Apart from
film review posts, I haven't posted anything about any books because I've been
busy with work and I've found a book I really have been struggling to get into,
Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons by Matthew
Fort, which I'm really not connecting with.
However, I pre-ordered The One by
Kiera Cass ages ago when I first heard it was coming out and it arrived on the
8th May so I ripped open the box and started reading it immediately.
The One is the third and final book in Kiera Cass's The Selection trilogy which is centred around America Singer, a young woman who is from an underprivileged area of the kingdom Maxon is the heir to. When Maxon turned nineteen, his father decided that it was time for the prince to marry. The traditional way of finding the prince's bride is to hold the Selection where thirty five eligible girls are selected from a pool and sometimes it can take months, even years, and the prince can get to know each girl and decide which one will be his wife but now the King is getting desperate to quell the rebellion that is sparking in his country. America only put herself in the pool for the Selection because her boyfriend at the time, Aspen, told her to go for it because it would be her best chance at a better life rather than staying with him forever. America is still reeling from her break up with Aspen when she enters the palace as part of the Selection and unintentionally insults Maxon on the first night but fortunately their relationship grows over the course of the series despite some bumps in the road, including America pissing off the King so much at the end of The Elite that she is nearly kicked out and has greatly upset Maxon to the point where she wants to prove that she does indeed love Maxon, however hard it will be.
The One is the third and final book in Kiera Cass's The Selection trilogy which is centred around America Singer, a young woman who is from an underprivileged area of the kingdom Maxon is the heir to. When Maxon turned nineteen, his father decided that it was time for the prince to marry. The traditional way of finding the prince's bride is to hold the Selection where thirty five eligible girls are selected from a pool and sometimes it can take months, even years, and the prince can get to know each girl and decide which one will be his wife but now the King is getting desperate to quell the rebellion that is sparking in his country. America only put herself in the pool for the Selection because her boyfriend at the time, Aspen, told her to go for it because it would be her best chance at a better life rather than staying with him forever. America is still reeling from her break up with Aspen when she enters the palace as part of the Selection and unintentionally insults Maxon on the first night but fortunately their relationship grows over the course of the series despite some bumps in the road, including America pissing off the King so much at the end of The Elite that she is nearly kicked out and has greatly upset Maxon to the point where she wants to prove that she does indeed love Maxon, however hard it will be.
Rating: 10
Recommended To: Those that liked The Hunger Games or Matched
Favourite Characters: America - strong female character; Maxon - still vulnerable but has potential
Favourite Part: He stared me down, determined. "How did the girls find out about you taking my shirt off?"
I looked at the ground, hesitating. "We were watching the guards work out. I said you looked as good as any of them without your shirt on. It slipped out."
Maxon threw back his head and laughed. "I can't be mad about that." - Page 81
Good Points: America and Maxon; the plot of the series; links to previous books
Bad Points: Everything escalated very quickly at the end
The One opens moments into a lesson the remaining girls are having with Silvia when the palace is attacked by rebels so they are forced to hide in one of the safe rooms; the attacks are continuing to escalate though they are more likely to be the Northern rebels who aren't out for blood, they just want to find some information that is inside the palace. On their way to the safe room, the rebels stop attacking but they continue to hide until the king gives the order that it's safe. When they eventually come out of the safe room, America returns to her room to find out she now has a niece as her older sister has given birth which upsets her because she's missed it and isn't able to help out as she loves her family. So America decides that she needs to fully commit to the Selection so it can be finished and she can see her family properly again. Step one, show Maxon he can trust her as she cares about him.
Recommended To: Those that liked The Hunger Games or Matched
Favourite Characters: America - strong female character; Maxon - still vulnerable but has potential
Favourite Part: He stared me down, determined. "How did the girls find out about you taking my shirt off?"
I looked at the ground, hesitating. "We were watching the guards work out. I said you looked as good as any of them without your shirt on. It slipped out."
Maxon threw back his head and laughed. "I can't be mad about that." - Page 81
Good Points: America and Maxon; the plot of the series; links to previous books
Bad Points: Everything escalated very quickly at the end
The One opens moments into a lesson the remaining girls are having with Silvia when the palace is attacked by rebels so they are forced to hide in one of the safe rooms; the attacks are continuing to escalate though they are more likely to be the Northern rebels who aren't out for blood, they just want to find some information that is inside the palace. On their way to the safe room, the rebels stop attacking but they continue to hide until the king gives the order that it's safe. When they eventually come out of the safe room, America returns to her room to find out she now has a niece as her older sister has given birth which upsets her because she's missed it and isn't able to help out as she loves her family. So America decides that she needs to fully commit to the Selection so it can be finished and she can see her family properly again. Step one, show Maxon he can trust her as she cares about him.
I loved
America and Maxon together in this series as they complement one another a lot
better than America and Aspen as a couple as Maxon seems to challenge America
and make her aspire to do something more with her life, something she could do
as queen rather than just being a wife to a soldier. As well as enabling America to make the world
they live in a better place in the end, Maxon and America bring each other out
of their shells; Macon became more confident and stood up to his father more so
than he used to because he questioned the King more with America behind him and
America thinks more about the world around her now instead of just herself and those
closest to her. Waiting for them to be together
at the end is the main I read this series.
I actually
enjoyed the plot until the very rapid end because I loved the action filled
moments that Cass wrote such as when Maxon and America venture out of the
palace to speak with the rebels and it goes wrong. While there aren't a lot of action moments, I
still found them enjoyable and was eager to keep reading to find the next bit
of action. On top of the action moment,
the new characters that were introduced as part of the rebellion allowed more
background and more story to the series.
I've said it before, I tend to find female writers' books to be more
character driven and The One is the
same as it is very focussed on America and her trying to win Maxon's trust back
and this was great in my opinion as I love them a couple and want them to
become king and queen as they complement one another, as I've said before.
Sometimes,
when an author gets further into the series, they seem to forget that there
were previous books but Cass has successfully liked this one to her others
through the minor details as well as the major.
I loved the little mention about the French princess that the King makes
to Maxon as it won't confuse anyone particularly but if you've read The Prince, you know he's talking about
Daphne, Maxon's childhood friend who confessed that she loved him. This is just one small moment but it creates
another moment of jealousy on America's behalf because Maxon didn't tell her
before his father. Moments like this
make me feel proud that I've read a series dedicatedly and I enjoy knowing more
about a character as they become more alive in my head which with constant
reminder of small details, does so.
As I've
said before in other reviews from this series, America was ultimately my
favourite character as I found her to be a strong female character in a number of
ways at first but over the series, I have found the cracks in her character,
the flaws that make her human which makes even more appealing as a protagonist. While I still think of her as a
representation of freedom and rebellion in this world because of her actions in
public and in front of the king but when she is just as vulnerable as Maxon and
makes her even more interesting as weaknesses and vulnerabilities allow a
character to seem more real, more three dimensional.
I think
Maxon will always be one of my favourite characters because I find him
fascinating; the first impression you get of him is a cocky young prince who
has the fate of 35 girls in his hands but it is soon discovered to be a façade as
he opens up to America, one of the only fives in the Selection, someone he
would never normally interact with. Maxon
is just a young man who has trust issues, partially because of his father who
has abused him over the years but also because he's never really socialised
with a lot of people as he is the prince, heir to the kingdom, and wouldn't
have had the chance to do so. Having begun
to understand his way of thinking from The
Prince, I feel I have connected with him even more in this novel which I've
enjoyed as I really felt for him right at the end.
Well, it's been a long time since I've said this about a book but, oh my God, everything escalated very quickly in the last 20 pages or so (yes, I counted) as the entire world around America went to Hell in a hand basket. I found it very overwhelming as Cass seemed to rush everything just to get to the ending which I found odd, granted she was hitting the 300 page mark but she could have kept going. It felt underwhelming for me as an end because I was left partially unsatisfied as I wanted there to be a sense of grandeur towards the end but I felt like I was being pushed out of the book, like I was being pushed out of the cinema or something.
Well, it's been a long time since I've said this about a book but, oh my God, everything escalated very quickly in the last 20 pages or so (yes, I counted) as the entire world around America went to Hell in a hand basket. I found it very overwhelming as Cass seemed to rush everything just to get to the ending which I found odd, granted she was hitting the 300 page mark but she could have kept going. It felt underwhelming for me as an end because I was left partially unsatisfied as I wanted there to be a sense of grandeur towards the end but I felt like I was being pushed out of the book, like I was being pushed out of the cinema or something.
He stared me down, determined. "How did the girls find out about you taking my shirt off?"
I looked at the ground, hesitating. "We were watching the guards work out. I said you looked as good as any of them without your shirt on. It slipped out."
Maxon threw back his head and laughed. "I can't be mad about that."
I adore silly
moments like this when America and Maxon are completely alone and speaking with
one another as I seem to read a flirtatious tone between them because I like
them as a couple. Light-hearted moments
like this break the tension in this series and show the potential of this
couple without the interference of his father or Aspen or even the other girls
as it would be if they were married and the ones on the throne. I also loved that you could feel the trust
between Maxon and America as he trusted her with his secret in The Elite about his father which is why
he didn't completely freak out when she mentioned she had seen him topless to
the other girls and I love this moment because of that.
I highly recommend this book and series to anyone who enjoys young adult fiction; while it does come under post-apocalyptic/dystopia fiction because it is set in a future world and there is a society characterised by human misery, sometimes with an oppressive or totalitarian government in power, it's more of a romantic series as it's about competing for someone's love rather than survival as most post-apocalyptic/dystopia series are and overthrowing the oppressive powers that be. I also loved the characters of this series too because I saw America as a symbol as well as a character while I fell in love with the vulnerable prince; this is definitely for someone who likes romantic fiction.
I highly recommend this book and series to anyone who enjoys young adult fiction; while it does come under post-apocalyptic/dystopia fiction because it is set in a future world and there is a society characterised by human misery, sometimes with an oppressive or totalitarian government in power, it's more of a romantic series as it's about competing for someone's love rather than survival as most post-apocalyptic/dystopia series are and overthrowing the oppressive powers that be. I also loved the characters of this series too because I saw America as a symbol as well as a character while I fell in love with the vulnerable prince; this is definitely for someone who likes romantic fiction.
Other Books by Kiera Cass
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