The Selection

Dystopian future meets The Bachelor, and it's not all bad.

Flash forward to Illéa, the America of the future. A world where you are born into a caste, and your number determines your life. The higher your number, the lower your caste. America Singer is a 5, the caste of artists and performers. She sings (get it, America SINGER?), and has the misfortune of falling in love with a 6. Her secret love is interrupted by her invitation to the selection, the contest hosted by the royal family to determine Prince Maxon's bride.

Will America make it to the finals? Well, it's a series, so you can do the math for yourself. But the path to getting there is fun, and I like both her and the Prince. And most especially I like the Queen, and hope we see more of her in the next books. Light romance, catty women, and a strong female lead. Not particularly life-changing or swoon-worthy, but an interesting take on YA dystopia. 3 stars.

This is a rather short read - one afternoon. I hesitate to call it a novel because it's one of those things that ends kind of in the middle of something. I enjoyed it because it hit all the buttons it should. It works in the way a romance is supposed to be. That made it a subjectively fun read (I read the first sequel immediately after). But all the button pushing and romance cannot obscure the fact that this works only because of the button pushing. It's not a particularly great concept, indeed I find the whole setup extremely contrived and if it was anything but a romance ... it wouldn't work. But romance tends to work despite everything else. It really doesn't matter, as long as there's some back-and-forth between the female protagonist and her love interest.

So the setup is that somehow the US turned into a kingdom two world-wars into the future. And there's a system of numbered castes from the royal family who are Ones to the homeless and cast-outs who are Eights. Of course everyone but the highest castes is poor and oppressed.

But now the crown-prince is coming of age, and tradition holds that there's a lottery in which young women are selected - hence the title - and paraded into his palace where he can take his time and choose a wife from the Selected. (I never saw the Bachelor but it's supposed to be like the show). Of course, the heroine - America Singer, caste Five - is already in love with someone other than the prince when she enters the palace ...

My biggest peeve with this book is that it ends kind of in the middle of everything. Nope the Selection process is not over by the end of the book. If you want to know if America is going to be the princess, you'll be disappointed. And I am deliberately not marking this as a spoiler. Because ... this feels like the one book was cut into multiple parts just because that way it'll make more money.

Still if you want some easy romance with a hint of a dystopian future, I can recommend this, but beware this has four parts, and the second (that's how far I am) doesn't provide closure either.

So, I started this book at around 10PM when I went to bed. I finished this book around 12:30AM when I actually went to sleep. That probably tells you how much I enjoyed it.

What a refreshing book! The plot was cute, the main character was well-written, realistic and interesting. And the romance was adorable.


I LOVED Maxon. What a great guy!! He was so understanding of the weirdness of the situation, but he didn't let America walk all over him either. The relationship between the two of them was absolutely adorable. The whole Aspen thing bothered me to no end, but I like that she finally told him where to go (although I could have done with a bit more fire there).


The one thing that bugged me is that the end did NOT feel like an ending. I NEED MORE!

Second Read:
Given some of the negative reviews about this one I wondered if I might not like it as much the second time through. Whether the things that irked other people would get to me as well. It didn't. I loved it and I can't WAIT to read book 2.

The prince of Illea needs a wife. Tradition states the king and queen must hold The Selection, a televised event in which 35 girls are whittled down to one lucky winner. She will become the future queen. America Singer is a five, in a caste system where your number dictates your career. Royalty are ones and the homeless are eights. As a five she earns her living entertaining with song and music. She is in love with a six but her mother very much wants her to apply for The Selection.

I loved the idea of a frivolous, reality TV show based novel with echoes of Next Top Model. Only the prize is a prince. It's a bit predictable, but sometimes that's exactly what you need in a story. Prince Maxim's awkwardness became endearing even though I started off thinking he was incredibly stereotypical. America leaves behind her love Aspen, but if I'm being honest, he's a bit of a nob. I don't think she ever sees that even though he is too caught up in the social expectations of their caste system. In contrast, the prince is more than happy to choose his princess from the lower castes. There are a few times when I thought America needed a slap.

Why it had to be shoe-horned into a future American dystopia I don't know. For some reason, I thought it was contemporary when I first picked it up. I can see it as a TV show for some forgotten about country that still has monarchs that can't get a date. We had The Farmer Wants a Wife in the UK a few years ago, where a bunch of rather inappropriate single women went to live on a farm in the hopes of wooing a handsome farmer (with loads of land and presumable cash). It doesn't matter that he eventually decided he liked the presenter better than the winning girl, it proves that such shows are possible in a current day setting. The fact that America had adopted a hereditary monarchy and a caste system in the distant future just seems so far-fetched. There's nothing wrong with setting a book in a made up world either.

I think you all know my opinion on poorly constructed trilogies by now. Each book should have a conclusion of sorts. Yes, loads of things can be carried on into the next book but you need to give your readers some satisfaction. The book needs to work as a standlone read, hopefully one that leaves the readers craving more. I'm not even talking about cliffhangers here, the book just seems to end mid scene. Absolutely nothing is concluded and it left me feeling a bit cheated.

In the end it's trying to be too many things, a dystopia with the social etiquette of Regency England and a very modern day reality show, rolled into one. Not forgetting the fairy tale romance of a normal girl meeting her prince charming... After saying all that, I did quite enjoy it for quick weekend read and I'd probably read the next one!