Friday, June 7, 2013

The Selection by Kiera Cass (The Selection #1) (audio)

In a country where everyone is ranked by numbered caste, America Singer is in love with a boy in a caste lower than her own.  But she is chosen to compete to become the wife of the prince. How can she handle the competition when her heart is elsewhere? And what will she do when she comes to care for the prince after all?

I read a description of The Selection that it was The Hunger Games crossed with The Bachelor. That's not really accurate. It's more like a pseudo Katniss competing in The Bachelor. So I don't know. I loved Katniss but found America annoying. Why is that? America is so very giving and feisty and just all around good or at least that is how she is written. And her one character flaw is that she is in love with two boys. So she's the Bella of this book. Katniss at least had more depth. Of course she is in the fight of her life. America is in a competition to be the wife of the prince. But she is so confused because she loved the boy in the caste beneath her and he broke her heart. Can she ever love the prince? Really, there was nothing new here. The plot twists were predictable. So were the characters. I'm not sure about the whole rebels subplot. Nothing really exciting actually happens with that anyway and I assume it is going to be developed more in the rest of the series. I honestly don't know why this is a trilogy other than everything seems to be a trilogy. This could have been a decent one-off with a little more development and a lot less angst. The whole rebels plot could have been dropped and the competition which should be the main focus developed more. I would have read that and probably been happy. As it is I am debating on following through on this series. It didn't make me hate it. It just turned out to be kind of blah.


The narrator is Amy Rubinate and while I enjoyed her voice I wished she'd read a little faster. Even at the exciting parts she still read so slow. And put almost no emphasis or excitement in her voice. Basically she read it and didn't act it out. She wasn't unpleasant to listen to, she just didn't add anything to the story.

8 hours, 7 minutes

1 comment:

  1. Right on. I appreciate your honesty. I've debated this one. You have me thinking I should wait for the series and see what I think.

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