The Crown (The Selection, #5)

by Kiera Cass

[girlinthepages]

I think it's clear to everyone that this series has stunning covers and an addictive presence, and therefore makes many a reader and blogger hit the "purchase" button even if we're on the fence about this series. This has both served me well and disappointed me depending on which book in the series I am reviewing, as some of the books (The Selection, The One, The Heir) I've found decent, quick reads, while others (The Elite, the novellas, etc.) were a chore to read. I went into The Crown with high hopes, seeing as I much preferred Eadlyn to America as a protagonist, and there wasn't that over the top angsty love triangle to suffer through. I liked the inversion of having a selection with male suitors, and the unique challenges and situations that it brought to the story. However, at the end of the day I found myself struggling to finish The Crown, which had the paradoxical feeling of being a slow read with a plot resolution that was far too fast.

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