The Selection

The Selection

Author	Kiera Cass
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Selection Series
Subject	Futuristic royalty
Publisher	HarperTeen
Publication date	April 24, 2012
Media type	Print, ebook, audiobook
Pages	336 pages
ISBN	ISBN 0062059939
Followed by	The Elite , The One, and The Heir

The Selection is a 2012 young adult novel by Kiera Cass and the first book in The Selection trilogy. The book was first published on April 24, 2012 through HarperTeen and was optioned for a potential television series through the CW, but was not picked up.^[1] The novel was followed up with the 2013 release of The Elite, the second book in the trilogy,^[2] and The Prince, a novella narrated from the viewpoint of Prince Maxon, and "The Guard" a novella told by the point of view of Aspen ^[3]

Of the series, Cass stated that she began writing The Selection after thinking about the differences between Esther and Cinderella, wondering if either of them were happy with how they ended up.^[4] She also commented that she had written the book "from start to finish", while her writing process for the other books differed.^[5]

Summary

America Singer lives in a world with 'castes.' There are numbers. The higher, the richer. She is a Five, and has just received a notice stating that the prince of Illéa, Maxon Schreave, will be holding the Selection, a competition for the prince's hand and a crown. Despite pressure from her mother, Magda and sister, May, America has no interest in entering the competition, because she already has Aspen, her secret boyfriend. She has been secretly seeing him in her tree house for two years. Aspen's begging America to take up the opportunity at a better life, although America wishes to marry him no matter what, and does not want the Prince. Her mother bribes her later, which is keeping half of what she earns at her jobs (she is a musician like her mother). America also agrees that she will enter after Aspen told her to try.This leads America to entering the Selection and later into the palace where she has to compete with 34 other girls to win the prince's heart. At first, she doesn't like the Prince. But slowly, there friendship develops. Eventually, America realises that she likes him. This leads to the pair kissing, on America's balcony one day. It is Maxons first kiss. Meanwhile, rebels constantly attac the palace, leading weak-hearted competitors to leave, but also makes things tense, especially when the rebels seem to be getting closer. Things also become tense in the competition when America starts to feel jealous of Maxon spending time with the other Selected. America eventually sees Aspen again when he enters the palace as a new member of the guard. He was drafted into the palaces defences where he earned top honors. Aspen's appearance confuses America's feelings even more and she begins to feel like she is still in love with him. Having any kind of romantic relationship with someone other than the prince during the competition is considered treason, and the punishment for treason can be as severe as death. Despite knowing the consequence, America can't help but be with Aspen. Soon, 6 contestants are left. America is happy when she is chosen to be part of the Elite. With this in mind, she tells Aspen that she cannot continue their romantic liaisons. Instead of getting discouraged, Aspen claims that he will fight even harder to win her love again over Maxon. The book ends with America finally realizing that she is exactly where she ought to be — among The Elite. However America still does not reject Aspen completely fearing being sent home and not having anyone to go back to.

Reception

Publishers Weekly gave a positive review for the book, praising the character of America.^[6] The School Library Journal, MTV, and Booklist all gave positive reviews for The Selection,^[7] while in contrast Kirkus Reviews panned the novel.^[8][9][10] The AV Club gave a mostly positive review, commenting that it "is something of a Hunger Games rip-off, but at least it’s an entertaining one".^[11]

Television series & film adaption

In 2012, Cass announced that CW had optioned the rights to her series with the intent of turning it into a television series.^[12] The series would star Aimee Teegarden as America Singer, but the initial pilot shot for the series was not picked up for a series.^[13] A second pilot was ordered for the CW, starring Yael Grobglas^[14][15] but was also not picked up by the network.^[16]

In 2015, it was announced that Warner Bros. had bought the film rights of the book. Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan of DiNovi Pictures’ will produce alongside Pouya Shahbazian. Katie Lovejoy will write the screenplay.^[17]

References