The Elite by Kiera Cass

Title: The Elite
Author: Kiera Cass
Published:HarperTeen, April 2013
Genre: Young adult dystopia
How I got the book: I bought it

Summary:

The Selection began with thirty-five girls.

Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon’s heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen?

America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want—and America’s chance to choose is about to slip away.

My Review:

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book as soon as I finished the first one, The Selection. I went out right away and bought this one and the third book.

The characters disappointed me in this book, I have to admit. As much as I love Maxon, America, and Aspen, they all seemed to get on my nerves, America especially. America flip-flopped between Aspen, her first love, and Maxon, her current love. While I understand those feelings, they recurred throughout most of the novel and it got really old really fast. She egged both Aspen and Maxon on secretively, which wasn’t fair to either one of them. Aspen didn’t care about America’s situation and only cared about getting her back for himself which seemed selfish to me. Poor Maxon just has no idea what was going on behind his back the entire time. He only knew something was up because America was always moody towards him.

That’s another thing: America was a jerk to Maxon for most of the novel. She got jealous every time he hung out with the other girls from the selection as though he was cheating on her. However, she never told him she loved him and Maxon needs to do what’s best for him and what he feels is right. He wanted America, but she kept pushing him away. When she got jealous, she went crawling back to Aspen and would end up fighting with Maxon.

It was a vicious love triangle, one I didn’t care to follow.

Maxon has narrowed 35 girls down to six. He has to keep eliminating them until he gets down to one, the one he wants to marry and become queen. Except, as I mentioned before, most of the book surrounded itself around the love triangle between Maxon, Aspen, and America. That, to me, seemed to be the main plot and it didn’t do anything for me. I’m all for love triangles, but I felt as though this was carried on for far too long.

Kiera Cass has a wonderful writing style. The novel is told in first person through America. She really brings out America’s personality and you see the world through her eyes. The world Cass created is awesome and while I would never want to live there, it certainly is an interesting place to imagine. With that said, Cass has made such an interesting tale through a fictional world and beautiful writing.

Between some of the characters and the writing, this was definitely a good book. I thought the first one was much better, but this book didn’t stop me from reading it in one sitting and then picking up the third book right away.

The Elite by Kiera Cass gets…
4 out of 5 stars