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A review by readingmissfroggy
The Crown by Kiera Cass
3.0
3.5 stars, it was fun but there were some things that should have been worked out more. And I think that this book could have done that because it is pretty short (just under 300 pages).
Some of the things that I liked:
- Like all Kiera Cass books so far: The Crown is a fun and quick read with some interesting conflicts. What I liked with the original Selection trilogy was that besides the love part we also had some political issues that were being tackled in the books. In this spin-off duology they are even more present because we follow the story from the point of view of the heir. I really enjoyed seeing all the political issues, it adds some interesting stuff to a very romance heavy story.
- For most of the time it wasn't clear which guy would win Eadlyn's heart. I really liked that. With most (ya) books, it is pretty clear who is going to be our guy. With this one, there were a couple of options for a good while.
- I liked most of the characters. I thought that Josie became a lot more interesting in this one, she became more than 'that annoying younger sister of my friend/possible lover'. The boys were interesting in The Heir and they still were that in The Crown. I know that a lot of people complain about Eadlyn but I really like her as a character. She is very flawed, her flaws are obvious and they are the reason why she gets into some trouble. I liked seeing her grow. In the end she is a better person because of what happened in the books but she is by no means perfect now. She is still imperfect, she is still flawed but she knows better how to handle things.
- The ending of the story. I think it was a satisfying one, I'm okay with whom Eadlyn ended up with.
Some things that I didn't like as much:
- While it was interesting that there wasn't a favourite guy for a long time, I also at the same time didn't really care a lot about the romance. There wasn't a couple that I was really rooting for, I thought that all options were okay. I could accept all of them. I wish that there would have been something more in the romance department, so that I could really feel involved with that part of the plot. When the romance did start to happen it at first was a slow burn which I really liked but within one or two meetings it took off like a rocked and I didn't like that that much.
- Miss Marlee was incredibly annoying. Any time she was around and opened her mouth I just let out a sigh. I really liked her in the original Selection trilogy but in this duology she is just so... Annoying. Lucy is a character that I didn't particularly loved in the original trilogy, and I don't love her after this duology. She is boring, very bland. She has some troubles in her life that could have been very interesting, that could have really added some amazing dept to the story but it never reached it's full potential. A missed opportunity to give the character of Lucy and the story some more depth.
- And talking about things that never reached their full potential... The last 100 pages revealed some information that wasn't explained to my satisfaction (can't say what because of spoilers). These revelations were interesting and they added something to the story but I wish that they would have been worked out a bit more. The book is pretty short, add 20/30 more pages were these things are explored a bit more and BAM it would have been so much better already!
- The epilogue could (and should) have been a lot better, it wasn't really an epilogue but more like a conclusion of Eadlyn when reflecting on her thoughts on certain things... That was a bit disappointing especially considering what happened at the end. I would have preferred it if it had been a glimpse into the future or an explanation on how everyone is doing. This whole 'conclusion-on-my-reflections-on-love-and-happiness' thing just didn't do it for me. That last page felt very disappointing.
I'm happy to be done with this duology, it was fun while it lasted. I wouldn't say no to a book series on the selection of Maxon's mom and dad though...
Some of the things that I liked:
- Like all Kiera Cass books so far: The Crown is a fun and quick read with some interesting conflicts. What I liked with the original Selection trilogy was that besides the love part we also had some political issues that were being tackled in the books. In this spin-off duology they are even more present because we follow the story from the point of view of the heir. I really enjoyed seeing all the political issues, it adds some interesting stuff to a very romance heavy story.
- For most of the time it wasn't clear which guy would win Eadlyn's heart. I really liked that. With most (ya) books, it is pretty clear who is going to be our guy. With this one, there were a couple of options for a good while.
- I liked most of the characters. I thought that Josie became a lot more interesting in this one, she became more than 'that annoying younger sister of my friend/possible lover'. The boys were interesting in The Heir and they still were that in The Crown. I know that a lot of people complain about Eadlyn but I really like her as a character. She is very flawed, her flaws are obvious and they are the reason why she gets into some trouble. I liked seeing her grow. In the end she is a better person because of what happened in the books but she is by no means perfect now. She is still imperfect, she is still flawed but she knows better how to handle things.
- The ending of the story. I think it was a satisfying one, I'm okay with whom Eadlyn ended up with.
Some things that I didn't like as much:
- While it was interesting that there wasn't a favourite guy for a long time, I also at the same time didn't really care a lot about the romance. There wasn't a couple that I was really rooting for, I thought that all options were okay. I could accept all of them. I wish that there would have been something more in the romance department, so that I could really feel involved with that part of the plot. When the romance did start to happen it at first was a slow burn which I really liked but within one or two meetings it took off like a rocked and I didn't like that that much.
- Miss Marlee was incredibly annoying. Any time she was around and opened her mouth I just let out a sigh. I really liked her in the original Selection trilogy but in this duology she is just so... Annoying. Lucy is a character that I didn't particularly loved in the original trilogy, and I don't love her after this duology. She is boring, very bland. She has some troubles in her life that could have been very interesting, that could have really added some amazing dept to the story but it never reached it's full potential. A missed opportunity to give the character of Lucy and the story some more depth.
- And talking about things that never reached their full potential... The last 100 pages revealed some information that wasn't explained to my satisfaction (can't say what because of spoilers). These revelations were interesting and they added something to the story but I wish that they would have been worked out a bit more. The book is pretty short, add 20/30 more pages were these things are explored a bit more and BAM it would have been so much better already!
- The epilogue could (and should) have been a lot better, it wasn't really an epilogue but more like a conclusion of Eadlyn when reflecting on her thoughts on certain things... That was a bit disappointing especially considering what happened at the end. I would have preferred it if it had been a glimpse into the future or an explanation on how everyone is doing. This whole 'conclusion-on-my-reflections-on-love-and-happiness' thing just didn't do it for me. That last page felt very disappointing.
I'm happy to be done with this duology, it was fun while it lasted. I wouldn't say no to a book series on the selection of Maxon's mom and dad though...