Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books on May 7, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Format: Ebook
Pages: 400
Source: Library
Goodreads: ★★★
Kiera Cass’s Number 1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illéa’s royal family into a whole new Selection – and find out what happens after happily ever after.
Kiera Cass’s #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illéa’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!
REVIEW
I was a bit hesitant to jump into The Heir by Kiera Cass after hearing such hit and miss things about it from fans of The Selection series. This book takes place about twenty years after The One, with our main character being Eadlyn Schraeve, America and Maxon’s daughter. While Illéa’s caste system has been disbanded, the provinces are still in trouble. Maxon and America decide that Eadlyn should hold a Selection to provide entertainment for the country while they decide how to solve the political problems. Eadlyn is not a fan of this idea, but decides to go along with it for three months. Of course, the Selection brings more problems than solutions.
If you’ve been following my reviews of this series, you’ll know I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love that these are fun and fast reads, and that is definitely true with The Heir. I find Eadlyn to be a great character and first-person narrator. She is going to be the first woman ruler of Illéa, and has been training for the role her entire life. This makes Eadlyn very confident, knowing she is a powerful woman. While Eadlyn can be a know-it-all, she is actually very naive, and has built a lot of walls around her. I’m quite impressed with how well-developed her character is, and I’m excited to see her growth in the next book.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few things I did not like about this book as well. First, there are still grammatical issues in this series, which really need to be edited. Similarly, I found a few instances where big vocabulary words are used in order to enhance the writing, but they didn’t fit well with the story. The Heir is also extremely predictable, with the exception of a cliffhanger ending. I closed the book feeling as if we only got half of the story. I don’t think it is necessary to split The Heir and The Crown into two books.
Moreover, I also found that the side characters are written in a hot and cold way. I loved how we got to see how the original characters from The Selection are today, but I do want to know more about what happens to all of America’s siblings (we only learn about two of them). Similarly, we also don’t get to meet all of the young men competing in Eadlyn’s Selection. This makes sense at the beginning when there are 35 men, but when the book closes and there are only a handful left, I still don’t know all their names. I find this lack of detail a big weakness of the novel.
Let’s talk a bit about the societal aspects of this book. I am overjoyed that Cass finally alludes to the fact that people in Illéa can be something other than heterosexual. This topic is still not discussed, but it is at least mentioned. I can also tell that Cass is attempting to include a bit more female empowerment in this novel, as Eadlyn is an indpendant woman. However, it’s quite disappointing that female characters typically resort to being the ‘traditional’ woman, and I can see that happening to Eadlyn. I know this series takes place in a dystopian society, but this society is only a step away from our own, and when the series is written for young adults, I think it’s very important to read between the lines and see what teenagers are going to get out of the novel.
Overall, I think The Heir was a good installment in The Selection series. I do enjoy Eadlyn as a main character, and I liked seeing the characters from the original trilogy again. I do recommend this if you really enjoy this series, but otherwise it’s not a must-read. I will be picking up The Crown to complete my read of this series. I just need to know how our time in Illéa will wrap up overall!
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