America. It almost makes you wonder what America is angsting over.

The Selection is an easy read and I did find myself saying "Just one more chapter" well after I should have gone to bed. But, be prepared to not have any questions answered in book one. Apparently, there is a rule that no stories involving a dystopian United States can be resolved unless there is a trilogy.

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buffysummers

Not the Indulgent Trashy Read You're Looking For

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2014

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To start: the plot of this book is predictable, but this is not nearly as important criticism as people seem to think it is. A book can be predictable but still enjoyable. What matters is how you get there, but how we got there was...boring.
There was not a single real character in the entire book. Every single one was a stereotype, and everyone you'd imagine to come across here was here. Our main character and (unfortunately) our narrator is the all around American girl. She is kind, sweet, pretty but not aware of it, and lacking in any clear passions and aspirations besides a man. Actually, her name literally IS America. She is Not Like Other Girls. One time, she disagreed with the prince. When she is offered a makeover, she refuses most of it, including the nail polish, because she is so very modest. I don't know how anyone in what's technically a dystopian novel could be so naive and bland. It is mentioned in passing that she spends a lot of time playing instruments. What kind of music does she play? Which instruments? We are never told.
Anyways, America (the person) is living in the kingdom of Illea, which once was the American States of China, because after we couldn't pay back our debts, China invaded. I'd love to go into more hilarious detail, but there literally isn't anymore, owing to the fact that this backstory exists solely to set up an American Prince. The prince is handsome and perfect and unceasingly polite and kind. He has no personality, which is all the better to project your crush on to, I suppose.
So the prince needing a princess, he holds a Selection, in which 35 girls are chosen to come to the palace/harem in exchange for a brief respite from the brutal caste system apparently no one is mad about. America is a Five, which is exactly middle class, and yes, the castes are numbered for your convenience. If she marries the prince she gets to be a One.
There are downsides: you are told to obey and give whatever the prince asks of you (not very PG), if you enter into a relationship with anyone besides the prince (who is dating 35 women at once, let us remember), you will be put to death. Lastly, you are not allowed to leave the palace, except once when the Prince let America walk the gardens under his supervision, in what I am sure I am supposed to interpret as a remarkable show of generosity. One time, and this is completely true, the palace was attacked by vicious rebels who stole some books.
Surprisingly, it doesn't turn out to be an all out catfight between the girls. In a remarkable show of restraint by the author, only ONCE does someone literally rip a coveted dress off a contestant's back.
There is an incredibly boring love triangle here, but every single person in this book is so annoying I know no matter which way it goes, they'll deserve each other.

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