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A review by graciegrace1178
The One by Kiera Cass
4.0
My heart!!!!!
Personal themes: series, childhood books, dystopia
WHAT I LIKED
1) America’s dad/America’s relationship with her father (feat. Foils) It took YEARS before YA novels picked up on the positive father/daughter relationship, but I’m so glad they did. It sets a delightful example for young girls! Also from a writing perspective, America and Maxon have foiled relationships with their parents: America has a slightly tense relationship with her mom and a fantastic relationship with her father where Maxon has an incredibly tense relationship with his father and is close with his mother. It’s the yin yang archetype and god do I love it.
2) REBELS! The Star Wars franchise is quaking.
3) unexpected. I’m not gonna reveal anything here but MAN I did not expect a lot of the plot points in this book. The past two have been at least a little predictable but this one really give me whiplash (minor spoiler: RE alliances and deaths.)
4) America as the Rational One (sitcom archetype)/AKA self awareness. Now obviously I know this isn’t a sitcom. But America is really the only rational and down to earth character in this entire book. Everyone else has significant “flaws” which make them more characters than human. This is told from America’s POV which provides significant bias BUT this is the first 1st person POV book I’ve seen in awhile that treats others as characters in a narrative rather than individuals who are the protagonist of their own story. And that makes for a very compelling narrative where it’s VERY easy to root for the narrator and share her biases. I’ve never thought of first person narration and Rational One archetypes together in that light before (and I feel like that’s a really significant discovery for my own writing).
5) Entertaining and easy to read (or listen to on audiobook). I’ve finished three of these things in just about two days so that says just about everything you need to know about the series.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
1) SPOILER: America’s dad DIED?????? I didn’t see that coming and I’m DEVASTATED. He was so good! So real and wholesome! I get that he died for a greater cause but NO!!!! I loved that guy!!! MY HEART. Yay for the emotional range of the series but I’m sobbing.
2) the “a little cliche” problem. Yea okay so this book was a tad cliche. But honestly I still adored it. The purists might be mad about it but I’m not among them and I say bring on the cliches! Looking forward to The Heir.
Personal themes: series, childhood books, dystopia
WHAT I LIKED
1) America’s dad/America’s relationship with her father (feat. Foils) It took YEARS before YA novels picked up on the positive father/daughter relationship, but I’m so glad they did. It sets a delightful example for young girls! Also from a writing perspective, America and Maxon have foiled relationships with their parents: America has a slightly tense relationship with her mom and a fantastic relationship with her father where Maxon has an incredibly tense relationship with his father and is close with his mother. It’s the yin yang archetype and god do I love it.
2) REBELS! The Star Wars franchise is quaking.
3) unexpected. I’m not gonna reveal anything here but MAN I did not expect a lot of the plot points in this book. The past two have been at least a little predictable but this one really give me whiplash (minor spoiler: RE alliances and deaths.)
4) America as the Rational One (sitcom archetype)/AKA self awareness. Now obviously I know this isn’t a sitcom. But America is really the only rational and down to earth character in this entire book. Everyone else has significant “flaws” which make them more characters than human. This is told from America’s POV which provides significant bias BUT this is the first 1st person POV book I’ve seen in awhile that treats others as characters in a narrative rather than individuals who are the protagonist of their own story. And that makes for a very compelling narrative where it’s VERY easy to root for the narrator and share her biases. I’ve never thought of first person narration and Rational One archetypes together in that light before (and I feel like that’s a really significant discovery for my own writing).
5) Entertaining and easy to read (or listen to on audiobook). I’ve finished three of these things in just about two days so that says just about everything you need to know about the series.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
1) SPOILER: America’s dad DIED?????? I didn’t see that coming and I’m DEVASTATED. He was so good! So real and wholesome! I get that he died for a greater cause but NO!!!! I loved that guy!!! MY HEART. Yay for the emotional range of the series but I’m sobbing.
2) the “a little cliche” problem. Yea okay so this book was a tad cliche. But honestly I still adored it. The purists might be mad about it but I’m not among them and I say bring on the cliches! Looking forward to The Heir.