Review: The Heir (The Selection #4) by Kiera Cass
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Series: The Selection #4
Author: Kiera Cass
Published May 7th 2015 by HarperCollins Children's Books
Goodreads Synopsis
Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illea's royal family into a whole new Selection-and find out what happens after happily ever after.
Eighteen years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn't expect her Selection to be anything like her parents' fairy-tale love story...but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought. A new generation of swoonworthy characters and captivating romance awaits in the fourth book of the Selection series!
Goodreads
Review
You know what, that wasn't as bad as I was expecting! This probably isn't the best way to start a review, but I digress. Before I started reading The Heir, I'd seen loads, and I mean a lot, of bad reviews, so it's safe to say I was a bit apprehensive.
The Heir revolves around Eadlyn, the 18 year old daughter of Maxon and America, who is next in line for the throne of Illea. *gasp* A girl - shocking, I know -.- Perhaps I'm slightly biased, being English and all, but I personally think that women can rule countries greater than men, at times. This isn't actually the case in Eadlyn's case. Eadlyn is quite bratty, and self centered, but that didn't bother me as much as it did others. To me, I just thought that was a by product of her being the heir to a throne from birth, and the certain advantages that gives a person. Anyway, a lot of problems are still going on in Illea, even with the caste system being demolished, and to combat this, Maxon and America decide to force their only daughter to go through her own Selection - the first ever female led Selection. After all, we all know how well it worked out for them, without no problems at all(!) Eadlyn agrees to 'act out' the Selection, thoughts she's prepared to bail out after 3 months, without a marriage occurring, just to divert the public from revolution.
From the 35 selected guys chosen to court Eadlyn, there were really only two I liked, and one who wasn't even an actual contender. Kile, Henri, and Erik were the only boys I thought had any sort of positive connection to Eadlyn, and I sincerely hope this remains the case in the following book. Kile Eadlyn had known her entire life, being the son of Marlee, America's best friend. Before his name was announced in the Selection process, Eadlyn basically despised him, but once she got to know him a little better, she definitely appeared to develop feelings for him. Feelings were also developed for Henri, though the language barrier, him being unable to speak more than a few words of English, definitely hindered their courtship. Erik, who was not a contestant, was Henri's translator, and this helped him and Eadlyn to have a quasi-romantic relationship, once which was definitely present towards the end of the book.
The end of the book was a complete rip off though. This was one part that had caused a lot of anger in fellow bloggers, and it's safe to say I agree. The end started off quite well. There were a few revelations that I wasn't expecting, and though they weren't completely shocking, I'm looking forward to seeing how they pan out in book 5. However, the very last thing to happen, if it actually results in a characters death, will seriously annoy me! I feel like it's the kind of thing an author would use if they couldn't think of anything better, and needed to make a cliffhanger in order to keep readers reading the series.
Overall, I didn't hate it, and actually enjoyed parts of it. It wasn't the chore I was expecting it to be, but book 5 could seriously be a chore if the death happens. If you've read books 1-3, the original series, and what we thought was the end, and somewhat enjoyed them, I'd recommend you try this book. But know it's not for everyone. Eadlyn is more annoying than America, though that seems to be due to their different upbringings. Still, it's safe to say I'll definitely be getting book 5 when its released, and I sort of hope this is the end. I'm sick of series ending *cough The Selection and The Mortal Instruments *cough* only to be revived when the author obviously can't come up with new worlds to entice their audiences.
Dates Read:
June 15-19, 2015
Rating
4 Stars
June 15-19, 2015
Rating
4 Stars
2 comments
I just can't get past the fact that after they made SUCH a bog deal about ending The Selection process, they would start it again!
ReplyDeleteKate @ Ex Libris
Me neither, really. They're using their daughter as a propaganda tool, even though they know how hard the process can be, from both sides of the Selection.
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