Review: The Crown

The Crown by Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection
Genres: Young Adult, Romance
Maturity Level: 3
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆

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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.

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Just silly. And not in a good way.

I guess the entire series has been rather ridiculous, but as the first book was also mildly interesting I overlooked it a little. But after having waited weeks to read the last installment (please, in the name of all that is good, let this be the last one) I was looking at it with a fresh set of eyes. And it was just plain silly.

To start with, we have not the typical YA love triangle, but more of a love octangle. Eadelyn starts the book unsure of which direction she will go, liking all of the boys relatively equally, at one point even saying “they’re all front runners.” But then, about three-quarters through, she miraculously knows exactly what it is to love and finds her soul mate in a few short and very contrived pages. Everything is painfully long and drawn out, only to rush to the end at the last possible second. And whereas the first half of this series had a believable Bachelor experience where the prince went on multiple dates with each girl, Eadelyn never ever spends any time with any of the boys but two in this book. The entire thing was poorly written and stupid.

Then there was the teetering political situation. While this whole book reads as a very pro-monarchy statement, which I am a huge fan of, by the way, the politics basically didn’t make any sense. Cass tried to make the whole thing politically charged, but it really just came across as Eadelyn whining about how nobody liked her, but then not really doing anything. Or Eadelyn whining about how much work being queen is, but then never really doing any work. Or somebody trying to usurp her throne, only to be thwarted by a simple engagement. It just wasn’t real.

And finally, as the entire series has been, this book was plagued by terrible dialogue and people reacting inappropriately to it. Doubling over laughing about things that aren’t funny. That sort of thing.

But, I have to admit, I (guiltily and embarrassingly) enjoyed The Crown. Even though it was awful I just HAD to find out what happened in the end. And while the end was both predictable, rushed, and badly paced, (with the world’s worst epilogue), I am glad I read it. Only that saved it from a one star.