Review: The Crown by Kiera Cass

The Crown

Kiera Cass

(The Selection #5)

Publication Date: May 3, 2016

Hardcover, 279 pages, HarperTeen

Genres: YA, Dystopian

Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

When Eadlyn became the first princess of Illéa to hold her own Selection, she didn’t think she would fall in love with any of her thirty-five suitors. She spent the first few weeks of the competition counting down the days until she could send them all home. But as events at the palace force Eadlyn even further into the spotlight, she realizes that she might not be content remaining alone.

Eadlyn still isn’t sure she’ll find the fairytale ending her parents did twenty years ago. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you…and soon Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more impossible—and more important—than she ever imagined.

My Review

So once again the America Singer gang is back to do… whatever it is the royalty in Illéa actually do. Which seems like a whole lot of nada. And, as most people can probably relate to, The Selection series was not my favorite and it had some major problems, but it was entertaining in its own way. The Heir and The Crown, though, have absolutely no value to the world Cass has built. Let me tell you why I think so.

First, let’s talk about the characters. Absolutely none of them seem real. The boys are two-dimensional, Eadlyn is two-dimensional, and her siblings are two-dimensional. It’s just absurd how fake they all were. While The Selection trilogy had some character development and seemingly realistic male and female characters, it seems like Cass put no effort whatsoever in creating characters for this duology that had their own thoughts and feelings. All of the boys constantly kissed Eadlyn’s butt and none of them were really that different from the next boy in line.

 I feel like my character rant could go on forever, so I’m just going to move on to the plot. My major issue with the plot does not revolve around Eadlyn stepping up to help her father, King Maxon, after everything that happened in The Heir. What does bother me is the fact that her father agreed to a certain spoilery arrangement, just because it would make his life easier. No real father would have done that to his child. No real king would have done that to an unprepared princess.

My second major issue plot-wise was who Eadlyn chose. This, like with the father-daughter dilemma, does not revolve around Eadlyn’s actual choice. It revolves around the fact that I was unemotionally invested in the boys that by the time I got halfway through the book, I realized I didn’t care who she chose. That should never happen in a good book. I should always care who the main character ends up with. Always.

Now, you might wonder why, if I claim to have this much ill-will towards this book, that I am giving it 2.5 stars instead of 1. Well, that’s a sort-of simple answer: the ending managed to redeem a few qualities. Eadlyn did manage to step up, and the way her family situation worked out did kind of fix itself into a way I was comfortable with. I still didn’t believe it could happen, but the way it was explained later on in the book felt a little more realistic. Also, a wee bit more character development happened towards the end, but it was nowhere near what I really wanted.

All in all, I’m sure, if you read and enjoyed the books in The Selection series, you’re probably going to read this one in order to finish the entire series. However, if you want to keep things where they left off in The One and are unsure about continuing, just don’t bother picking this book up. It won’t add very much to your overall experience, especially considering both books are ridiculously short and it seems like Cass had no investment in the story. It actually seems like the publisher pushed her to write the spin-off books more than Cass was actually willing to write them, and that’s just sad.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.