Tuesday 10 March 2015

The Elite by Kiera Cass


***The following synopsis and summary contain spoilers for The Selection.***

When America Singer registered for the Selection, she never imagined that she would be one of the thirty-five girls chosen to compete, let alone one of the Elite. Now with only five other girls remaining at the castle, the competition is as fierce as ever. But America struggles to figure out what she wants, to be with Aspen or Maxon. And her time to choose is running out.

Rate: 3.5 stars

This is the second book in The Selection series, so if you have not picked up The Selection and would like to know more about it, I have a review on it as well. Anyways, I didn't enjoy The Elite as much as The Selection. The book wasn't quite as exciting. I think that Kiera Cass could have made the entire Selection process into one book, and what happens after into another. America was just really frustrating in this book. Hopefully her character will develop and she will finally make up her mind in The One.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Okay, so like I said above America was really frustrating. She just couldn't make up her mind. She couldn't choose between Maxon and Aspen. One minute she would be all for marrying Maxon and the next she would be all over Aspen. And that basically describes the entire book. And it is pretty obvious who America will marry, I mean the next book is called The One, and for crying out loud she is wearing an extravagant white dress. Plus The Heir is coming out this year, and that book wouldn't that book have a different title if she married Aspen? Honestly, I'm not too found of any of the characters. I know some people love Maxon, but I don't. Although I don't hate him either. I'm just not too attached to him or Aspen or America.

Thankfully there were some other events taking place during the book. The rebel attacks continued. It seemed like they were searching for certain books that held information of the past. As soon as Maxon showed America the secret library, I knew that was what the rebels were looking for, but that only occurred to America at the end of the book, isn't she supposed to be smart? And while Maxon and America hid away from the rebels together, I was surprised to find out the King had beat Maxon, on various occasions. Well, now we know the King has a nasty side. Oh, and Gregory IllĂ©a as well. He seemed like a good person at first, but when America was reading his journal, we found out that he was not who we thought he was. That's probably why their history is passed down orally. 

As well as the rebel attacks, the girls had to complete various tasks like hosting foreign guests or come up with a philanthropy project. America and Kriss did very well with hosting the Italians, and I was surprised at who well America got along with them. And I was even more surprised that Princess Nicoletta was willing to do something for America to win. Now, America's philanthropy project could have been a good idea if she had thought of a way to actually execute it. I was quite surprised that she had a hard time coming up with ideas. I mean she was starving all the time, so couldn't she have done something about that?

Another exciting event was the whole Marlee thing. Now I was surprised that she and Carter were a thing. But I was sad that we didn't see as much of her after she was whipped. Thanks to Maxon she wasn't completely out of the plot. I was glad that he kept her and Carter around, and that she was able to see America. He went behind his father's back to do the right thing.

I will be picking up The One, but I hope it is better that The Elite. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

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