The Selection Series by Kiera Cass is a YA historical fantasy that sees thirty-five young women pitted against each other to win the hand of the young Prince Maxon. America Singer is our heroine in this series. She is smart, witty, passionate and headstrong, a clear front runner for Prince Maxon's heart but not the obvious choice for the crown.
What I like about this series is while you know exactly how it's going to end, you're still worried that the outcome you want might not come true. (It's bit like the opposite of watching Titantic- where time and time again I will the ending to change).
Cass is a master of portraying the contrariness of humans. When it comes to decision making, Cass shows us how stupid we can all be and how so often we make decisions to spite others and invariably spite ourselves. Countless times throughout the book I had an internal grumble at America for doing something stupid or going against her previous decision. But, that's life. And, the decision making process in this series kept me coming back from more.
I recommend this series to anyone who is looking to lose themselves in an imaginary world that features strong, independent women, real life confusion and vivid description.
My favourites
Favourite character: Prince Maxon
Favourite scene: America running from the castle at night
Favourite outfit: They're all stunning!
So now that I have convinced you to read The Selection Series I want to talk about a book my sister recently gave me to read called Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.
This is a fantastic book which encourages you to find the magic and feel the power of creativity all around you. One of the anecdotes in the book I found most interesting was a story about how Gilbert met someone who wrote a novel that matched a novel idea she had when she was younger. Same general idea, same setting, same characters (kind of), and so Elizabeth Gilbert developed the theory that ideas (especially creative ones) have a life of their own.
Gilbert fathomed that ideas do not stay in one place. Instead they jump around and look for the best person to set them free. When I first read Big Magic I was a bit sceptical thinking it must just be a coincidence. That was until I read The Selection Series...
Fact 1: Kiera Cass and I have never met. We have never come into contact (unless we have unknowingly passed each other in an airport).
Fact 2: When I was younger I had a recurring dream about being entered into a competition with lots of other young women to win the hand of a Prince.
Fact 3: I never told anyone about this dream and after a couple of years I stopped having it.
Fact 4: I have read an alternative version of Scheherazade (I forget now the name of the book) and believed this was where my dream originated from.
Fact 5: The Selection series is uncannily like my dream.
Fact 6: In no way do I think Kiera Cass "stole my dream" because that would be physically impossible.
And so, looking at all the facts it would be logical to believe that the idea I had that spawned in my dreams left me when I failed to do anything with it and moved on until it found the talented Kiera Cass who successfully turned it into The Selection Series.
So I suppose, it is no surprise that I really like this book series. I struggled a little moving on from the first three where we focus on one generation to then move onto the next generation with the fourth book. But, other than that I thoroughly enjoy the series. It is easy to read (in the best way), it is funny, it is fantastical and it brings alive my dream of wanting to be a Princess.
***Word of warning*** you might as well buy the whole series at the start as otherwise you will just be annoyed when you finish one book and then have to pause before getting started on the next.
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