I felt a teeny bit fearful as Maxon explained the modus operandi of the South's reign of terror, but otherwise wasn't compelled to worry too much about anything at all. The same goes with the remainder of the story's execution. They loved him and wanted to have his babies. I've read other reviews where the reader fell head-over-heels for Maxon. Let me stress the unstated: this is my opinion only. I've seen The Bachelor, I know how utterly underhanded contestants can be, and those girls weren't competing for an entire freaking country! She had done nothing to earn his trust, nothing to earn such power. I could only shake my head that he would so willingly trust someone he had met only recently. This was it? This was the guy we were supposed to root for? I found him stiff, flat, and startlingly naive for someone entrusted with an entire country. I kid you not, I read Maxon's opening scene and felt a sensation spread through me akin to a balloon deflating. Then we met Maxon, and everything fell apart. Still, I didn't need a gaggle of thirty-five nuances characters, so the stereotypes were okay with me, though I wish a few of them (Marlee!) had been given a bit more depth. Around her swarmed a consortium of supporting characters - the sweet, somewhat naive girl in the form of Marlee, the bimbos, the drama queens, the quiet ones, the ill-fated, the cannon fodder. America was Sandra Bullock - stubborn, opinionated, sometimes ill-mannered, not really in the contest for the right reasons, and clearly fated to stick around til the end. Though the conceit of the Selection itself might be straight out of The Bachelor, the characters were straight out of Miss Congeniality. I love the story of Esther, so I was excited to see how the Selection would play out, even if it meant leaving America's family and friends behind for a time. Even the king and queen don't get the final say.
The final choice for his bride is his alone. Like any protagonist on The Bachelor or King Xerxes from the Esther story, Maxon spends time with all thirty-five girls and winnows them out one by one. Thirty-five women are chosen based on looks, accomplishments, and connections (despite being supposedly pulled at random - yeah right!). Instead of dating like a normal boy, Maxon has his potential brides delivered to him in bulk.
Prince Maxon needs a wife, and being a sweetheart of a boyfriend, Aspen believes that America deserves better than a Six. It's Aspen who pushes America to enter her name into the Selection. Very Romeo and Juliet, though thankfully they were doing smarter things than R&J, like actually discussing important things like kids and finances. Anyways, I enjoyed seeing the heady, teen romance festering between the two. Oh, and she has white skin, red hair, and loves to wear blue! Go figure. too dead-on, you know? She's an independent girl who can sing. Actually, I wasn't too fond of America Singer's name either. I mean, would the Hunger Games have been as powerful without meeting Gale and Prim? Nope.Īspen - sweet, stupid, stubborn Aspen - was a joy to meet despite my dislike of his name. This time was important, because it let me get to know America Singer and her family and Aspen and what she was fighting for. We get to know her, to see how she lives, to meet her friends and family. The first part of The Selection spends time in America's pre-Selection life. At the other end of the spectrum are people like America and her secret love Aspen, a bunch of people just barely scraping by. Twos and Threes are like Districts One and Two - privileged snots. Granted, they're much nicer and don't require citizens to fight to the death, but they're oblivious to the problems of the lower castes, and there's some intimation that the rulers have been involved in some hinky, Big-Brother type dealings. To me, this hierarchy was the Hunger Games part of the equation. I really enjoyed the hierarchy portion of the book. For instance, in America's world, Sixes are servants, Fives like her are poor, starving artists, and Ones are royal. In the country of Illea, citizens are categorized into numerical castes unlike Zero, the lower the number the better. Zero? What's Zero? (For an answer to that, jump to the very end of my review.) But to me, it was more Hunger Games + The Bachelor + the story of Esther + Miss Congeniality + Zero. I've heard several different people compare this book to Hunger Games + The Bachelor. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself-and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.
0 kommentar(er)
