A review by charlote_1347
The Crown by Kiera Cass

3.0

I have out-paced myself. This book is on my shelf, spine cracked, by lunchtime rather than evening. I simply couldn't stop reading. I needed to know how the Selection, and Eadlyn's reign, would turn out. I spent the whole book flip-flopping in feelings, especially when it came to Eadlyn's romantic interests. I saw the twist with Hale coming a mile away but I did not expect Ean to be his love interest. It was completely perfect, don't get me wrong, but I don't like it when a book takes me by surprise. Not often anyway. Kile was a complete sweetie throughout both books and I loved the fact that he got his happy ending in 'The Crown' without being assigned a girlfriend. It was so refreshing. I felt like Cass's copped out a bit with Fox retreating like he did but I get why she did it. There was an emphasis on how he'd managed to develop such 'deep' feelings when he'd barely seen and spoken to Eadlyn. Ahren's re-entry was staged perfectly too. I liked seeing the queen-veneer crack around Eadlyn the minute she spotted her twin. To be frank I like the slow reveal of her true personality and her admission of her faults a lot more than I've liked it in any book previously I can think of. It seems vital to me that Eadlyn does not apologise for being bossy or spoilt or inconsiderate at times but she also stops using her title and position in society as an excuse for her self-centred behaviour. It's always nice, no matter how quickly you read something, to see your favourite character grow into something special. I can understand why a lot of people dislike this series. There's so much potential in the idea and while I adore the covers and the descriptions and a lot of the interaction, I can't help but think it squandered its ability to deliver a valid, effective social commentary on the world of today. Some people might argue that such heavy content would be inappropriate in a young adult novel but I don't think it's ever too early to start slipping that stuff in. No one benefits from introducing people to shallow, superficial novels whatever age the reader is and The Selection series teetered on that shallow line several times but it did not (quite) fall off.