Hello everyone! Today I finished reading The Elite, which is book number two in The Selection series. I did a review of the first book last week if you want more information.
This post is going to be full of spoilers, so if you have not read either the first book or this one then you will probably want to avoid this particular post.
— SPOILERS —
America Singer continues to be the most indecisive person ever, who would have guessed it. This is my second time around and I kept rooting for America to do the right thing, to tell Maxon that she was starting to feel something for him, that Aspen was in the palace, anything to redeem herself from the sheer stupidity, and she never did any of it. This girl is more indecisive than Katniss and as reckless as Bella Swan. There were times where I had restrain myself from actually yelling at America.
Aspen continues to get on my last freaking nerve, too! Like, are you kidding me? He is again risking both their lives by sneaking around with her behind Maxon’s back. Maybe you don’t care that much about your own life, but if you truly cared about America, then you wouldn’t put her at risk like that! Geez! And the part where he tells America that Maxon is an actor and that it’s good America learned that now before she ended up married to Maxon…and America just listened! America is the only person, besides Maxon, who actually knows Maxon. Okay, she might not know everything, but she knows him better than all the other girls. Yet she is like, “Aspen obviously knows all about Maxon so I should listen to him.” No. Aspen needs to go.
I will give Aspen one point though because this line was cute: “It’s just the way it is. The sky is blue, the sun is bright, and Aspen endlessly loves America.” That is actually sweet.
The King. Oh my gosh. He is so repulsive. I still don’t understand why he is so cruel to everyone he interacts with. And what I really, really cannot deal with is that he beats his son. That takes things way too far.
I was tearing up having to reread what happens to Marlee. I kept picturing my best friend in her position, and it was really hard to get through those few pages.
–END OF SPOILERS–
I kept getting frustrated with this book, and at times I almost felt like skipping over it because I had already read it and knew what was going to happen, but at the same time, it’s one of those you can fly through in a day. It didn’t feel like I wasted time reading it again, but I was so fed up with America. Then again, maybe she is an allegory for America the country, since we are indecisive and irrational a majority of the time.
This is my least favorite of the three books in the series. The writing is good, the story keeps invested, but it all boils down to how cringey America was in this book.
If you have read the first one and are debating giving this a shot, I say go for it. You will want to throw your book across the room in frustration, but, hey, that’s the sign of a good story.
