The Selection has to set the scene and introduce us to the
characters. The Elite takes it on a much darker turn from the start, and The
One ties everything up nicely. Quite frankly, these three are such easy reads
that I feel like they could easily have been one book, and splitting them into
three just feels like an attempt to get people to buy three books instead of
one.
The main character, America, is as feisty and reckless as
these sorts of heroines often are. She does things that you’d think would land
her in prison, or stripped of her status. Naturally, she finds herself caught
up in a love triangle between the handsome prince and her boyfriend from home. I
found myself rather impressed by the character of the prince. As far as love
interests go, he is done well. Out of the other girls in the Selection, Marlee
makes the biggest impression. Not many of the others are given fleshed-out
personalities, but with 35 characters, it’s understandable.
The caste system is one aspect I feel these books fall very
short on. The caste system defines what job you can do. There is no chance to
upward mobility, if you are more suited to another profession or do really well
at your job. America and her family are Fives, who are normally artists or
singers. This means they are often poor, despite the very best of them often
being employed in the houses of higher castes. The justification for this is
that they get the bulk of their work at a few times of the year, during holiday
times. Eights, at the lowest end of the scale, are criminals. Of course, being
an Eight means their descendants will be Eights. Sixes and Sevens have a hard
time of it, too. I’d like to see more evidence of them struggling – it affects
their job prospects, sure, but what about other aspects of that? Lower castes
likely confined to houses in certain neighbourhoods, so that even if they try
and save up to move out, they can’t. Difficulty in finding doctors to treat
lower castes, pretending to be higher caste to get better medical care. This is
things that aren’t touched on, and would have made it relevant to today’s
society.
Something that is done well is the attitude to sex outside
of marriage. It’s illegal, and of course birth control is hard to come by for
the lower castes. This means they often experience more of the consequences,
with the weight of that falling upon the shoulders of the women. However, once
they are married, most families will have quite a few children, because of the
lack of birth control. This makes it harder for them to save money. This plays
in well to certain attitudes about this today.
I will give this series credit for one thing. While the
girls are competitive at times for obvious reasons, they rarely turn bitchy.
Celeste could be the sole exception, but she is given more of an explanation
within The One. They all admire and respect one another, while still attempting
to compete for the Prince’s hand. I was also impressed that it doesn’t just
ignore everywhere outside of North America. Italy and Germany visit, New Asia
comes up often in passing, and the border of Illea stretches down into
Central/South America somewhat.
On the whole, this is not the sort of series that stays with
you for a long time after reading, but it is a fun, quick read. I recommend it
to people looking for something easy for a light bit of escapism.
No comments:
Post a Comment