Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Book Review Discussion: The Selection by Keira Cass

Book: The Selection by Kiera Cass
Genre: YA Dystopian-ish
Rating:★★★★☆
For: Fun
From: Bought for Kindle

Short Synopsis: So there's this prince, and he wants a wife, and so he (and his family) have devised a lottery of sorts where all young women are eligible, despite their class rank, to be part of The Selection. Thirty five girls are chosen from the applicants to come to the castle and take part in the wooing. America, despite her low class rank, is one of them. She is surprised and worried, especially since she is in love with a boy from home. However, when she starts to get to the know the prince, he isn't at all as bad as she expected. In fact, she kinda likes him. Oh dear. What's a girl to do?

My Response: It's a blatant copying of the TV show The Bachelor. But no matter. It's fun and interesting and quite page turning. But yes, there is the beginnings of a love triangle, so be warned should you hate that sort of thing. I enjoyed the alternate universe (country) stuff here, and the class system which seems so crazy to us. I'm intrigued for sure, and want to know how she figures it all out now that things are getting complicated.

Bottom Line: Fun and fluff for the most part, which was perfect for summer reading and given the heavier stuff I've been reading of late.

Let's Talk About: Does it bug you if something is very much a copy of something else? Are you like, oh, cool! I wish I'd thought of that! Or are you like, um, could the author not have disguised that a bit more? I'm not sure where I stand on this. I'll ponder.

Other Reviews:

Just like watching reality tv, I like seeing the cattiness, who is sincere and who puts on a face. If this were a show on tv, I would probably watch. From Cherie Reads

I could not peel my eyes away from the book. There’s bickering and in-fighting and clandestine meetings and lies and secrets and OH MY GOSH WHO COULD WANT MORE? From Anna Reads

But..I feel like there's this bigger story that's waiting to break out in the books (at least I hope so!) about the rebels that attack the castle and the country. From My Friend Amy

The Selection is an incredibly fast read, not requiring much in the way of philosophical thinking or close attention to details, but one cannot discount the fun and entertainment it provides readers. From That's What She Read


4 comments:

  1. I just finished this series! The books are all kind of silly and get more dramatic as they go. But I liked them as a guilty pleasure, fluff read. :)

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    1. Kathy: Fluff sounds so perfect right now! :)

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  2. This is a fascinating thing to me. It seems that movies and TV steal/adapt constantly from books. But a book stealing an idea from TV - a reality TV show no less - is kind of a new one to me. I don't think I would like that very much, unless they put a new spin on it. So, enough that I could kind of tell where it came from but not enough that I could be absolutely positive. Does that make sense?

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  3. I'm always excited to read reviews of this book because reactions seem so mixed. I think if I went into it expecting just a fun, light read, I'd probably enjoy it :)

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