Chelsea
Written on Jan 20, 2017
35 suitors entered the Selection. Only 1 will win her heart. The fifth and final captivating novel in Kiera Cass’s #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series!
In The Heir, a new era dawned in the world of The Selection. Twenty years have passed since America Singer and Prince Maxon fell in love, and their daughter is the first princess to hold a Selection of her own.
Eadlyn didn’t think she would find a real partner among the Selection’s thirty-five suitors, let alone true love. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you… and now Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more difficult – and more important – than she ever expected.
- ISBN13 9780008180409
- Publish Date 3 May 2016
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Imprint Harper Fire
- Edition Unabridged edition
- Format Audiobook (WAV)
- Duration 7 hours and 13 minutes
- Language English
- URL http://harpercollins.co.uk
Reviews
Sam@WLABB
Written on Aug 8, 2016
I loved the Selection series, and was very excited to find out we were getting to know the next generation. This book was good. Even though I was able to predict who would be the selected, I was still happy with the choice. I had warm fuzzies and all that. I was most shocked by Maxon's reveal, and I loved it! But, I was left wanting at the end. Maybe I expected more for the last book in this series, which I loved so much. The ending was sweet, but I wanted a real, jump ahead epilogue, and I did not get that.
Overall, a satisfying read, but I wish we got a little more at the end.
Berls
Written on Jul 2, 2016
girlinthepages
Written on May 21, 2016
The Crown starts out with a massive elimination of suitors to narrow The Selection down to the Elite, which in itself seemed like a bit of a cop-out, as seeing The Selection process is the best part about this series. While Eadlyn does undergo a lot of maturing and character growth in this novel, I felt like the focus was much more on her personal issues as a ruler rather than on The Selection itself, which is really the backbone of this series considering the political aspects rely on such thin world building. I wanted to see her go on more dates, have more creative and eye-opening experiences with the boys (such as the cooking date she had in the last book), but rather the contestants started dropping out left and right in ways that felt far too convenient in order to speed the plot along. It was also pretty apparent what route Eadlyn was going to take in who she chose to propose to, and honestly I didn't feel like the attraction was genuine.
The pacing in this book was off too, as several HUGE plot points are introduced and resolved within the last 20 pages or so. These plot points weren't bad, but I just feel like they were the interesting parts of the story that could've served to be developed throughout the first 250 pages that really dragged for me (such a shame when all of the good stuff is condensed at the end). I barely had time to process some of them before the book was over.
Overall: The Crown isn't a bad book, but it's a book that did itself a disservice by the lack of focus on The Selection and cramming all of the interesting plot twists and resolutions into the last 20 pages. I think this book, and series as a whole, lends itself much more to the "tween" audience than it does to a teenage or twenties readership. In full disclosure, it's possible that my enjoyment of this installment could have been marred by the fact that it's the first book I finished in the wake of ACOMAF and thus I was still suffering from my Rhys-induced book hangover. At the end of the day, at least I have a series of beautiful covers sitting on my shelf. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
despair_witch_16
Written on May 16, 2016
cornerfolds
Written on May 13, 2016
DNF @ 50%
Initial reaction:
Before I begin this review I want to say I was totally in love with the original Selection trilogy. Sure, it was mostly romantic fluff, but it was really enjoyable fluff. I was excited when Cass released The Heir. I bought it as soon as it was released and took it on a Caribbean cruise as reading material, but was totally and completely let down by it. I hated Eadlyn and I didn't understand the need for her story in the first place. Maybe you're wondering why I even bothered to review this book if I hated book four so much. In the past I have even discussed why I hate when people review books they don't expect to enjoy. But here's the thing: I wanted this final book to redeem the previous one. I wanted Kiera Cass to change my mind about Eadlyn and blow me away with the last bit of her story, but that did not happen here. In fact, I finally gave up at 50% of the way through.
The Crown picks up immediately after The Heir left off, with America in the hospital and Eadlyn trying to hold everything else together (for some reason). She has let go of several of the boys, directly mirroring the original trilogy, and is insistent upon choosing one of the remaining boys to marry. I will go ahead and tell you there is nothing about this book that I found redeeming (which is obviously why I decided not to continue reading it) so I'm not going to try to sugar coat this review. I actually had a long list of quotes and notes, but I accidentally deleted it, so whoops. I'm just going to wing it!
As with The Heir, there is absolutely no world building to speak of in this book. None. All of the characters remained within the castle walls at all times and honestly I didn't even feel like I could picture any of the rooms in the castle, which is really saying something. I should be able to picture every single nook and cranny of that castle if it's the only location I've seen for two books. Even worse than the lack of a proper world, though, is that these two books are really completely uneccessary. They are literally just The Selection series but with some details tweaked - right down to Eadlyn choosing an Elite to speed things along.
But my absolute biggest issue with these two books remains Eadlyn herself. I couldn't stand her. After The Heir, a lot of people wanted to talk about how Eadlyn had changed, had grown up, become selfless. I don't know what book they were reading, but I must have gotten a defective copy. My Eadlyn was a selfish bitch, at least through the 50% of the book that I made it through. And the thing about it is, I'm not the only one that hates Eadlyn - her entire country hates her too. She cannot figure out why everyone hates her. Part of the problem is that every single person surrounding her is constantly telling her how perfect and amazing and gorgeous and powerful she is. Maybe if someone would knock her down off her high horse, she might actually get a clue.
Other random things that irritated me about The Crown:
- Why is the cover model's dress so big? She's swimming in it. Could they not afford a tailor? In a series that is known for its gorgeous covers, I was really surprised by this.
- Am I to believe that the QUEEN cannot recover from a heart attack (which she had at age 30-something, by the way) in her own rooms? They couldn't roll all their equipment down the hall so she could be comfortable? So the KING could be comfortable instead of sleeping in a chair?
- Similarly, the princess/regent doesn't have a nighttime maid who could go get her some coffee? The regent of a country has to go down to the kitchen and make her own coffee?? And I mean, I get it if she wanted to get her own coffee, but she specifically says there's no one who can get it for her because it's nighttime. Give me a freaking break.
- Am I the only one who thought Kiera Cass made Henri seem like a total moron? I get it. The kid is from another country and doesn't speak English. (Honestly, it's a little unbelievable that someone who was entering this kind of competition wouldn't speak English to begin with, but whatever.) I pictured him as an idiot because that's how he was written. Not speaking a foreign language doesn't make a person dumb. :/
- Since when can a king just decide to stop being king and hand things over to his kid because he's tired of the job? Isn't Queen Elizabeth like, 90 or something now? Why doesn't she just retire and hand things over to Prince Charles?
- The ending. Yes, I asked my friend to spoil it for me and just... what? This seems like a decision that was made solely for shock value. Did Kiera Cass decide this person would win while she was writing this book? Because nothing in The Heir pointed to this.
In case there was still any doubt in your mind, I hated this book. I hoped for redemption from the final book in this never ending series, but I didn't get it. I don't know what happened to Kiera Cass after The One was written. A friend suggested that perhaps she had been kidnapped and someone was writing in her name. That's the only thing that makes sense, really. Do I still recommend The Selection series? Yes, but stop at book three.
Angie
Written on May 13, 2016
The Crown is surprisingly short, which means everything happens very quickly. It does feel rushed, but I suppose that fits the pace that Eadlyn's life has taken on. I do wish all of her troubles had gotten more page time though. She's worried about her mom's health and how her father is taking it. She's still trying to get to know of all the boys (there are a few wonderful surprises!), and let them get to know her. Then there's the matter of someone who she thinks is an ally but might really be furthering their own agenda. A lot happens within a few pages before it comes to a sudden, but happy ending.
I enjoyed The Crown. I loved how the romance portion ended, and I do believe Eadlyn's decision for her country even if it does come across as taking the easy way out. There's really nothing else I can say about it. I liked it, but wanted more out of it.
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
liz089
Written on May 10, 2016
REVIEW.
So here it is, the last part in The Selection series. So let’s recap!
We started with the first book a couple of years back in 2012. I fell completely in love with The Selection and our main character America, she was so fierce and brave ! The way Cass wrote had me completely hooked and I remember finishing this on at 5 in the morning, I kept saying “one more chapter, just until this and this has happened..” That love continued with the second and third book, which came the following years and I felt bad it was finished after The One in 2014.
But then.. All of the sudden two others books were announced ! These were supposed to follow the offspring of America and Maxon, and their eldest daughter got her own Selection.
Mixed opinions of course, some loving to read more about this world, while others thought enough was enough and she was milking the story. Personally, I leaned more towards the latter.
So I read The Heir over a year ago, and now that The Crown was almost released I tried to remember what it was all about. I came up with nothing. I could have told you all about the first three books, how much I felt along with America and Maxon.. but this new Princess? I didn’t even remember her name. So I had to re-read The Heir, and I did like it.. but didn’t love it. It took me a while to get into, and I noticed I had forgotten most of it. Kind of bad that it didn’t leave an impression..
So, onto the last part. Even though I really enjoyed this last book as well, I have to admit that it is not as good as the first three books. Simply said, I just didn’t feel it like I did in the earlier novels. I had much less of a connection to the characters, and I felt like I had been here before, only well.. less exciting.
Even though the main part of the plot is about the Selection, just like the first books, she throws in some issues with the country as well. I liked that, because we see the castes removed at the beginning, and now, years later, we see the after-affects. That is not something I experience a lot when reading, and I really enjoyed seeing how the plan worked out long-term. And mainly, how much more work there was. It is simple to remove the castes, but not to get the castes out of the people.
Like I said before, I don’t have much with the main character.. But I did like the character development in these last two books. Even though she is not my favorite person, I liked seeing the change Eadlyn went through. At the beginning I did not like her at all, she was, just like her people thought, cold, distant and spoiled. Even though she tried, and I tried, I could not get a connection with her. But during the Selection she grew, both as a woman and a Queen.. and I got to feel a little bit more. She learned to open her heart and let others in. Not enough to make me love her, but enough to make me like her a bit more.
The guys were.. well.. Not very impressive. I liked Henry and Eikko from the beginning, but apart from that I did not really care. Yes, Kile was cute too.. but he was just too convenient. Early on it was quite clear who would end up in the Elite.. and well, I was rooting for Eikko (Erik) from The Heir of on, and was not very surprised at the ending..
FINAL THOUGHTS.
I liked it and I had fun reading this last instalment of The Selection. I do have to admit it is nice to read more about how America and Maxon ended up, but honestly? I could have done without. These last two books seem more like a HUGE EPILOGUE. But still, it is nice to read and I really like her writing style. I even finished this one within 24 hours ! So I would like to give this one 3.5 Freyja’s. I really can’t wait to see what she is coming up with next ! Hopefully, something different !
jesstheaudiobookworm
Written on May 9, 2016
My only complaint (you know I have to have one) is that the ending felt a little weak to me. I was expecting a more climactic finish, as we saw in The One, but the author chose to take a more diplomatic (and therefore less exciting) approach to resolving the story's final conflict. There were several perfect opportunities to insert a twist or turn in the plot, but Cass decided to ignore nearly all of them. This ending seemed more similar to that of her standalone novel The Siren than it did to The Selection, which didn't please me that much. I also feel like this installment should have been at least an hour or so longer. It was pretty short for a finale (shorter than the previous four installments) and I think the ending would have benefited from being drawn out a bit more.
While I don't think I enjoyed Eadlyn's story more than her mother's, mostly because of the way it was told, I do think I liked Eadlyn better as a character than America. There were times when America had a pronounced "heroine complex" which could make her hard to stand. Eadlyn was definitely flawed (often coming off as cold and entitled), but that actually drew me to her. I found myself comparing the two women quite a lot. The crossgenerational nature of the final two installments (Eadlyn's story) is one of the best things I have had the pleasure of experiencing as a reader. It's fairly common for authors to explore a character's background and ancestors in special installments or novellas, but few look forward into the future. That's what made Eadlyn's Selection (installments 4 & 5) special to me. I wish more authors would do that (*ahem* Maggie Stiefvater- I want to see Blue Sargent's children).
Narration review: Brittany Pressley was an incredible narrator. I mean, absolutely phenomenal. She went above and beyond what would have been acceptable. She injected so much emotion into the performance that I should actually blame her as much as Kiera Cass for the roller coaster of emotion I went on throughout this experience. And the voices. Oh, the voices! I swear, she adapted her voice in someway for every single character. Which, as you know, was quite a feat because there were a ton of them. She especially did a spectacular job of voicing the male characters, which is not always easy for a female narrator to do. The tone of her voice perfectly conveyed Eadlyn's personality and dripping sarcasm. Everything about Pressley's performance was P-E-R-F-E-C-T. I couldn't have loved it more. ♣︎
Artemis
Written on May 4, 2016
I can't explain why I started reading The Selection other than it was loaned to me by a friend and I wanted mindless young-adult romance entertainment. I had high hopes about this future America as a monarchy and reality tv series books, but was disappointed with each installment.
The Crown, the fifth book in the Selection series, was also a let down but not in the same way as the original trilogy. Unlike America, Eadlyn is a spoiled princess (later queen) who grew up with all this power. Her little motto that she likes to repeat to herself only furthers that image so its no surprise when her people are not as fond of her as her parents. In order to court more public favor she holds a selection to find a husband.
I found the love story to come out of left field. Maybe I read this too quickly and missed the major signs but in no way did I see Eadlyn choosing the Erik the translator and opting for a constitutional monarchy. So points for that. But I found this extremely dull, a little rushed, and overall this series just fell so flat for me. Thanks to boredom on the train I managed to finish it but I feel like Cass had so much potential with the plot and characters and then just didn't delive