?The Selection Book Review // ball gowns and intrigue

hey guys my name is Iasmina and welcome
back to my channel I make weekly videos
about books book recommendations
and the publishing world so if that
sounds like something interesting to you
please hit that subscribe button it
really helps me out a lot and today’s
video I’m going to a book review of the
selection by Kiera Cass this is the
first book in the selection series so I
read this recently and I was surprised
I’ll just say I was surprised okay so
the selection is a YA dystopian novel I
think this came out around you know the
whole dystopian frenzy Hunger Games and
things like that and it totally fits
into that genre perfectly so in this
world it’s our world but in the future
after some wars between China and
America and the rest of the world took
place our society looks very different
and people are compartmentalized in
cased s– castes I’m not entirely sure
how to pronounce that actually but
basically they are given a number and
that number gets passed down through
generations and so if you’re born into a
number for example a four or five then
unless you marry into a higher category
so like three or two then you’ll always
be considered

a floor and these
categories also have certain careers
associated with them in certain statuses
as well and so the higher the number so
oh one is a really really famous person
or a royal and then obviously a ten
would be the lowest level of society so
in this first book we follow America
singer our main protagonist who is a
sixteen year old girl who just got her
letter to potentially apply to the
selection now the selection is a world
or is a countrywide event that takes
place if the crown prince of the royal
family is in search of a wife and it’s
kind of like a televised reality show
where all of the eligible single ladies
in the country gets sent a letter and
they have the opportunity to apply to
take part in this selection and
if they make it through then they go to
the palace with all of the other ladies
who have been selected and then it’s
kind of like at the baths or sort of
situation so there is this prince who is
the young eligible bachelor who then has
to choose a wife amongst the selected in
this first book 36 ladies who are
selected and shipped off to the royal
palace and it’s a whole show like you
know they have interviews they have
cameramen surrounding them at all times
they have stylists and things like that
so that’s kind of the premise of this
novel and the series it’s this whole
selection so America singer gets her
letter and at first she has no intention
to apply she thinks silly she thinks
this never would never be any chance for
her to actually get into the initial
selected let alone win but her mother is
very insistent on this she thinks she
could actually win and they also need
the money there are a five a family of
five and they are artists all of them in
this family have artistic capabilities
America’s singer so the family name is
Segura so that kinda gives you an idea
of what they – anyway America does not
want to take part in this not only
because she thinks it’s silly but also
because she has a secret boyfriend
the secret boyfriend is a of a different
cast than her and usually these
interrelationships between members of
the cast are kind of frowned upon and so
they kind of have to keep it a secret
from everyone but then as she’s on a
secret date with her boyfriend
he actually insists that she should
apply as well and so she finally both
bought her boyfriend and by her mother
she is convinced to apply because if she
is selected then her family will get
some money because she’s participating
in this event and so she wants to also
help her family through that
oh she finally decides to participate
and lo and behold she gets selected of
course otherwise she wouldn’t be the
main character yeah she gets selected
and then is shipped off to this royal
palace and you know right away she’s
getting interviewed she’s getting filmed
and she’s all
already starting to get fans because
obviously this show is then televised
the whole country and people already
choosing their favorite girls
and so she gets to the palace she starts
meeting some of the other girls and you
know it’s kind of like that’s change
sort of you were rivals but shouldn’t we
be friends should we be friends and then
there’s of course cliques and yeah then
we follow America and the rest of the
cast as they tried to seduce the prince
however here is the thing America is not
trying to seduce the Prince she has a
boyfriend who she loves very very much
and who she wants to marry so she’s only
really in it for the money and so she
wants to be kept in this election as far
into the event as possible because the
every week her family gets some money
because she is in this event and so on
their first date with the Prince Prince
Maxon she comes clean to him about this
and he sees this as an opportunity to
have a friend sort of a confidant and
this group of selected women because
he’s also in over his head in this whole
thing he’s a young prince he has no idea
what’s happening but this is something
that is kind of put upon him that he has
to take part of this
he’s very inexperienced with women in
general you can totally tell that and he
just he’s very awkward and he doesn’t
really know how to behave with 36 ladies
who are all trying to court him and
Maxon agrees that America will be his
friend and nothing more that’s pretty
much the step okay I’m not going to go
into too many more details and spoilers
of course on the surface this isn’t a
type of book that I would normally go
for or I would normally like I’m not too
big into romances not if the romance is
the main plot of the story but to be
fair in this situation it’s not like it
is the main flop it’s also not because
you have the sole dystopian world it’s
kind of super interesting the entire
dynamics between the people between the
different castes in society and also
just the relationships that form
throughout this first book got me hooked
I was really hooked on this book I read
it super super fast I mean I read it in
about two days which for me is
you could probably read it in one
sitting to be fair but I’m not the
fastest reader so for me this was super
fast and I really liked it to be fair I
really like America I just I liked her
personality I liked that she was honest
she does make some dumb decisions along
the way but honestly who wouldn’t in
that situation all in all I really liked
her character and I like bring some
prints Maxon as well and I like their
courtship yes some of the dialogue was
cheesy yes some of the situations and
some of the stuff that happened is a bit
ridiculous and maybe unbelievable but
it’s fiction I don’t look at it so
seriously like of course this wouldn’t
happen real in real life it’s fiction
yes it’s a bit ridiculous but it was so
much fun I really really enjoyed myself
reading this book and immediately after
I finished it I already ordered the next
two books in the series there’s five
books in total but the first three all
focused on America and then the next the
other two I’m pretty sure are of her
daughter I think who is also going
through the selection I’m pretty sure
it’s something about but for now I just
want to read this first the first three
books I really liked it I think I gave
it about a four out of five stars on
Goodreads and I just had a lot of fun it
was very addicting I couldn’t really put
it down I just wanted to keep flipping
the page and keep seeing what what
happens and yes I know I am very late to
this party of liking this book this book
went viral I think it sold over 16
million copies or something insane like
that I’ll put the actual number in here
because I might have said that wrong but
I know it was incredibly popular and it
is soon to be a Netflix adaptation I
think it will be a movie or a series of
movies but this entire book and the
series just has an aesthetic like you
can just feel the aesthetic you know
these like the cover look at the cover
you know these huge expansive beautiful
ball gowns and you know the girls are
all styled and you know pinched perfect
of course I don’t know I had a lot of
fun reading this book and so I want to
recommend it as a very fun escapist book
you know don’t take it too seriously
it’s a bit ridiculous the names in this
book are also a bit
the main protagonist is called America
singer through one and then the actual
country of America is not called America
anymore the Chinese took over and they
renamed the United States to the
American state of China the names in
this Booker but silly the world-building
is a bit silly I’ll give you that I can
look past all of this and just say that
I really enjoyed myself reading this
book and if you can look past stuff like
that then if you like sort of romance
and courtship I think you will really
enjoy this as well if you haven’t read
it already
I know I’m really late to this ball
party so how many of you guys have read
the selection because like I said I know
I’m very late to this so what do you
guys think about it are you excited
about the Netflix show coming out or
movie and I don’t know have you read it
recently do you like it now versus if
you’ve read it before because again this
came out a while ago and I am late to
things as usual but let me know what you
think of this book if you’ve read it so
that was my review of the selection I
will come back and do a series to review
hopefully after I’ve read the rest of
the books in the series and otherwise I
think that’s it for me today guys thank
you so much for watching I hope you
enjoyed this video I’ll leave a link to
the selection in the description of
course if you feel like picking it up
after watching this video and otherwise
I will leave other links to other videos
and recommendations for me at the end of
this video and down in the description
so yeah thanks so much for watching guys
I hope you have a great day and I’ll see
you next time bye

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