Selection by Kiera Cass (Fantasy)

The Selection by Kiera Cass is realistic fantasy novel revolving around a young poor girl, named America and her experience in a competition called “The Selection”. The Selection is a competition where hundreds of young girls apply, between the ages of sixteen and twenty, to compete for the Prince of Illea’s love and affection. Out of the hundreds that apply, only thirty-five are invited to compete. All of the young women want a chance to be picked, because this means that if they win, they will not only marry a prince, but they will one day become Queen of Illea. We learn that America, is one of the many girls that has applied, even though she doesn’t think she has a chance of being chosen. The story begins when America, the main character, is shocked to find out she was chosen to compete. Throughout the story America meets many different people and has different experiences with each of them.  She finds a best friend and someone she can trust in a girl named Marlee. While having a very different experience with a girl named Celeste.  Celeste is a rich girl, who doesn’t seem to care about falling in love, all she cares about is gaining the crown!  America grows to dislike her and learns she is not someone she should trust. The competition is fierce… who knows who will win!  

I would give “The Selection” four out of five stars. The parts of the novel I enjoyed most were the drama between the characters, America’s personality traits and the author’s writing.  Although it was very slow in the beginning it did eventually hook me and made me not want to stop reading. I loved the way the author described the dresses America wore, and the way the author would describe the rooms in the castles, and the castle’s décor. I loved how different each individual character was. I could not only imagine the way they would look, I could also imagine the way they would act. The author’s writing  was so good that it didn’t even feel like I was reading a book, it felt like I was watching a movie in my mind the descriptions were amazing. I would recommend this book to someone who loves drama, romance and is into realistic fiction. The only two things about this book that I didn’t like was how long it took to really get into the book and how the book was left on a cliff hanger in a way. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend this book ,“The Selection” to others!

Reviewed by Reese H. 7th Grade