The Elite (The Selection #2): A Review

What's up reader dudes, the following is a lovely little book talk on the second book in The Selection series. If you have not read the Selection, or at least read my review of The Selection, it is highly likely that none of this will make sense to you. So, WAIT, STOP! Read the book! Come back later and don't get spoiled and allow your rad reader-ness to expand!! If you have already read The Selection and you are here to see if you should read The Elite, the short answer is yes, but the long answer is the majority of this review until the spoilers. Not to fear though, I will let you know when things get spoiler-y!!

Let the discussion commence!!

Okay, so this book took me like a minute to read because I just absolutely love these characters and this idea so much. I was just as invested and enthralled as I was for the first book which I think is exciting and a major win because it is often that I read a banging first book only to be duly disappointed with the following ones in the series *cough cough* Insurgent (but that's okay because Allegiant was phenomenal) *cough cough.* I am so in love with the series thus far that I devoured it in the span of what felt like seconds. I wish this book could last forever, as I fear that I will be emotionally in shambles after I read the last one. I digress...

This book follows our same main characters-- mainly America and Maxton as well as the other girls participating in the selection and the others in the castle. So, we have 6 girls left in The Selection: America, Marlee, Kris, Natalie, Celeste, and Elise... Kind of annoying to me that Maxton is still keeping the others in the castle when it is SOOOO obvious that he and America belong together. However, I understand why he is doing so incase America goes off the rails, he needs a back up plan which I get because honestly America was absolutely erratic throughout the entire Elite ordeal. As we get closer and closer into the character and their plot development I greatly fear that Kiera Cass will rip my heart out by not having America and Maxton together in the end. One of my greatest fears to be honest.

As far as the world building is concerned, circumstances are a little confusing with the rebels and the government and the different regions. I know that this isn't the focus of the book, and that I preach that books can just be fun sometimes and that they don't need to have intense deep rooted worlds, but it would be nice to have a surface level summary at least. However, I see that it is not important to the story line and that it is likely that we aren't told much because we are seeing things through America's eyes and America -given her caste- is likely not as educated as she should be about circumstances. Regardless, I would like to know a little bit more. I think it would be interesting!

America has grown into... well... a rather frustrating character. She is somewhat of an emotional reck recently, and I think we all know who I blame that on. Drum roll please... The one, the only, the most selfish and my personal least favorite character thus far in the series.... ASPENNNNNNN :(. You know who is back in America's life and just as toxic as ever. America throughout the entire novel fears she is not enough to be princess and our main man Aspen reaffirms each and every one of those bad vibes. If I've said it once I've said it a million times. Aspen. Is. Risking. America's. Future. Because. He. Is. A. Selfish. Indecisive. Inconsiderate. Jerk.

Maxton and America will be having a perfectly lovely moment, a perfect moment that emphasizes all the reasons why Maxton is a good, faithful, kind, essentially perfect person and amazing prince to his country. Then, all of a sudden, America remembers that Aspen is now in the castle, close to her again, and it makes it harder for her to get over things. She wanted space and Aspen won't give it to her so she is messing up all these perfectly wonderful moments with Maxton and it is driving me CRAZY (in the best way possible though, the kind of crazy that makes me want to read more ya know)! I swear if she says one more time "I need timeeeee blah blah blah" I am throwing my book at a wall.

OKAY, WE ARE GETTING TO SOME SPOILERS

After Marlee is punished for her crime and America explodes into another emotional whirlpool of wreckage, although I respect her loyalty to her friend, she gives no time to think rationally, to have someone explain the circumstance to her. She doesn't let anyone tell her the truth because she is so headstrong to only believe what she wants to. It is infuriating. I stand by her decision to make a scene during the public display, but I cannot agree with how she acted afterward. Had she let Maxton explain everything to her, and had she not acted so stubbornly and abominably annoying after the fact, a lot of her problems would not have risen. Actually, come to think of it, between her exposing Maxton's secrets about the secret book and the secret room, and all of her lies with Aspen, and her "going out with a bang" project, America is a pretty terrible person in this book right now. I get it, she is very confused because of what Aspen has done, and emotionally volatile. She is young and in a situation she never asked to be in. Thus, obviously stupid choices are going to be made.

As far as her "going out with a bang" philanthropy project, eliminating the caste system, I felt like that was a little annoyingly out of character. I thought it was going to be a lot cooler than it actually was. She hyped it up wayyyyy too much, and honestly it was very out of character. Her, having suffered the tribulations of poverty and being doomed to a low class, I thought her to be more caring. I thought she would focus on something that would seriously benefit her people and what she actually did was just selfish.

This is obviously no dig or insult to the actual book or the writing or the characters. Like I said before this is less so much a review and more like that of a book talk. The fact that this book evokes such emotion and investment from me goes to show how greatly and immersively it is written. It is awesome how much I've gotten into it and grown to care for the characters! Those are the major aspects of the book that I noted to touch on. Besides that the majority of these and charachters stayed the same as addressed in my first review. I gave this book 5 stars on GoodReads and it deserved every single point of it! I would recommend and praise this series a thousand times over and will be finishing The One ASAP!

Keep on reading rad readers!

- C8 :)

The Selection// A Review!

Little Summary: Every generation, when there is a new prince 35 girls have the chance to become a princess through the selection. An opportunity to escape the rules of the cast system that bind this society. For most it's an excellent opportunity but for America, she likes her life at home, has a future planned out for herself already, though unconventional. However, her family asks her to apply and she does, though reluctantly, as it's an opportunity that would help their family as they are on the lower side of the caste system. But, you guessed it, she gets chosen. At first reluctant and uninterested in the competition entirely, while she's there she realizes she should not discount a future she has not even thought through yet.

Yep, yes yes, for sure, this is one of my favorite books of all time probably! It is just way too fun! So, if you are looking for a quick read I would absolutely recommend this as I completely inhaled it in a matter of just two days. Anyways, let us delve right on into the plot.

What a creative idea! It is like a dystopian version of the bachelor TV show, and though I am definitely not a fan of those shows, this certainly pulled off a version of it very well. So anyways, America Singer -our main character- is a five in the caste system that goes from 1 (very rich) to eight (extreme poverty). Five is not a necessarily good place to be but it is not the worst by a long shot. When the monarchy announces that there will be a selection held for Prince Maxton and that all girls of any caste of a certain age group may apply, America's mom jumps at the opportunity bribing America to apply with promise that she will let America keep the profit from her own work. This is why America applies as she is trying to save up money because she is looking to get married to someone of a lower caste system, Aspen. This is unheard of as the main goal in life is typically to always move up a caste system. Anyways, with the promise of money if she applies, she does. This is something I really liked about this book, it isn't like the basic annoying books that I have previously complained about where our "heroine" just automatically falls in love with some random prince or vampire or something. Not into it. However, America has aspiration, talent. She enters but not to become a royal. She hopes, expects, not to get picked. Nonetheless she does because we wouldn't have a book if she didn't :)

She is picked and things just start going haywire. Her hometown boyfriend breaks up with her in just a really brutal way (I am not team Aspen WHATSOEVER might I add) and she realizes it might be time to start thinking for herself, doing things for herself. Still she is not interested in the prince, the competition, or becoming royalty at all, but she is interested in helping her family, staying in the competition as long as she can to keep the money going to them, and striking a deal with the prince to keep her there. However, as time progresses and she has more time for reflection she learns not to discount a future she hasn't thought out yet. I think that is an awesome lesson to be learned! As a junior in highs school currently I have a lot of college hoopla to think about, a lot of future considerations to go through and this idea was pretty eye opening.

However that is not really the chief reason why I enjoyed this book. Personally I read as a hobby, mainly for entertainment. Becoming well versed and educated is a nice byproduct but why I really got into it was for a fun activity and this book is just so much fun. Reviewers get too wrapped up in wanting some dramatic epiphany or main conclusion to books. Looking for some great government upheaval and political or social statements in books just gets boring and old and too intense. Sometimes it's just really cool to read about a girl who may or may not become a princess!

Character reflection time!

Maxton is just a really good person. He also isn't totally prioritizing finding a wife. He wants to learn how to run a country and be a good king one day and I respect that because it is realistic in a sense. Obviously we will likely never live in a world where something like this would happen, but if we were too obviously a prince would still have to do political duties and I like that there is a point in the book to show the reader that Maxton has a life of his own as well!

As for America, I know some people were annoyed by her but I just don't understand why. Of course she's going to make some wacky decisions, she is like 17 and is being considered for royalty and initially she didn't even want it. Also, she's going through a break up and when you are young you're super dramatic so I think it is pretty good writing by the author to depict her in kind of crisis scenario because in her head that is what she's going through! Also, it's not like she is wallowing in self pity at all! Maybe she is a little bummed for the first couple chapters but after that she is an extremely strong female heroine especially given the plot of this book! She isn't selfish at all even though she doesn't want to be there. She is doing all of this for her family and also recognizes she needs distance to get over her god awful ex-boyfried. Then, even when she does start wanting to be involved more so in the competition, reconsidering life if she were to become a princess, she realizes she has to figure things out first! I mean like, that is the most mature thing I have read from a young adult novel in a longggg time!

Aspen is just the worst ever. Enough said. Okay, maybe not enough said... The fact that he was so rude to America when breaking up with her when they had been dating for over a year is so messed up and to pawn it off on the idea that "you have a better future without me!" Champ that is not your decision to make, and THEN *spoiler alert* when he shows up to the palace he is literally risking her life by trying to have a relationship with her again while she's there! He's insanely selfish and I 11/10 do not support his decisions. America would be way better off without him, straight up. She is trying to move on because he literally told her to and then the next thing she knows HE SHOWS UP TO THE PALACE!!?? UNCOOL! So yes, I did have some qualms with him as a character you may say.

But anyways, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone! Extremely entertaining and just reminds you why reading is so much fun. The plot, the dialogue, everything is a masterpiece! Definitely give this book a read!

- C8 :)

The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark #2)// Book Talk

Ya, I loved it, it was incredible, blah blah blah, we know Veronica Roth would never disappoint us. This is the final book in the Carve the Mark duology so if you haven't read Carve the Mark yet go do that now!!

So, we continue straight off from Carve the Mark. Ryzek is in the basement of the ship that Cyra, Akos, and the gang are fleeing in and there is some crazyyyyy political turmoil going down. Cyra's father Lazmet is alive and just as bad as --if not worse than-- Ryzek. He still harbors resentment towards Cyra for killing his wife and her mother. He is coming back to reclaim the Shotet throne as his own now that Ryzek is being held captive on their ship. Lazmet is ready to start a brutal war but Cyra and Akos will do anything to stop that. Cyra is willing to kill her father to stop it and Akos is willing to die for it. Akos knows that the fate he was told he had was that he will die in service to the Noavek family, Cyra's to cross the divide. In this book we find out what, this all, their fates really mean.

I know I said it already, but I really loved the completion of this duology. The story is really just so interesting and exciting that I never for a second wanted to put it down and that is something that is really really incredible about a book. We got to read from the point of views of Eijeh and Cisi as well this time around which was very cool because it allowed the world and the story to expand a little more. Once again, the world building is just phenomenal which is why I think this reading experience was so overwhelmingly positive. Not only is the story itself so great, where it is set, and how I feel like I can really see it in my head adds so much to it. The plot twists... oh my gosh... insanityyyyyyy. They were so hard hitting and let out at the perfect times. You know sometimes when you are reading and you read a plot twist but it just isn't in there at the right time and you're just like wait, what, was that supposed to be... hold on... and then you have to reread it like eight times and it just doesn't hit right? Ya, not the case in this book. When I read the plot twists I was like OH. MY. GOD. This is insaneeeee. I was so so so engaged in this book the entire time. There was always a sense of urgency in the book and it kept me on the edge of my seat and so interested and so excited about everything. Oh my gosh, I could go on forever about how great this duology is!!

The characters are very firmly established, the bad guys are so horribly, entertainingly bad and things we would absolutely never expect to happen happen. Characters we love don't make it and there is nothing crazier than that. Characters that are seeming innocent are in fact far from that and this whole story is like a game of chess. The twists hit so hard and there are times when I was left there, jaw dropped in shock, and needed to literally take a minute to process what had just went down. Stories diverging from Akos and Cyra were just as important and that expansions added so much to the series.

What I really enjoyed about this book aside from the upfront story was its underlying themes, mainly of resilience and hope. These characters are told their fates, tragic in Akos's case at a very, very young age. Akos had been imprisoned by a waring enemy planet since before he was even a teenager. Cyra has lived her entire life secluded, feared, used, and rejected because of her current gift that she can do nothing about. This is a story about them essentially beating the odds, or at least trying to... no spoilers ;). To really just add the cherry on top, completely unrelated to the story, this hard cover is absolutely the most beautiful book I own.

Veronica Roth, you have done it again! Everyone go read this book right now!!

-C8 ;)