The Elite, by Kiera Cass
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- Mad4Books
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The Elite, by Kiera Cass
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I thought that the second installment in The Selection series was more of the same. It didn’t offer that much more than the first one did, except that now America wasn’t just focused on her “maybe” feelings for Prince Maxon but also whether or not she would be good at leading the country.
However, I was confused because in a part of the book it seemed that American’s indecisiveness, which I found extremely irritating after a while, now not only extended into her feelings for Maxon but also into her feelings about being a princess. At one point her judgement clouded her emotions so badly that she was more focused on the ruling aspect of The Selection as opposed to the being married to a prince part. It was as if all her priorities shifted and she no longer even cared about the way she felt about Maxon in the first place or what had made her stay there so long after she’d thought it would be best for her to leave.
I think in this book my opinion of America changed, from someone who took control of her own life and didn’t let anyone walk over her to someone who was very indecisive and it seemed that she lost some of her backbone in this one as well.
Although we finally are introduced to a more serious and pressing issue in this book, towards the end, I felt that this wasn’t really fit smoothly into the story and because of this it made it quite choppy. It went from a fairy tale type of Romance novel to a darker/abusive one. It seemed that the three books could have been compacted into two which would have made for a smoother and more intense read in the long run. The first one was fluff and the second book had much worse things happening so it felt out of balance.
I was actually kind of rooting for America to be sent home, just because she was getting on my nerves with the whole indecisiveness and stuff so when that almost happened, I was kind of excited and thought that something exciting would take place but alas, no such luck. Of course, she was asked to stay by Maxon himself and then it made her realize that she can definitely rule alongside him, especially because Maxon believes in her, even though Aspen doesn’t. Aspen wasn’t very prominent in this book and it seemed to me that she had already distanced herself from him at that point, which didn’t sit very well with me, especially since I’ve always wanted her to end up with him.
I did think that it was good that America finally pissed Maxon of in one way or another because he just always seemed so overly in love with her from the beginning that he didn’t find any fault in her whatsoever, although she has a lot. Finally, he realized that she was a human being with faults of her own and not just a girl he was blinded who couldn’t do anything wrong.
Again, this book is for the younger generation, in my opinion, and also those people who are really into fairy tales and “happily ever after”. I myself prefer darker and more twisted plots. I might read the next book in the series but it’s definitely not up there on my “to read” list whatsoever.
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Rating: 4/5 (to know why, keep on reading)
Truth be told, I read The Selection Series long after it came out, so I didn't get the hype of waiting for the sequel, BUT right after I finished the first book I immediately went over and picked up the second, "The Elite" and let me just tell you, IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT. In fact, I didn't even expect it to, as I fell in love with this series from the first page of the first book. Now, as I continue my review, I will segment it in parts that will be as follows: The characters; The plot; The Setting; The overall experience. So yeah, just keep on reading
P.S. Before you continue, please note that I am not writing this review straight after I put the book down, no. In fact, it has been a couple of months since I read "The Elite", so I will try my hardest to make this review a good one, so bear with me.
THE CHARACTERS
MC - America Singer. Her name alone is already screaming for attention, as this book is set in the near future in the United States hence her patriotic name. Its cool with me, even though I'm not American or anything and I quite like her name and the nicknames that come along with it. Now as for her character... oh boy. Sometimes, this chick really irritated me. Like REALLY. I would have a whole on discussion with her as I stared into the paper, asking her "Why the heck would you say that?" or "What do you think you're doing?" or "Girl, are you even in your right mind?!" And yeah, you get the gist. She kind of irritated me in the first book too, but it got slightly worse with the second one, that is why I can't give this book a complete 5/5.
Maxon Shreave. His name alone makes me swoon over him. Maxon. It just rolls of the tongue in a very sexy way, does it not? Anywaaaaaay that's enough fangirling. In The Elite, him and America grow distant which results him to grow closer to another Elite, Kriss Ambers. Devastating and heartbreaking, I know. This happens because of many reasons, reasons that I will not describe here as they are too long and intense but it does happen, but do not fret, children, because this is a fairytale in its own way and so, has a happy ending. But yeah, Maxon is the good guy, someone who America should really start to see as a friend (perhaps even more than that) because he is not a stuck-up, snob prince who will ruin her life shall she marry him.
Aspen Leger. This fella is America's best boy friend until she discovers that he wanted to marry her. Of course, this news only made her happier, as he loved her back but things changed and blah blah blah and that's not this book. Moving on! Aspen doesn't appear much in the Elite, but will be a key role in The One
THE PLOT
This series has a very interesting, unique, original, breathtaking, awesome plot. Wow, that was a lot of adjectives. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about The Elite. Yes, it was interesting, but it wasn't mind-blowing or didn't want you to go back and re-read it. The Selection aka the first book, was definitely that as was The One, but this transitional book just didn't make it for me. It kind of dragged, actually.
THE SETTING
A lot of YA dystopian books these days are set in apocalyptical United States. To a name a few: The Ward, PODs, The Fifth Wave, The Hunger Games, The Divergent series, Penryn and the End of Days series... and yeah, you get the gist. So I don't even know how to react to the setting to be honest. It didn't bother me nor did it excite me. Okay, perhaps the castle did. Like A LOT! (I'm the girliest girl ever just btw)
THE OVERALL EXPERIENCE
The Elite didn't excite me as did the other books in this series, thats a fact. This book was quite a drag and nothing really important/mind-blowing happened. But what I found absolutely and utterly unbelievable is the fact that I was able to get my sister to read it! Now, the reason why I'm so dumbstruck is because my sister hates books. Despises them. I have recommended so so so many books to her over the last couple of years but she hasn't finished a single one of them UNITL THIS SERIES. She literally stayed up all night and woke up early the next day just to read it. I was horrified, believe me.
In conclusion, I would rate the whole series a 4.5/5 and this book, The Elite, a 4/5.
Thank you.
- lmoses
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The only good thing about this book is that I felt like the writing got better. The first book used simple words and it seemed like it could have been written by a teenager.