THE SELECTION changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. Now, only one will claim Prince Maxon’s heart… It’s swoon meets the Hunger Games in the final instalment of THE SELECTION trilogy! For the four girls who remain at the palace, the friendships they’ve formed, rivalries they’ve struggled with and dangers they’ve faced have bound them to each other for the rest of their lives. Now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen. America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown – or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realises just how much she stands to lose – and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.
- Books
- YA Fiction & Indies
- Young Adult Fiction
- The One (The Selection #3)
The One (The Selection #3)
Author(s)
Publisher
Genre(s)
Age Range
13+
Release Date
May 06, 2014
ISBN
978-0062059994
Buy This Book
Editor reviews
2 reviews
A decent conclusion to an interesting trilogy
Overall rating
3.3
Plot
N/A
Characters
N/A
Writing Style
N/A
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
What I Loved: I loved the whole “Selection” parts of the book. Having America interact with the other girls, the Queen (who was in a Selection of her own), and Maxon was definitely the best parts of the book for me. While competing for a guys attention against several other girls isn’t exactly ideal, it’s true that you kind of develop a special relationship with your peers because no one else would understand what you’re going through. I discovered I liked some girls more than I originally thought, and others, not so much. I would’ve been completely happy if the series just focused on this aspect of the story, even if it would’ve turned out to be a bit fluffy.
Left Me Wanting More: I really wanted there to be more romance, whether it was between America and Maxon or American and Aspen (even though I’m pretty much Team Maxon). As much as I loved America and Maxon’s relationship, often times it felt forced and awkward. There were too many moments of misunderstandings and not enough substance for my liking. I kind of didn’t like how the revolution drama was added into the story. Sure, it wasn’t all about the romance, but I would’ve liked the whole series to either focus on “The Selection” (like a dating show kind of thing) or on the revolution. It felt like Cass was trying her best to give equal time to both aspects of her story, and a lot of the time it was kind of just jumbled together and not very well thought out on either end.
Final Verdict: Overall, if you enjoyed this series, you’ll definitely want to see how it ends. It’s obvious though, who America will end up with, but it’s fun to see how they end up together. There was definitely more involving the “revolution” and all that drama than there was romance, but it was still a decent ending to the series. I really enjoyed it.
Left Me Wanting More: I really wanted there to be more romance, whether it was between America and Maxon or American and Aspen (even though I’m pretty much Team Maxon). As much as I loved America and Maxon’s relationship, often times it felt forced and awkward. There were too many moments of misunderstandings and not enough substance for my liking. I kind of didn’t like how the revolution drama was added into the story. Sure, it wasn’t all about the romance, but I would’ve liked the whole series to either focus on “The Selection” (like a dating show kind of thing) or on the revolution. It felt like Cass was trying her best to give equal time to both aspects of her story, and a lot of the time it was kind of just jumbled together and not very well thought out on either end.
Final Verdict: Overall, if you enjoyed this series, you’ll definitely want to see how it ends. It’s obvious though, who America will end up with, but it’s fun to see how they end up together. There was definitely more involving the “revolution” and all that drama than there was romance, but it was still a decent ending to the series. I really enjoyed it.
User reviews
2 reviews
Overall rating
3.7
Plot
3.5(2)
Characters
4.0(2)
Writing Style
3.5(2)
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A(0)
Already have an account? Log in now or Create an account
A mixed bag of emotions
Overall rating
3.0
Plot
3.0
Characters
3.0
Writing Style
3.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
Hmm. How to feel, how to feel, how to feel...
It's hard to know exactly how I'm meant to feel about this book.
On one hand, I'm kinda happy that the series managed to close in such a way (unlike some series' *cough* Divergent *cough*). On the other hand...I'm not totally convinced The One was well thought out.
Why, you may ask?
Simple. Because nothing is actually simple. Nothing! I mean, we've spent two whole books emphasising the fact that nothing about this world, or its characters, is simple. And yet here we are, simplifying things in the final book.
Exhibit A: the over-simplification of emotions
One word: Maxon.
For those who have read The One, only that word is needed to convey my feelings on the issue.
For those who haven't read The One, I'll put it a different way. Needless to say, even now, I'm still totally Team Maxon. But I'm Team Maxon 'Who Actually Has A Detailed & Varying Range of Emotions'.
Not Team Maxon 'My Anger Brings All The Available Girls To The Yard'.
Maxon's anger is often justified (seeing that America has not yet ceased to be an annoyingly predictable mess of a heroine). But it's so...2D. He has tantrums. Yes, you read that right - Maxon has tantrums. And not grown-up ones either.
As Sophie's review of The One put it: 'Newsflash, Maxy-boy. You already did that when you agreed to the Selection. And throwing a temper tantrum like a little boy is not the way to solve your problems.'
I couldn't agree more, Sophie!
As for Aspen...let's not even go there.
I have zero cares to give about Aspen at the moment. End of story!
Welcome to an ending that will make you weep.
True, it isn't Veronica Roth's. But at least Veronica Roth had the decency to write Allegiant's ending properly. She didn't go on a killing spree. She didn't include some major character reversals. She finished things off in the same style she began them...even though she broke all of our hearts in the process!
Basically, nothing about The One flowed.
Flow is so important in books. Stories shouldn't be put together like leftover puzzle pieces. Dialogue shouldn't be stilted, or robotic & forced. The easy way out of the situation shouldn't be just to kill as many characters as possible.
Spoiler alert: lots of characters die.
And most of their deaths can be described in the same way The One's plot can be: pointless. Totally, facepalm-inducingly, pointless.
But, that said, it's still the end of a good series.
This series started off with some amazing concepts and potentially great characters. And although The One didn't manage to reach the same level of awesomeness the previous books did, it's still part of a reasonably good YA series.
So, my rant aside, if you want to find out how it all ends feel free to pick up The One for yourself.
Or...go read some fanfiction. Or write your own ;)
However, there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Why, you may ask?
The answer: http://unlocktheselection.com/
And with that lovely webpage comes an exclusive bonus epilogue for The One which made me a very, very happy fangirl!
There's even some irony in there:
'I made my way across the floor, sampling some hors d’oeuvres on my way. None of the food seemed terribly appealing, though. Maxon’s favorites weren’t necessarily mine, I just had to trust that everyone else would enjoy the selection.'
From a selection of girls to a selection of food, huh?!
There's also an excerpt from the upcoming book The Queen on that page as well, so check it out it get the chance :)
With more books in this series to come, it seems like The One - despite its flaws - doesn't have to carry the weight of being the final book and summing everything up nicely, any longer.
Looking forward to seeing what this series brings us readers soon :)
It's hard to know exactly how I'm meant to feel about this book.
On one hand, I'm kinda happy that the series managed to close in such a way (unlike some series' *cough* Divergent *cough*). On the other hand...I'm not totally convinced The One was well thought out.
Why, you may ask?
Simple. Because nothing is actually simple. Nothing! I mean, we've spent two whole books emphasising the fact that nothing about this world, or its characters, is simple. And yet here we are, simplifying things in the final book.
Exhibit A: the over-simplification of emotions
One word: Maxon.
For those who have read The One, only that word is needed to convey my feelings on the issue.
For those who haven't read The One, I'll put it a different way. Needless to say, even now, I'm still totally Team Maxon. But I'm Team Maxon 'Who Actually Has A Detailed & Varying Range of Emotions'.
Not Team Maxon 'My Anger Brings All The Available Girls To The Yard'.
Maxon's anger is often justified (seeing that America has not yet ceased to be an annoyingly predictable mess of a heroine). But it's so...2D. He has tantrums. Yes, you read that right - Maxon has tantrums. And not grown-up ones either.
As Sophie's review of The One put it: 'Newsflash, Maxy-boy. You already did that when you agreed to the Selection. And throwing a temper tantrum like a little boy is not the way to solve your problems.'
I couldn't agree more, Sophie!
As for Aspen...let's not even go there.
I have zero cares to give about Aspen at the moment. End of story!
Welcome to an ending that will make you weep.
True, it isn't Veronica Roth's. But at least Veronica Roth had the decency to write Allegiant's ending properly. She didn't go on a killing spree. She didn't include some major character reversals. She finished things off in the same style she began them...even though she broke all of our hearts in the process!
Basically, nothing about The One flowed.
Flow is so important in books. Stories shouldn't be put together like leftover puzzle pieces. Dialogue shouldn't be stilted, or robotic & forced. The easy way out of the situation shouldn't be just to kill as many characters as possible.
Spoiler alert: lots of characters die.
And most of their deaths can be described in the same way The One's plot can be: pointless. Totally, facepalm-inducingly, pointless.
But, that said, it's still the end of a good series.
This series started off with some amazing concepts and potentially great characters. And although The One didn't manage to reach the same level of awesomeness the previous books did, it's still part of a reasonably good YA series.
So, my rant aside, if you want to find out how it all ends feel free to pick up The One for yourself.
Or...go read some fanfiction. Or write your own ;)
However, there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Why, you may ask?
The answer: http://unlocktheselection.com/
And with that lovely webpage comes an exclusive bonus epilogue for The One which made me a very, very happy fangirl!
There's even some irony in there:
'I made my way across the floor, sampling some hors d’oeuvres on my way. None of the food seemed terribly appealing, though. Maxon’s favorites weren’t necessarily mine, I just had to trust that everyone else would enjoy the selection.'
From a selection of girls to a selection of food, huh?!
There's also an excerpt from the upcoming book The Queen on that page as well, so check it out it get the chance :)
With more books in this series to come, it seems like The One - despite its flaws - doesn't have to carry the weight of being the final book and summing everything up nicely, any longer.
Looking forward to seeing what this series brings us readers soon :)
The One
Overall rating
4.3
Plot
4.0
Characters
5.0
Writing Style
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
The whole series was gripping. I stayed up until 4 in the morning just to read the first one! The Selection series is a book that is not easily forgotten. All praise to Kiera Cass.
Latest Additions
GET A YABC BUTTON!
We have all sorts of YABC buttons for your website. Grab one here and link to YABC!