I am back with another book review, today I am finishing off the Selection series with my review of The Crown by Kiera Cass.
Part of me feels like it's my fault that I don't like this book as much as I could or should have. That I waited too long to finish the series, that I didn't remember enough about the previous book. But then another part of me looks at this book, and everything that happens and I think, ok, my disappointment is justified.
I think my biggest problem with this book was that I just didn't care anymore. I didn't really like Eadlyn and this book was so all over the place, I wasn't invested in the story anymore.
Plot-wise, a lot happens in this book. There's tension over whether or not the queen will recover, Ahren has taken off, Eadlyn is not well liked by the people of Illea, there's some palace intrigue and of course, the Selection is still happening. But none of these issues get fully unpacked and talked about. It was kind of like Cass remembered that this was technically a dystopian novel and was trying to get in some of those elements instead of just a child-bride version of The Bachelorette.
There were a lot of problems in the story that came up, but were never really addressed properly. For example, Eadlyn meets with some people who are upset with the society, but this meeting doesn't really have much affect on things. There is a villain figure who is outsmarted and shut down within two days.
I guess my main problem with this book was that the cutesy, fun bubble that was the main trilogy has popped. The story was just dragging on and I was just kind of tired of it.
I definitely appreciated the feminist elements of the story, how Eadlyn's reign is questioned because she is a woman - at one point even being asked if her decision making was perhaps clouded by her emotions. She stood up for herself and proved that she can do "the king's work" just as well as he could. But these elements were far and few between, and unfortunately didn't help the main story that much.
I think another issue I had with this book was that it wasn't really about the Selection. There were so many other things happening, there was little time for the part I came for. And the suitors were so flat! Even now, I'm not sure I could tell you their names and one thing about them. In general, I found the characters throughout the book were easily confusable and I'm not even sure how half of them fit into the story anymore.
And the guy she ended up with - I totally saw that coming but I really don't see how the reactions she got would be realistic. And I'm sorry, but Maxon explaining how everyone in the family commits treason all the time does. Not. Make. Me. Feel. Better. Like what? The mentality of "we all commit crimes so you can too" is just too much.
I feel like this book was way too short to fully flesh out the story, but also these last two books were totally unnecessary. If you want a decent story, just stick with the main trilogy - these last two books aren't worth it.
Overall, ugh.