Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection, #1
Published: April 24, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 327

I am going to write my own silly summary here because the summary on the book is so horrifically spoil-filled that I can't bear to subject you lot to it.
So the Selection is set in a unrealistic future where rational State actors made very irrational decisions that resulted in a dystopian society. But no matter! Because every n number of years, there is a super special ball that satisfies the people's need for fulfillment. 
And I can't say anything else about it without giving away blindingly obvious spoilers.

That right there is Makayla sass. But really.

The Selection is a lottery. A lottery of girls, sent of to the palace to contend for the hand of the Prince, Maxon. It may not be Hunger Games brutal, but never underestimate the power of hormonal girls in large groups.

That said, I really enjoyed them. The hormonal girls, that is. I didn’t like or relate with everyone crazy girl, but I understood and appreciated them. 

I did not appreciate love interest number one. He got in the way of number two. And he was an ass. Honest to God, you know those guys that make a decision for the betterment of the girl? Just, no. 

Maxon, though. I could go on about him. A respectable, polite, passionate gentleman. He’s never courted a girl before, period. To suddenly romance his way through a group of 35 girls is daunting, but Maxon will dutifully try to attack the task, not only just to do justice by himself and the kingdom, but by the girls, also. Is he flawed? Yeah, he has his oblivious guy moments and makes mistakes, but he owns up to it. He’s the kind of moral, respectable,genuine guy I’ve missed in YA.

As for America, I wasn’t so sure of her in the beginning, but by the end…she started to figure things out. She started off making decisions for the betterment of others (in the hope that it would better herself<—I’m willing to argue that’s why she participated in The Selection), but in the end, she started to learn to make decisions for herself, therefore, not hanging anyone else on the waiting line. That might not make much sense, but take a look after reading the book.

My major issue with this book is the statement it’s making. Or, lack of statement. There’s obviously a caste issue. But I’m not sure what the author wants us to take away from that. How it came about is not yet revealed to us, and that would offer the author’s view on human nature. In this book, I’m honestly not sure if we’re supposed to get a positive message from humanity’s will to defy the system, or a negative message from the fact that the system is still in place. Point being, the book hasn’t taken a stand yet, and that bugs me. We shouldn’t have to wait until the second or third book to figure out what kind of stance this book takes on, not just minor (which this book does), but major social issues. A book needs more than characters to ride on. It needs characters, themes, and plot. And I’m not sure where those last two are going by judging just this book. 

Oh, and almost forgot. The world building, dystopian situation IS completely unrealistic. Coming from a person who adores International Affairs, there is no way the situation that occurs in this book could ever happen, unless all human government officials lost all sense of self preservation and turned into prosperity-eating-zombie-mongrels.