Kiera Cass - The Elite

More dystopia/post-apocalyptic fiction off my bookshelf now and it's back to a series I've already started but not reviewed before; Kiera Cass's The Selection series.

The Elite is the second book in Kiera Cass's The Selection series with the first being The Selection which follows America Singer, a underprivileged young woman who works as a musician to earn money along with her family while they live in a society ruled by the royal family of Illéa.  America is chosen, along with another thirty five girls to be part of the Selection: this society's way of allowing the prince to choose his bride while the public watch.  While America signed up for this, she is reluctant to continue because she is still reeling from her break up with Aspen, her former neighbour and boyfriend, who left her to join the Army.  She insults the prince on the first night but she starts to come around and eventually falls for him (he has already fallen in love with her) and their relationship grows over the course of the first book and America makes the final seven of the Selection.  However, the book then ends when Aspen reappears in America's life as a member of the Palace Guard.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Those that liked The Hunger Games

Favourite Characters: America - she is a symbol of hope in a suppressive society; Marlee - she's stronger in this book

Favourite Part: I was overwhelmed. He understood me so well, how nervous I was about making this commitment, how frightening it was for me to become a princess. He was going to give me every last second he could and, in the meantime, lavish me with everything possible. I had another one of those moments when I couldn’t believe this was all happening.
“That’s not fair, Maxon,” I mumbled. “What in the world am I supposed to be able to give you?”

He smiled. “All I want is your promise to stay with me, to be mine. Sometimes it feels like you can’t possibly be real. Promise me you’ll stay.”

“Of course, I promise.” - Page 81 

Good Points: The concept; the importance of family to America as well as Maxon; America and Maxon's relationship

Bad Points: Love triangles (Maxon/America/Aspen and America/Maxon/Kriss)

The Elite begins just after where The Selection left off; America is part of the Elite, the final seven of the Selection, competing to be the One, the prince's wife.  Maxon has pretty much proposed to America, or hinted that he wants to and is just waiting for her to be ready but America is struggling with this new life as well as Aspen's reappearance and simultaneously getting her head around the prospect of being Maxon's princess and later his queen.

I adore the concept of this book; it's the main point that drew me to continuing to read this series.  Though it is like The Hunger Games with it being in a dystopian society with a totalitarian regime and a select group are subjected to being part of a reality TV show (though this has less violence), there is a focus on love and family in this series that is greater than The Hunger Games, in my opinion, while The Hunger Games focuses on survival and rebellion.  Even though there is the theme of love in The Hunger Games, it isn't a real love for Katniss; she's playing for the cameras while Peeta has been madly in love with her since he was five.  In The Selection series, the girls are all competing for Maxon's affection ultimately, though some just see it as a way to the crown, meaning greater power than they could have being the queen, the woman behind the king, as gaining his affection gains them a new life as well as a new husband.  For America, her affection for Maxon is real as it is implied that she really cares for, and probably loves, Maxon and wants to be with him, as his wife, and this is iterated at the end of the book when she speaks with her maids.  Along with America, Kriss (another member of the Selection) confesses her feelings for Maxon and her intentions towards him, implying a form of love between the two of them, though maybe not as strong as the love between America and Maxon yet.

It's not just America and the girls competing for Maxon, it's the latter competing for America's affections (and a place in her heart) as well as she is constantly comparing Aspen and Maxon in The Elite because she cares for them both greatly and wants to hurt neither of them.

As mentioned previously, family is an important theme in The Selection as well as The Elite.  America is shown to really care for her sisters and brothers and desperately miss them all as well as her parents while she is in the palace; Maxon even agrees, knowing how important they are to her, to allow them to move into the palace when (if) they marry.  Though he isn't discussed very often, America has an older brother and it is implied that she cares for him even though he is a caste-climber, having turned his back on his family, disassociating from them until America joins the Selection with a possibility of being the queen, meaning her family would become ones, something her brother aspires to be.  America's love for her family is also clear when her family is brought to the palace along with all of the other girls' families as she sacrifices her own room and personal space to allow her younger sister to stay with her because she's clearly misses her despite now being used to being able to have time alone, without anyone interrupting but also having the option to allow, or ban, people to enter this sanctuary.

As well as family being important to America, it appears to be important to Maxon; this is implied firstly when he offers to allow her family to move in if she becomes his bride; this illustrates that he knows how important her family is to America and is willing to have them involved in their married life while his mother's family presumably didn't live in the palace when she married the King.  Maxon's interactions with his mother are affectionate and he protects her in a way from knowing what happens between him and his father when he steps out of line, implying that he cares for her greatly.  Even Maxon's relationship with his father, no matter how horrific it can be at times, he wants to protect his father from being exposed and even reluctantly tells America, someone he trusts, about what his father is really like when Maxon disobeys him.

America as a character represents more than a point of view, I feel she is a representation of freedom and rebellion, through her actions and even by her name as the moment I hear the word America, I think of the country which is the land of the free and the home of the brave.  This is how I see America and that is what I love about her.  America could be a good queen if she were to marry Maxon as they complement and understand one another despite their different tactics of how they go about change; America goes straight in while Maxon subtly tweaks things in the background that lead to change.

Another character I really loved, despite her brief appearance, was Marlee as she became a much stronger character through this book, going from a pining young woman that is constantly waiting to see someone to a strong woman who cares deeply for those around her.

A major point I love about this book is America and Maxon as a couple, rather than America and Aspen, as Aspen seems to represent America's past and could drag her back down to what she used to be and she could regress.  While America has been in the palace and with Maxon, she has grown into herself as she has been able to get away from her family, who haven't been really holding her back, but she was always trying to support them however she could when she back home.  As previously mentioned, Maxon seems to understand America's way of thinking greatly and while America doesn't completely get Maxon, as he keeps some stuff to himself, she shows through her actions how much she cares for him and regrets how her slight rebellion towards the end causes consequences for the young prince.

Now to one of my major bugbears, the fact that love triangles appear yet again; they seem to be a constant feature in young adult fiction while it is clear in some books which way the protagonist will go.  America appears to be in love with both Maxon and Aspen as she shows just as much affection to them both but her relationship with Aspen could put them both (and maybe their families) in danger as it is seen as a crime for a member of the Selection to be consorting with a member of the Palace Guard; having a love triangle between America, Aspen and Maxon appears to just make the book slightly more interesting as she tries to choose between the two, despite wanting to stay in the Selection, with the chance to be queen.

The love triangle between America, Maxon, and Kriss, though irritating, works better than that of America, Aspen, and Maxon's because America and Kriss are effectively competing to be the new princess and later queen which is what the Selection is all about.  However, for me, this new love triangle seems sudden and a bit harsh in the book and would have been more effective if it had been established in the first book, though it is explained that Maxon wasn't really looking at anyone else because he was entirely focussed on America.

If you were to take Aspen out of this book, the way America behaves would still make sense because he has nothing to do with her little stunt at the Report and Maxon doesn't even know about America's relationship with Aspen so it wouldn't affect how he feels about her because he doesn't know he has competition while she does know about Kriss and the others.

I was overwhelmed. He understood me so well, how nervous I was about making this commitment, how frightening it was for me to become a princess. He was going to give me every last second he could and, in the meantime, lavish me with everything possible. I had another one of those moments when I couldn’t believe this was all happening. 

“That’s not fair, Maxon,” I mumbled. “What in the world am I supposed to be able to give you?”

He smiled. “All I want is your promise to stay with me, to be mine. Sometimes it feels like you can’t possibly be real. Promise me you’ll stay.”

“Of course, I promise.” - Page 81

I love this part of The Elite because it really shows how well America and Maxon work as a couple because he understands how she feels on certain matters and she wants to repay him in kind because she wants to show him how much she cares for him too.  It shows how patient Maxon is and how America sees him, a sweet, caring guy, not just a prince.

I honestly can't wait for the next book, I need to know what happens despite my complaining; I wish 2014 would hurry up.

Predictions

1. The King tells America he knows about her and Aspen (he sees everything in the palace)

2. America and Aspen will be found out just as she is finishing it with him, deciding to commit to Maxon, but Maxon refuses to do anything about it even though it breaks his heart
3. America tries to convince Maxon to get rid of the caste system

Other Books by Kiera Cass