The Selection

The Selection

Author	Kiera Cass
Country	United States and Canada
Language	English
Series	The Selection Series
Subject	romance
Genre	Dystopian, Young adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher	HarperTeen
Publication date	April 24, 2012
Media type	Print, ebook, audiobook
Pages	327 pages
ISBN	978-0-545-61494-8
Followed by	The Elite , The One, and The Heir , The Crown, The Prince, The Guard, The Favorite, The Queen

The Selection is a 2012 young adult novel by Kiera Cass. The first book was published on April 24, 2012 through HarperTeen and was optioned for a potential television series through the CW, but was not picked up.^[1] The novel is followed with the 2013 release of The Elite, the second book in the series, followed by the third book in the series, The One. The fourth book was released on the fifth of May in 2015, named The Heir.^[2] The next book titled The Crown came out on the third of May in 2016. The Prince, a novella narrated from the viewpoint of Prince Maxon, was also released, along with The Guard, a novella told by the point of view of Aspen. Two other novellas, called The Queen and The Favourite were also released.^[3]

Of the series, Cass stated that she began writing The Selection after thinking about the differences between Esther and Cinderella, wondering if either of them were happy with how they ended up.^[4] She also commented that she had written the book "from start to finish", while her writing process for the other books differed.^[5]

Plot

America Singer lives in a world with eight castes depending on one's social and economic status. Ones are the wealthiest and most desirable, with Eights being the lowest and poorest. America is a Five, which consists of the entertainers. Crown Prince Maxon Schreave will be holding the Selection, a competition for the prince's hand and the crown for a princess. Despite pressure from her mother, Magda, and sister, May, America has no interest in entering the competition because she has been secretly dating Aspen, a Six. Aspen urges America to accept the opportunity at a better life. Her mother later bribes her into the Selection by offering to let her keep half of what she earns at her jobs. Later that night, America brings food to Aspen, and Aspen gets upset, believing that he must be the "provider". America is devastated, and at her weakest state, she is chosen for the Selection. Without the support of Aspen, she travels to the palace where she has to compete with 34 other girls to win the prince's heart.

On the way to the palace, America meets some of her competitors: Marlee, who will later become her best friend, Ashley and Celeste. The night before the girls meet the prince, America accidentally meets Maxon. On the verge of tears, America shouts at the prince, calling him "shallow", which surprisingly amuses him. Through their first meeting, America dislikes Maxon, but as the story progresses, a friendship develops. America begs Maxon to let her stay so her family could be supported. All the competition's girls' families will be provided with money.

Eventually, America realizes that she likes the prince. This leads to them kissing on America's balcony, which is also Maxon's first kiss. Meanwhile, rebels constantly attack the palace, making things very tense, especially when the rebels seem to be gaining. Maxon and America's relationship also becomes strained when America becomes jealous of her competitors. During one of Maxon and America's dates, she notices Aspen and realizes that he entered the palace as a new member of the royal guard. Aspen's appearance confuses America, eventually leading to her realizing that she still loves him. One of the Selection's rules states that having a romantic relationship with someone else is considered treason, with the punishment being death. Despite the consequence, America seeks Aspen's help when her jealousy got the better of her.

Characters

• America Singer – The protagonist and narrator of the novel and a member of the elite competing for Prince Maxon's hand. America is 17 years old and has fiery red hair and ice blue eyes. She is very important to Maxon. She was born a five giving her the job of musician. She is described as feisty.
• Prince Maxon – Prince of Illéa, he must eventually decide which of the elite to select as a wife.^[6] He enjoys photography and has blonde hair.
• Aspen Leger – A palace guard and America's ex-boyfriend.^[6] He has black hair and was formerly a six.^[6]
• Marlee Tames – A member of the elite and best friend of America, she harbors a secret. She is blonde and described by America as bubbly.
• Kriss Ambers – A member of the elite. She has brown hair and is a three. America remarks that Kriss has grown closer to Maxon throughout the course of the book.
• Elise Whisks – A member of the elite who has family connections to New Asia, a country that Illéa is at war with.
• Natalie Luca – A member of the elite who deals with a family tragedy (her sister was killed by rebels). She is blonde and viewed by America as someone who has her head in the clouds. Carefree spirit.
• Celeste Newsome – A member of the elite, she is a two and worked as a model. Celeste is a brunette. Celeste and America do not get along and are often in conflict.
• Clarkson Schreave – King of Illéa and Maxon's father, he is often seen as strict. The girls react with fear when he gets angry. America dislikes him.
• Amberly Schreave – Queen of Illéa and Maxon's mother. She is from the south and was a four until she married King Clarkson at the end of his selection. She is described as kind by America.
• Ashley Broulitte — One of America's friends. She is a blonde and has peaceful blue eyes. She is three from the northeast province, Allens. Even though she is jealous of America being with Maxon, she loves to be America's friend. She is often told that she is a lot like Queen Amberly.

Reception

Publishers Weekly gave a positive review for the book, praising the character of America.^[7] The School Library Journal, MTV, and Booklist all gave positive reviews for The Selection^[8] while in contrast, Kirkus Reviews panned the novel.^[9][10][11] The AV Club gave a mostly positive review, commenting that it "is something of a Hunger Games rip-off, but at least it’s an entertaining one".^[12]

Controversy

On January 12, 2012, a one-star review of Cass' book, The Selection, was posted on the book reviewing site Goodreads^[13] and on the reviewer's blog. Later on the same day, Kiera Cass' literary agent, Elana Roth, posted a series of derogatory tweets on the social networking site Twitter. In a conversation that Cass and Roth believed was private—but was, in fact, public—Roth called the reviewer names, and both Roth and Cass collaborated on how best to bump the negative review down and boost positive reviews by manipulating the ranking system themselves.^[14] The controversy sparked an article by Publishers Weekly speaking out against this practice and raised an outcry from multiple reviewers, bloggers, and publications against the cyber-bullying of nonprofessional reviewers by authors and agents.^[15][16][17]

Television series & film adaptation

In 2012, Cass announced that CW had optioned the rights to her series with the intent of turning it into a television series. The series would star Aimee Teegarden^[18] as America Singer, but the pilot was not picked up to series for the fall 2012 television season.^[19][20] A second pilot was ordered for the CW in 2013,^[21] starring Yael Grobglas as America Singer,^[22][23] but was also not picked up by the network.^[24]

In 2015, it was announced that Warner Bros. had bought the film rights of the book. Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan of DiNovi Pictures will produce alongside Pouya Shahbazian. Katie Lovejoy will write the screenplay.^[25]

References