Greetings to the raddest of readers! Today is a sad day, for I have finished the Selection series. As I understand it there are two companion novels left, but they will not follow the same story that I fell so deeply in love with, so yes, this is a very sad day. However, things are not all doom and gloom. This was a phenomenal series, I loved every part of it and the ending was amazing! This will be a spoiler-y book talk so if you have not read this book yet, beware!
So, I've heard a lot of people in the bookish community say that the ending was "sooo predictable" and that "there wasn't enough development of the dystopian world" and "of course there is going to be a happy ending," and I'm just sitting here like... did we read the same book?
The ending was not what I expected at all! There was a total 180 degree turn from America and Maxon totally doing fine to her getting shot, her dad dying, finding out her dad is a rebel, Maxon finding out about her and Aspen, not choosing America, and oh ya, the massacre that happened in the last couple of pages! If you all were able to predict that then you should buy a lottery ticket because that is crazy.
Sure, there wasn't a great amount of depth to the series, it really was just a love story set in a dystopian world, but if you were disappointed by that kind of idea then you would have been disappointed with it in the first book, and then the second book. There is no reason to make it all the way to book three if you don't like that plot because the author makes quite clear what it is about on the back of the first book for crying out loud! If one were to read the series and assume that the third book would turn a different corner and focus less on the actual Selection, then they deserve to be disappointed! The book isn't supposed to be about a dystopian society, it's supposed to be about the Selection!! Maxon and America!! If I've said it before I've said it a thousand times, BOOKS DON'T HAVE TO BE DEEP TO BE GOOD! You don't need to have a crazy Wizarding World or have Percy Jackson save the world five times to have a good book. This is written for entertainment, not to inspire you! Sometimes you can read a book for fun ya know!! Okay, sorry I'm getting heated.
In a way, yes, I understand the predictability of the book, from the beginning the reader expected America to win the selection, it was really just a book about the means to an ends we all thought we knew. I think the author, Kierra Cass, new that the readers felt this way so she tried to put a spin on it, having Maxon not initially choosing her, and I thing that was really good. It threw me for a loop for sure, and we had never really seen matters so intense than when Maxon found out about America and Aspen. I was on the edge of my seat, and although yes, America did end up winning like we all predicted, it wasn't exactly an alls well that ends well. There was a literal massacre at the castle and that was the only thing that really stopped Maxon from marrying Cris. Maxon pulled an "America" I like to say at the end. Not thinking rationally before doing something major. He saw Aspen and America and didn't even give her the chance to explain herself. He was ready to marry someone he was virtually indifferent towards in comparison to America just because of the heat of the moment. I can't say he is totally in the wrong either, though, because imagine being in love with someone for months and then proposing to them and then finding out that they had kind of been cheating on you for a little bit of that time. The ending drama could have been saved if only America took a moment to explain to Maxon in the beginning of The Elite or at the end of The Selection, that she had dated Aspen in the past but that there was nothing there anymore. Of course not though. That would be too easy and too logical. She threw out my most favorite of excuse of hers --later.-- Oh my god, why can't she just get things done promptly!
Also, while we're on the topic, America more frustrating than ever this time around. Don't get me wrong. I love her character, how she is strong willed and all, and I loved the story too, but everything could have been solved if she just took a minute and thought about something before she did it. Or oh, I don't know? Made up her mind about how she felt, and oh, I don't know, STOP WAITING TO DO THINGS. I swear to god, she would realize something, finally decide how she feels about Maxon, or becoming a princess, or Aspen, and she'd just be like, oh, I guess I'll worry about it later. NO. NO AMERICA. WORRY ABOUT IT NOW. The amount of times I was yelling this in my mind at my book was concerning. Everything took so long... but of course I'm not complaining, I could read this book forever no matter how long it takes America to make up her freaking mind. Also, slight digression, America getting shot when they snuck out of the castle. Not going to lie, 11/10 her fault. She left the castle... with aspen... and the PRINCE... to speak a literal sentence to August (might I add, I don't really understand that story line at all, but I don't really care because it didn't take away from the story I don't think) that was not very useful and ended in her getting literally shot. And then, when she gave Maxon's gift to her away to the poor man, I was just floored. She thought she was doing a good thing!? How insensitive must one be!? Sometimes she just needs to chill. Do I need further evidence that America needs to work on her decision making and critical thinking skills?
I liked the character development of Celeste in the end so much, because I honestly hated how the main character motivation of Celeste before was to just be a stereotypical "mean girl." She had no depth and really only served the plot to make America look better in comparison and create an antagonist besides America's conflicting feelings and the rebels. In the end, I loved how she was cool, and I really did like her! And then she died. Just like that. And I was broken. Like, the pain I felt when the moment before that when America was standing on the stage and they were communicating in like sly looks and she told Celeste that Maxon didn't choose her... I mean COME ON! It was heart wrenching and then the next minute she is shot by the rebels, and then the minute after that the rebels kill the king and the queen and basically half of the castle at the time. INSANITY!! Not going to lie, really not too bummed out that the king is dead. He was a level 10 jerk to America and Maxon and really just the general public, and will not be missed by me. Sorry not sorry.
Lucy ending up with Aspen? Loved it. Do I still hate Aspen? No! I'm so happy now that he has his head on right. He was so bad for America and I was so happy when America realized that she can still have him in her life without marrying him and that Maxon is better for her in 100 different ways.
So, my final opinions of The One and The Selection series as a whole: absolutely. freaking. awesome. I loved it and I wish it never had to end. It is such a fun book and it really got me into marathoning books and series in a matter of days. I'm sad that I finished it all so quickly, though, because it was just so good I wish it lasted longer. Sure, there were weird things here and there like America being sometimes a genius and other times an absolute airhead, and the whole dystopian world development being a little wacky, but overall it was an awesome book and the weird things only added to the awesomeness so to speak. I will absolutely be rereading this series many times over, because I don't think it will ever get old. Super funky story!
Read on! Read on!
- C8 ;)