The One

March 3, 2014
Fans of Cass’s Selection trilogy won’t be disappointed with this satisfying final installment. Lower caste and originally a long shot in the competition, America Singer returns as one of four Elite girls vying for Prince Maxon’s heart and the title of princess of Illea. America is as willful and defiant as ever, making her both a target of King Clarkson’s wrath and the darling of the people of Illea. She and Maxon continue to butt heads even as the chemistry between them remains palpable. The challenges facing the couple are unrelenting: brutal attacks by rebels, new political allies with a clear preference in who is chosen as princess, and ever-tangled relationships with America’s fellow Selected girls. America has the right mix of sass and heart, and her over-the-top royal treatment is enough to make any reader who has ever played dress-up envious. Cass wisely keeps the Selection decision uncertain until the very end, keeping readers on the edge of their seats to find out who Maxon will finally choose as his bride. Ages 13–up. Agent: Elana Roth, Red Tree Literary.

May 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Who will become the future queen of Illea and Prince Maxon's wife? The final book in Cass's "Selection" series begins in the midst of a rebel attack on the palace. The heroine, America, is one of four remaining ladies competing in the selection process in this dystopian saga. Through bravery and a strong character, America has won the people's hearts. However, the king continues doing everything in his power to undermine her opportunities to succeed. While the contestants are competing for Maxon's heart, many other events from the outside world transpire: America's father dies and leaves her a letter, she is shot visiting rebels outside the city, the relationship between Aspen and America shifts, and the Southern rebels begin attacking people in the castles. All the while, the protagonist continues to fall deeply in love with Maxon even though he is involved with her competition. Fans of this series will not be disappointed by the ending. Major plotlines are tied up, and questions left unanswered in the previous installment are resolved here. The star-crossed duo's relationship has its many ups and downs, but their love for each other remains. For general purchase in libraries where the earlier books remain popular and for devotees of beauty pageants, dystopians, and drama-filled romances.-Jesten Ray, Seattle Public Library, WA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014
The 35 Selection candidates have been whittled down to four; whom will Prince Maxon choose? There's contained, competent Elise, sweet, kind Kriss, gorgeous, bitchy Celeste and narrator America, who just can't seem to keep herself from upsetting the apple cart of the Illean monarchy. Her impulsive thoughts and actions--when the bad Southern rebels start picking off victims caste by caste, she advises the populace to fight back--have King Clarkson fuming. He wants America gone, but America and Maxon want each other--maybe. Amid sorties to meet with the nice Northern rebels and the pageantry of the Selection, the tiresome push-pull of Cass' love triangle continues. America and Maxon and America and hometown sweetheart-turned-palace guard Aspen keep coming this close to having the critical conversations that will settle matters; it is this tension, not the pretense of political drama, that maintains the plot. Though there's some attempt made to fill out some of the secondary characterizations, by and large it falls flat. King Clarkson in particular is a cartoon of a blustering strongman; it's impossible to take him at all seriously as a ruling head of state. And for all America's protestations of spunky egalitarianism, there's absolutely nothing in her character or the story structure that does anything but support the corrupt system she supposedly rejects. Readers who think colloquium interruptum is an exceptionally slender premise for a 300-plus-page trilogy conclusion are right. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)

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July 1, 2014
Tension drives this exciting final installment (The Selection; The Elite): Prince Maxon must finally choose a wife, and America and the other three remaining competitors are all vying for his heart. While America's complex relationship with Maxon continues, the political subplot's larger role in their lives refreshingly raises the stakes. Cass keeps readers guessing about the Selection's outcome until the dramatic conclusion.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)