Review: The Elite

THE ELITE
The Selection #2
Kiera Cass
Young Adult/Dystopian
336 pages
HarperTeen
Available April 23rd
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

MY THOUGHTS
The Elite drops us back into a world of carefully calculated pageantry, where smiles and simple gestures have so much more meaning than they appear to on the surface, and emotional attachment seems to change on a whim, as easily altered as the remaining girls’ wardrobes between one royal function and the next. While there is an undeniable addictive quality to America’s story, this second installment presents us with a number of challenges as the competition for Maxon’s heart–or in some cases, simply his title–becomes a bit more heated. Though there was no true love triangle in The Selection, something we were absurdly thankful for, the same cannot be said for The Elite, Aspen’s appearance at the palace at the very end of book one forcing this story into a familiar direction that causes our interest to waver as a result.

America was a likeable young woman in book one, someone who tried to sort through her lingering feelings for Aspen even as she stumbled her way through the Selection process, and she was always upfront with Maxon about her emotional unavailability. Unfortunately, the America whose honesty we greatly appreciated in The Selection is absent in this second installment, becoming instead the epitome of a romantic pendulum – swaying ceaselessly back and forth between Maxon and Aspen, constantly second guessing her feelings all the while. Just when we think she’s going to reach out and grab one of them to hold her still, some small drama occurs that forces her to release her grasp and go freely swinging back toward the other man with more speed than she had previously.

The love triangle might not be as bothersome were both Maxon and Aspen equally appealing, but Maxon is the true standout between the two of them, thus making America’s constant waffling all the more frustrating. We spent almost no time with Aspen in The Selection, so all we know of him upon entering into this second book is that he pushed America away when she least wanted to go, and then showed up to fight for her far too late. Our time with him in The Elite is strictly superficial–stolen kisses and whispered reminders of a love past–and our lingering disapproval of his actions in book one keeps us from fully embracing him even as we find ourselves grateful for his understanding of America’s romantic confusion. Maxon, on the other hand, repeatedly chips away at any uncertainty we might have had as to his feelings for America, and while he is certainly not drama or angst-free, he easily has our vote.

Overall, The Elite is a bit of a challenging read given the prominence of the Maxon/America/Aspen love triangle, but despite the constant fluctuation in America’s feelings, there’s still something just downright fun about this series. Those who revel in teen drama and epic relationship entanglements will no doubt enjoy The Elite and finish it craving more. Those of us who are a little less impressed (perhaps those older readers like me) with America’s game playing may find themselves stumbling a bit, but America finally does show a bit of fire in the last chapter, giving us hope she might start to own her feelings in the future and take a leap of faith instead of walking straight up to the edge before shrinking back.

Rating: 3/5

More information on Kiera and her books can be found here:

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

Review: The Selection

THE SELECTION (The Selection #1)

Kiera Cass
Young Adult/Dystopian
327 pages
HarperTeen
Available April 24th
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

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 the palace and compete for the heart of the 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.

MY THOUGHTS

Sweet with just a hint of an edge, The Selection is a puzzle that initially feels familiar, the individual pieces all ones we’ve seen before in other stories, but yet Ms. Cass manages to guide our hands through a beautifully and artfully executed assembly where the familiarity quickly fades to a non-issue in the face a truly enjoyable tale. While there is certainly a level of predictability stemming from the presence of the aforementioned easily recognizable plot elements, Ms. Cass quickly reminds us why such elements are so popular, drawing us swiftly into America’s tale when a forbidden love is immediately put to the test as circumstance, opportunity, and pride force the taking of irreversible first steps toward a new fate.

America is a girl we start out seeing in the muted earth tones representative of her level Five status–someone cute and seemingly typical who entertains us without shocking us into forming an instant and visceral connection to her. However, her relationship with Aspen in the wake of her selection slowly begins to imbue our protagonist with different hues, her ordinariness replaced with streaks of bright color as pain and loss etch themselves across her features. Those colors continue to bleed and spread as she navigates the world of the Selected, new facets of her personality revealed with every page until she becomes a swirling mass of color and emotion that catches our eye and holds it, making us wonder how she could have possibly slipped under our radar in the very beginning.

The romantic relationships are crafted with a great deal of care, our loyalty and affection genuinely torn between our short memory of Aspen and the possibilities represented by Prince Maxon, and it's nothing short of entertaining to sit back and wonder how things will progress. Though we spend the least amount of time with Aspen, America’s feelings for him resonate with us immediately, and while we may not be as moved by him as she is given the brevity of our exposure to him, we can’t deny the strength of their connection even as Maxon slowly begins to heal the wounds Aspen left behind, helping America to find the beauty in those puckered emotional scars she thought would keep her from discovering anything real in the gilded cage of The Selection.

Things with Maxon start with an uneasy friendship and progress ever-so slowly into something more, leaving us with a tentative smile on our faces as we try to block out the anxiety over the developments we know are inevitably coming, understanding with 100% certainty that we have absolutely no idea how we’re going to feel when they come to pass. While our delicious confusion concerning the two young men in America’s life secures our emotional involvement in their story, it is her decision in the concluding pages (beware of the abrupt ending) of this first installment that ensures we will pick up the next book without fail, her handling of the general upheaval of her life showing us just how colorful she’s truly become, and her radiance a truly stunning thing to be left with as we close the back cover and being the tortuous wait for book two.

Rating: 4/5

*I will say I think this book is going to be one that sparks a wide variety of differing opinions, but I entered into it just wanting a fun read, and America's story provided exactly that*