Review: The One by Kiera Cass

Title: The One

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection #3

Genre: YA Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: May 6th, 2014

Edition: Kindle Edition, 337 pages

Source: Library

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Book Depository | Powell's

Synopsis:

The Selection changed America Singer's life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she entered the competition to become the next princess of Illéa, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen--and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she's made her choice . . . and she's prepared to fight for the future she wants.

As far as dystopian series go, this one feels the least dystopian.

Not really sure if that is a good or a bad thing. It's a fluffy story, certainly fluffier than other stories in this genre. I am almost not sure if this would have been better told as not dystopian. How the nation got to the point it's in is actually kind of glossed over in the second book. I would have preferred to know more about that than the romance.

I am happy with how it ended, and I do like that we got to see more of the rebel forces in this book than we did in the others. Because, like I mentioned, before it didn't feel much like a dystopian story with all the focus on the royalty and the elite.

The King is still a douche, and I am not sure how anyone could just love someone so cold, although I'm not sure his wife knew how cruel he really is. I am glad that Maxon finally got his head out of his ass and same with America, but she is still brash and made really heated and stupid decisions.

I knew from the start that keeping who Aspen was to her from Maxon would bite her in the ass.

The other elite got to show some character development, and I liked that. It was getting tired of Celeste being such a bitch. I liked seeing a human in her.

Overall, I liked this series. No, it was not the best put together. I had a lot of grips about how things flowed. The heroine was kind of dumb sometimes and didn't always think of the long-term consequences. I am pleased with the ending. But it was just a little too fluffy for me, it didn't really feel like a dystopian until the second half of the book, and by then I was skimming most of it. I'm not saying that I wouldn't recommend this to others, I have just read books in this genre that I liked more. This story was way too focused on romance to be considered dystopian in my opinion.