Book Review: The Crown by Kiera Cass

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: Yes - Book #5 in The Selection. Final Book.

Cover: As said before, I'm not a fan of models on the cover. That being said, I think this might be my least favorite cover out of the series. My favorite cover in the selection series is The One.

Rating: 3/5 I believe The Selection should have been a trilogy. Book 4 & 5 should have been small novellas instead. I felt as if this book dragged on and on until the very last 50 pages. This is going to be a long review. 

 

Review: Hello everyone! When I read the first three books of The Selection series, I thought they were alright. I enjoyed reading through America's struggle and the conflict between the kingdom and its people. I felt that in the first three books there was a bigger conflict to solve besides romance. With The Heir and The Crown, the books only had the average teenage love problems that many people face. The only difference is that Eadlyn has a harem of men to choose from. I do understand that this is a Young Adult novel and its target audience is for people younger than I am, but I believe there could have been another approach to the last two books to have made them better. Overall, this book felt very rushed.

While reading, I felt very disconnected from Eadlyn. She seemed so far out there that it was hard for me to feel much for her. I wasn't sad when she was sad nor happy when she was happy. To be honest, I was annoyed of her personality through the book. I get that she is a princess and was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she wasn't attractive to me at all. If anything, I rooted for the Elites more than the protagonist.

One thing that I missed are the details that were in the first three books. The first three books were a process of making one random lucky girl into a princess! It was fun reading about designing gowns, having parties, and seeing the huge variety of characters. America and the other girls were very different, there were polite, quiet, rowdy, and intimidating girls. For Eadlyn, all the boys were kind and sweet, but only a couple things set them apart. The last two books were so rushed that I did not feel heavily invested into the characters.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I wanted HALE to win. I was sad that he didn't but hey, he got his own love ahead of him. Thank goodness Eadlyn picked my #2 guy. Sorry Henri, you're sweet and all, but hopefully you'll be able to find a sweet girl to be with. Not to mention he felt like a little kid to me due to the language barrier. As for the other guys, I didn't care much about them either (sorry Kile fans). 

The Schreave family is a chaotic mess. Ahren decides to just leave his family, POOF, with no contact after his marriage. Maxon (dad) just abandons the kingdom and his duties to be with his wife. I understand that his wife nearly died, but he just gave a MASSIVE kingdom to an 18-year-old who's approval ratings are not the best. America (mom) was alright in this book. She was kinda not there to do much of anything so there's nothing to say. Eadlyn is spoiled. She literally did whatever she wanted with zero consequences. Kaden honestly should rule the kingdom. Maybe when he's older. Osten I have no comment on.

Onto the ending! The book should have been just the last 50 pages. I'm glad Eadlyn picked Erik. Some things I knew were going to happen, such as, America not dying (she's literally the queen of the series, very rarely will the author kill the protagonist in a YA novel), Marid being evil, Kile not being selected, and Eadlyn becoming queen somehow. What I was shocked about was HALE (sorry I need to capitalize his name every time because I really liked him :( ) and him coming out of the closet. Honestly, I'm really happy for him and I hope he lives happily ever after making the best clothes in the kingdom. 

PHEW!!!!!!! That was a long review/rant. Thank you to all that have read to this point. I'm glad I finished the series. I wonder what other books Cass will write in the future. 

Favorite Quote:

"Maybe it's not the first kisses that are supposed to be special. Maybe it's the last ones."

Top 3 Favorite Characters:

HALE - Something every day. You hear that?! SOMETHING. EVERY. DAY. This guy is so smooth, I just want him. He's so sweet, kind and considerate. Too good for Eadlyn anyway.

Erik/Eikko - He is another kind character. He really cared for Eadlyn's feelings and wellbeing. He has a lot of patience and consideration for people that are around him. Also, his exchange of rings?! Too cute.

Neena - Bless this girl for dealing with Eadlyn. She better get a bigger pay raise in the future. I don't think I would be able to serve Eadlyn even a third as well as she does. 

Buy it on Amazon: 

The Crown (The Selection)