The Selection

BOOK NAME

The Selection

AUTHOR

Kiera Cass

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The Selection. One of the biggest events in the country of Illéa. Thirty-five girls compete to win the hand of a royal, who in this case, is the handsome Prince Maxon. America Singer is one of the chosen competitors, and while other girls all have happiness for being chosen, America is filled with sorrow. She has already found love – a boy named Aspen, and she doesn’t want to leave him. Upon reaching the castle, America is not joyful. She is faced with immediate enemies, homesickness, and the possibility of rebel attacks. But when she meets the Prince, her perspective changes. The more interactions she has with the Prince, the more she realizes that he could be the one for her. But is America willing to leave behind her old and comfortable life for something new? Will she be able to keep up with the competition and not fall victim to her enemies’ sabotage attempts? Will she be able to get over Aspen and find love with the Prince? Find out by reading the book!

AGE RATING

14+

This book contains topics that I believe should only be exposed to kids of higher age. The whole book revolves around ‘marriage’, which is a topic that kids of younger ages might have been exposed to but would have never seen the actual prospect of it. Older kids may be better prepared for it. There is also a decent amount of romance in this book. I go more into detail below, but the overall amount of it is enough to make younger kids feel uncomfortable while reading it. Kids who are 14 and above will most likely be in high school and will be better prepared to take it in. There is the idea of castes in this book, with servants and beggars being the lowest caste and royalty being the highest one. Caste was an idea that was discarded a long time ago, so younger kids may start to wonder what ‘caste’ they may fall into, which is something they really shouldn’t be wondering about. Older kids will have most likely been exposed to this in their history classes and will be more ready for it.

GOOD MESSAGES

7/10

This book has some important good messages. Some of them include friendship (learnt from the relationship between America and her friend Marlee), loyalty (learnt from when the characters are told to be loyal to the Prince and not be in a relationship with anyone else), and the importance of family (learnt from the close love America and her family have for each other). 

VIOLENCE

5/10

While there isn’t any gory violence in this book, there is some in general. At the start of the book, America knees Maxon in the groin (which is honestly kind of funny, but it still counts as violence). There are rebel attacks on the palace, in which people who are unhappy with the way the palace runs the country come in and destroy parts of the castle with weapons. There is slapping in one part of the book, where one of the girls hits another. A servant boy is whipped for stealing food, and sometimes innocent people are killed. There are also mentions of hunting and crop burning.

LANGUAGE

2/10

There isn’t any ‘real’ bad language in the book. Sometimes, phrases such as ‘stupid’, ‘damn’ and ‘shut up’ and used.

ROMANCE

6/10

There is quite a bit of romance, including lots of flirting and kissing. The entire book revolves around the idea of a competition that chooses a girl to be married to a prince so that itself is a kind of ‘romance’. America is faced with choosing between her love for Aspen and Maxon. Maxon goes on dates with the girls.

ADULT TOPICS

The topic of marriage is discussed a lot in the book. The characters drink wine at parties.

TVIX’S TAKE

This book was really great. I finished it in one day. No joke. I will say, however, I wasn’t expecting the plot of the story to be as good as it was. I thought since it was another romance story, it would be the same old sappy guy-girl-fall-in-love-get-married-live-happily-ever-after plot, but noo. The overall story was just super addicting, and I really couldn’t put it down. I would definitely suggest this for any teenager (above 14 of course :)).