The Selection: A Review

From Good Reads

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

When your a 5...everything you do, determines if your family gets to eat well. When your a 5... your not supposed to love a 6. When your a 5 and you get a letter from the royal family...you answer them back...when your a 5... sometimes you have to take a chance to be more.

I was so excited when I finally got my hands on this book. I have so many other books on my kindle right now...but I wanted to read this book. And it took me Sunday to read it. That's how good it is. Ms. Cass wrote a different Cinderella story. One with peasants and princes. With love and intrigue. Danger and heart ache. But this isn't your ordinary Cinderella. There is no step mother..no ugly step sisters. Just a girl trying so hard to be strong and keep it together for her family. 

I have to say out of all the heroins of this new dystopian era of fiction that we live in. America is in the top 5. She isn't afraid to yell or tell her opinion. She isn't afraid to love. She is the most interesting person I have ever read. But each of the characters in this story are more than just characters after you read them. They are real. 

This plot is interesting... and it had me confused at times. I would have like more of a background on how the world ended up this way, not just  the snippets we read through out the book. But besides that, I think Ms. Cass did a wonderful job, creating this world of castes and a society so different, yet so mirroring the one we live now. I found myself torn between the two love stories that were happening. Wishing for her to be the princess, because I'm a girl and its what we do. And wishing for her to run away with her six and live happily if not richly ever after. I was sad to see this book come to an end...but glad that America's story isn't over yet.