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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
3.5 rounded up to 4
This book definitely lives up to its description in its being a selection x hunger games vibe.
I absolutely enjoyed it and will b finishing the series, but it did strike me as being very very similar to The Selection. Not in a bad way, just in a fairly predictable way.
Either way, I flew through it needing to know what would happen next. It was cheesy, there's no denying it, but I love a bit of cheesiness so Im not complaining.
It definitely took me a while to get properly into this book but after a certain point I couldn't put it down.
This book definitely lives up to its description in its being a selection x hunger games vibe.
I absolutely enjoyed it and will b finishing the series, but it did strike me as being very very similar to The Selection. Not in a bad way, just in a fairly predictable way.
Either way, I flew through it needing to know what would happen next. It was cheesy, there's no denying it, but I love a bit of cheesiness so Im not complaining.
It definitely took me a while to get properly into this book but after a certain point I couldn't put it down.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
This book was so bad. I don’t like giving books bad reviews because if you took the time to write a whole book then I commend you. But the whole time I was reading this I kept thinking how bad it was.
As most reviews said, this book was basically an exact replica of the Selection and the Hunger Games except bad. Zea and Kevon at least had character motivations that made sense, but every other character was so confusing and all over the place. Like I have no idea why everyone hates Zea so intensely to try and kill her at every single turn. Or why the Princess Trials even allow murder in the first place. Like it isn’t like the Hunger Games in that way, the whole point is it’s supposed to be like a beauty pageant so why is murder allowed? Also if Prince Kevon hates the trials so much why is he doing them at all? I have so many questions. Nothing makes sense.
Speaking of nothing making sense, the way the plot commences is so janky and put together in such a weird way. I don’t really know how to explain it but the flow of the story just felt so weird and wrong. Like suddenly someone is being killed or a trial is happening when like one sentence before Zea was just being sad about something and then all of the sudden we’re just in the middle of action and I have no idea how we got there? It feels like plot appears out of nowhere.
There’s also way too much description of technology and how it works. We get it, Zea doesn’t understand technology. But the reader does. So there is a way to show she doesn’t understand technology without having to explain it to the reader every other chapter.
As other reviews have pointed out, Zea-Mays Calico is the stupidest name I have ever heard in my life. I could get past it if it didn’t literally mean Corn Corn Corn. What????
Also there were a lot of typos throughout the book that made it feel like it was never proofread. I also think no one read through it because of the way that everything flowed together so weird. If a copy editor had read it I think it would’ve improved. Unless they did and it ended up like this anyway.
The whole thing just felt like a bad fanfiction.net fanfiction that got put into a book without editing. I think that’s the best way I can describe this book. And hey, I love fanfiction more than the next gal but it has to be good. There is some great fanfiction out there, this book is not that kind. I only read the whole thing because of my free kindle unlimited trial and the fact that it has that trope I am absolute garbage for with the “prince goes undercover and the mc says something brave not knowing it’s him and now he likes her and then she realizes he’s not as bad as she had assumed he would be and they fall in love” trope. I am kinda curious if they’ll end up together and how, but I don’t think I can make it through the next two books. So I’ll probably just read reviews.
Idk, I think this book could be a good read if you don’t care too much about quality, I mean I did enjoy it to some extent, but the whole time I was just going WHY??? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?? THIS MAKES NO SENSE. So take with that what you will.
As most reviews said, this book was basically an exact replica of the Selection and the Hunger Games except bad. Zea and Kevon at least had character motivations that made sense, but every other character was so confusing and all over the place. Like I have no idea why everyone hates Zea so intensely to try and kill her at every single turn. Or why the Princess Trials even allow murder in the first place. Like it isn’t like the Hunger Games in that way, the whole point is it’s supposed to be like a beauty pageant so why is murder allowed? Also if Prince Kevon hates the trials so much why is he doing them at all? I have so many questions. Nothing makes sense.
Speaking of nothing making sense, the way the plot commences is so janky and put together in such a weird way. I don’t really know how to explain it but the flow of the story just felt so weird and wrong. Like suddenly someone is being killed or a trial is happening when like one sentence before Zea was just being sad about something and then all of the sudden we’re just in the middle of action and I have no idea how we got there? It feels like plot appears out of nowhere.
There’s also way too much description of technology and how it works. We get it, Zea doesn’t understand technology. But the reader does. So there is a way to show she doesn’t understand technology without having to explain it to the reader every other chapter.
As other reviews have pointed out, Zea-Mays Calico is the stupidest name I have ever heard in my life. I could get past it if it didn’t literally mean Corn Corn Corn. What????
Also there were a lot of typos throughout the book that made it feel like it was never proofread. I also think no one read through it because of the way that everything flowed together so weird. If a copy editor had read it I think it would’ve improved. Unless they did and it ended up like this anyway.
The whole thing just felt like a bad fanfiction.net fanfiction that got put into a book without editing. I think that’s the best way I can describe this book. And hey, I love fanfiction more than the next gal but it has to be good. There is some great fanfiction out there, this book is not that kind. I only read the whole thing because of my free kindle unlimited trial and the fact that it has that trope I am absolute garbage for with the “prince goes undercover and the mc says something brave not knowing it’s him and now he likes her and then she realizes he’s not as bad as she had assumed he would be and they fall in love” trope. I am kinda curious if they’ll end up together and how, but I don’t think I can make it through the next two books. So I’ll probably just read reviews.
Idk, I think this book could be a good read if you don’t care too much about quality, I mean I did enjoy it to some extent, but the whole time I was just going WHY??? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?? THIS MAKES NO SENSE. So take with that what you will.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
This book is set up like a lot of young adult dystopian books. If you like them, you will probably like this one. I am not a big fan of this genre but I did want to finish the book to see what happened. I think that says quite a bit. It is also on the darker side which I appreciate but I can't tell if I really want to continue the series or not.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I was fully planning on giving this book two-almost-three stars for effort. But then the second part of the book happened, and whoa.
So... the cons:
1. This literally read like a mashup between The Hunger Games and The Selection, exactly as advertised. Maybe too much as advertised. Some of the phrases were eerily similar, and the whole part where thetributes contestants arrive in the Oasis was almost literally ripped out of Panem.
But I guess that there are only so many ideas one can run with when it comes to dystopian novels.
2. The names. I had some issues there. I know it's not easy at all to come up with names for novels, but Zea-Mays Calico... her name reminds me of the song Serendipity by Jimin from BTS with the line that goes "I'm your calico cat"... but I digress. I'm already getting used to it, though. I will hopefully grow fond of it over the next two books.
3. I felt that there was some lack of depth to the characters. I'm hoping this will be corrected in the rest of the series, but for now, they don't seem fleshed out enough. And to be honest, some things were just far too obvious, although I won't mention them here to avoid spoilers.
And now, for the pros:
1. The second half of the book is what switched my rating from two stars to four stars. That was some good storytelling, and I really enjoyed it. Good twists that make me wonder what's going to happen next in the series, although I can already guess a few of the things that will be taking place. But I look forward to seeing how we're going to get to them.
2. The worldbuilding. I wish it had been a little more prolonged to show us how things had come about, but I enjoyed it. Sometimes, authors describe things in too much detail, which can be distracting. This happened a couple of times here, but otherwise, I felt that it was done well. I do hope that we get more details on the world itself in the later books, though.
All in all, this was an entertaining read. Now I'm off to see how the story unfolds!
So... the cons:
1. This literally read like a mashup between The Hunger Games and The Selection, exactly as advertised. Maybe too much as advertised. Some of the phrases were eerily similar, and the whole part where the
But I guess that there are only so many ideas one can run with when it comes to dystopian novels.
2. The names. I had some issues there. I know it's not easy at all to come up with names for novels, but Zea-Mays Calico... her name reminds me of the song Serendipity by Jimin from BTS with the line that goes "I'm your calico cat"... but I digress. I'm already getting used to it, though. I will hopefully grow fond of it over the next two books.
3. I felt that there was some lack of depth to the characters. I'm hoping this will be corrected in the rest of the series, but for now, they don't seem fleshed out enough. And to be honest, some things were just far too obvious, although I won't mention them here to avoid spoilers.
And now, for the pros:
1. The second half of the book is what switched my rating from two stars to four stars. That was some good storytelling, and I really enjoyed it. Good twists that make me wonder what's going to happen next in the series, although I can already guess a few of the things that will be taking place. But I look forward to seeing how we're going to get to them.
2. The worldbuilding. I wish it had been a little more prolonged to show us how things had come about, but I enjoyed it. Sometimes, authors describe things in too much detail, which can be distracting. This happened a couple of times here, but otherwise, I felt that it was done well. I do hope that we get more details on the world itself in the later books, though.
All in all, this was an entertaining read. Now I'm off to see how the story unfolds!
I had my reservations about this book, considering the first time I saw it was on Facebook advertisement. This author did not disappoint. This is the perfect crossover of The Hunger Games and The Selection. Cordelia spared no mercy and I am living for it! This book hit everything I so desperately wanted from The Selection, and even more.
I really enjoyed it yes it was kindof like the selection series but I thought it had its own twist to it and I really enjoyed it. I read the reviews and heard it was like the selection series and hunger games ( I haven’t read that yet) but going into it know that I knew what I was getting into it and still enjoyed it!