The One by Kiera Cass is the last book in The Selection Trilogy. I encourage you to read her other installments in the series, The Selection and The Elite, before you read The One. It is a Dystopian young adult fiction book. Some people classify it as a fantasy novel but I tend to disagree. Yes it is about being a girly princess but I think fantasy is a bit strong for the genre of novel this is. I have read some other books reviews for this online and people say they did not like it but I loved this book! It was an exciting tale with no fillers. Firey and lovable, this book is a fantastic new section to add on to the already great trilogy.
In the previous books, The Selection and The Elite , America Singer lives in futuristic America that has become a monarchy with a caste system, ranging from the ones, who are the royal family to the eights, who live on the streets. To keep the bloodline going, Prince Maxon has a selection, picking 35 girls to compete for his heart. America is picked for the selection and is thrown into a world of glittering gowns and jewels that a five should have never been able to see. Soon, she falls in love with Prince Maxon. Then a former lover, Aspen, once a six but now a two because of his position as a palace guard, comes and confuses America’s love life with Maxon. Now that America is part of the Elite, a group of six girls that Maxon has to choose from, (the others have been eliminated) she says that she is going to fight for Maxon. At the start of The One, America and Maxon are visited by rebels who say that Maxon should choose America to be the princess because since she is such a rule breaker, to help him get rid of the caste system. As, America and Maxon go to see the rebels again, they are attacked by a band of hungry eights and she is hurt. Her bond with Maxon gets even stronger. A little while later, the four girls that are left have to do the Convicting, in which they have to convict a sentence of time to criminals because of their crimes, mostly related to stealing for their families, which is a huge problem in their society. When America goes up she shows mercy towards the prisoner and gets in trouble with the king, who thinks America is the wrong choice for Maxon. Suddenly, America’s life changes drastically when she goes home for a family problem. When she gets back, she is surprised to find that she and another girl are the only two left and the winner will be announced tomorrow. But when Maxon finds out America has been seeing the guard Aspen, what will happen to the crown?
This book is one of my favorites because of the interesting elements in it. I think I personally liked the book because of America. She is such a spunky and relatable girl that readers can really connect to and to laugh with. I also love how it has some girly moments with makeup and dresses but it also has some intense moments with the rebels. It is a very diverse novel and most people find something to love about it. The love connection was something that got me as well. Usually, I don’t like a love triangle but I think that this book played the situation without flaw. I recommend The One to teen girls (and some boys who have read books like Divergent and The Hunger Games) because even though it seems to be a girly princess book, it covers real problems in our societies and has some very adult problems in it that we can all relate to. I think that the book tells us to follow what you know is right and fix what you know is wrong, even if it puts you in danger. This is a lesson that we all should learn and The One illustrates this in a high-spirited tale of a certain love triangle...