The Crown (The Selection, #5) by Kiera Cass Also by this author: The Selection, The One, The Heir (The Selection, #4)
Series: The Selection #5
Also in this series: The Selection, The One, The Heir (The Selection, #4)
Published by HarperTeen on May 3rd 2016
Pages: 279 •Goodreads
When Eadlyn became the first princess of Illéa to hold her own Selection, she didn’t think she would fall in love with any of her thirty-five suitors. She spent the first few weeks of the competition counting down the days until she could send them all home. But as events at the palace force Eadlyn even further into the spotlight, she realizes that she might not be content remaining alone.
Eadlyn still isn’t sure she’ll find the fairytale ending her parents did twenty years ago. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you…and soon Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more impossible—and more important—than she ever imagined.
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 View Spoiler » 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 View Spoiler »
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.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Goodreads Challenge 2016
- Rock My TBR 2016
Your first sentence … SO TRUE!
I liked The One. I haven’t been able to convince myself to pick up another book from the series because I don’t want to continue the roller coaster of loving the books to hating the books and back again. It sounds like this one starts to get into some of the stuff that I actually wanted more of in the first 3 books: the politics, the world-building, etc. But I agree that none of that was really fleshed out enough for it to be a strong focus for an entire book (unless that changed since The One).
Yes, unfortunately those world building elements such as politics are really not fleshed out enough early on in the series to be able to hold up as major plot elements, just like you said, so the fact that all of the sudden they become featured so prominenly in this book just didn’t mesh well. At this point, after so many books that focus so heavily on the Selection/reality TV show elements, that’s what I wanted as the conclusion, you know?
The A Court of Mist and Fury hangover is REAL! Mine was really bad. I’m out of it now, but for a while, all I wanted to do was read that book over again for the first time!
Right?! For a few nights all I could really do was re-read my favorite parts hahaha
Can’t agree more. I am a huge fan of Selection until this last series The Crown. Spoiler. Slow story, not focus and confusion. Totally so much boring moment during my reading time just to finish. From The Heir, Kile always the brighter character. In sudden turned to Erik @ Eikko, after only with few occasion/ moment which not really important. Sure if Eady end up with Kile is so much predictable, but still it is more close to reality. Or at least create the better character of Erik which make him so special to be a Prince Consort. So sorry Kiera, all the series I vote for 5/5, but this 2/5…
Yes, Kile was really the favorite in reading The Heir! His relationship with Eady was so important and grew so much, so I was shocked and disappointed to see him pushed to the background in The Crown in favor of Erik! I also agree that if Erik was to be the final love interest that he could’ve been fleshed out a LOT more. And then poor Henri really just got left in the dust of all of this.
Honestly I have to admit I did not enjoy the crown as much as the the selection first three books based on the story of Maxon and America. I have to admit that I found this story on Eadlyn too rushed and the crown didn’t explain much on what happens about the caste and personal wise i think Eadlyn’s love story was way too rapid. I mean after spending some time with Erik will she be able to spend the rest of her life with him?
I completely agree. I think in the Heir I saw that it was hitting toward Erik but I was hoping it was just a red herring put in the story to throw readers off. I was really rooting for Kyle, and it was frustrating to see the end game be with a character who readers weren’t really invested in!
Kile and Eady’s chemistry was just palpable which is why, I’m still wondering why she ended up with Erik who she only shared a moment with. Too bad her supposed relationship with Kile was indeed short-lived.
RIGHT?! They were such a fun couple to read about and I felt actually convinced by their attraction, so it was a HUGE disappointment when she ended up with Erik seemingly out of the blue!