The Selection

Last updated
The Selection
The Selection.jpg
Cover art for The Selection
Author Kiera Cass
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Selection
Genre Dystopian, Young adult, Romance
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication date
April 14, 2012
Publication placeUnited States and China
Media typePrint, ebook, audiobook
Pages328 pages
ISBN 978-0-545-61494-8
Followed by The Elite  

The Selection is a young adult novel by Kiera Cass first published on April 14, 2012, by HarperCollins. It is the first in a five-book series, followed by The Elite (2013), The One (2014), The Heir [1] (2015) and The Crown (May 2016). The last two take place twenty years after the events in the first three.

Contents

In addition, four spin-off novellas were released. The first two, The Prince and The Guard, are narrated from the point of view of two supporting characters. The Queen and The Favorite are prequels, focusing on two other supporting characters in the main series. [2] All four novellas were collected into one volume Happily Ever After, including bonus content and epilogues.

Kiera Cass stated that she began writing The Selection after thinking about the differences between Esther and Cinderella, wondering if either of them were happy with how they ended up. [3] She also commented that she had written the book "from start to finish", while her writing process for the other books differed. [4]

Plot

In a futuristic world, society is divided into castes, with Ones being the most prosperous, consisting of royals and elites, and Eights being mostly orphans/homeless, drug users, handicapped, and unemployable. America Singer is a Five, the "artist" caste (e.g. musicians, artists, actors, dancers, etc.). Since their prosperity depends on their desirability, Fives live a lower-class life. America, however, does not care, because she enjoys entertaining, especially with a violin.

The prince of Illéa, Maxon Schreave, announces that he is following in his father's footsteps by holding the Selection, a competition for the prince's hand in marriage and the crown. Despite pressure from her mother, America has no interest in entering the competition, because she already has Aspen, her next-door neighbor and secret boyfriend.

After having a conversation with her mother which lets her keep most of her savings, America decides to surprise Aspen with dinner at her treehouse. This upsets him, as he believes he should be the one to provide for her, but is unable to because he is a Six (the servant caste) and has no means of doing so since he already has to take care of his mother and siblings. In the end, Aspen decides to break up with America. The end of their relationship, plus a bribe from her mother, leads America to enter the Selection and later into the palace where she has to compete with thirty-four other girls to win the prince's heart. It also helps that her time in the palace is accompanied by a small stipend sent to her family.

America easily makes friends (Marlee Tames, a Four and a farmer) and enemies (Celeste Newsome, a Two and a model) within the first week of her stay, but her unique personality also catches the attention of the palace staff and the country. She still doesn't want to marry Prince Maxon, but a chance meeting in the gardens causes them to befriend each other. America still loves Aspen, but she gradually starts to fall in love with the prince. Maxon gives America his first kiss, and she begins to think that she could maybe marry him and forget Aspen. Rebels constantly attack the palace, which helps turn away the weak-earthed competitors, but also makes things tense, especially when the rebels seem to be getting closer. Things also become tense in the competition when America starts to feel jealous of Maxon spending time with the other Selected.

America eventually sees Aspen again when he enters the palace as a new member of the guard. He was drafted into the army, where he earned top honors. Aspen's appearance confuses America's feelings even more and she begins to feel like she is still in love with him when he sneaks into her room to see her. Having a romantic relationship with someone other than the prince during the competition is considered treason, and the punishment for treason can be as severe as death. America meets with Aspen in spite of the possible consequences.

After an attack from the rebels that leads to three of the Selected leaving, Prince Maxon decides to narrow down the girls to six, calling them The Elite. When America's name ends up among the six chosen to stay, she realizes that she does have feelings for Maxon and could see herself happy with him. With this in mind, she tells Aspen that she cannot continue their romantic liaisons. Instead of getting discouraged, Aspen claims that he will fight even harder to win her love again over Maxon. The book ends with America finally realizing that she is exactly where she ought to be—among the Elite.

Characters

Reception

Publishers Weekly gave a positive review for the book, praising the character of America. [7] The School Library Journal , MTV, and Booklist all gave positive reviews for The Selection [8] while in contrast, Kirkus Reviews panned the novel. [9] [10] [11] The A.V. Club gave a mostly positive review, commenting that it "is something of a Hunger Games rip-off, but at least it's an entertaining one". [12] It won the 2017 Young Hoosier Book Award (Middle Grade). [13]

Controversy

On January 12, 2012, a one-star review of Cass' book, The Selection, was posted on the book reviewing site Goodreads [14] and on the reviewer's blog. Later on the same day, Kiera Cass' literary agent, Elana Roth, posted a series of derogatory tweets on the social networking site Twitter. In a conversation that Cass and Roth believed was private—but was, in fact, public—Roth called the reviewer names, and both Roth and Cass collaborated on how best to bump the negative review down and boost positive reviews by manipulating the ranking system themselves. [15] The controversy sparked an article by Publishers Weekly speaking out against this practice and raised an outcry from multiple reviewers, bloggers, and publications against the cyber-bullying of nonprofessional reviewers by authors and agents. [16] [17] [18]

Adaptations

In 2012, Cass announced that The CW had optioned the rights to her series with the intent of turning it into a television series. The series would star Aimee Teegarden [19] as America Singer, but the pilot was not picked up to series for the fall 2012 television season. [20] [21] A second pilot was ordered for the CW in 2013, [22] starring Yael Grobglas as the same character [23] [24] but was also not picked up by the network. [25]

In 2015, Warner Bros. announced they had bought the film rights of the book. Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan of DiNovi Pictures would produce alongside Pouya Shahbazian, with Katie Lovejoy to write the screenplay. [26]

In April 2020, it was announced that Netflix would be adapting the first book. As stated in a Variety article, it is going to be directed by Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour, previously partnered with Netflix on 2018's Nappily Ever After. [27] Pouya Shahbazian and Denise Di Novi are set to produce, with Margaret French Isaac as executive producer. [28] In May 2023, Netflix decided to cancel plans to produce the movie, but they still maintain film rights for the next few years. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Berlanti</span> American television writer and producer

Gregory Berlanti is an American screenwriter, producer and director of film and television. He is known for his work on the television series Dawson's Creek, Brothers & Sisters, Everwood, Political Animals, Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and You, in addition to his contributions to DC Comics on film and television productions, including The CW's Arrowverse, as well as Titans and Doom Patrol. In 2000, Berlanti founded the production company Berlanti Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aimee Teegarden</span> American actress, model, and producer

Aimee Teegarden is an American actress, model, and producer. She starred as Julie Taylor in the NBC drama Friday Night Lights (2006–2011). In 2014, Teegarden starred as Emery Whitehill in The CW's short-lived science fiction romantic drama Star-Crossed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Jarrow</span> American screenwriter

Kyle Jarrow is a Los Angeles–based writer and rock musician.

Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. They can also create their own groups of book suggestions, surveys, polls, blogs, and discussions. The website's offices are located in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haifaa al-Mansour</span> Saudi Arabian film director (born 1974)

Haifaa al-Mansour is a Saudi Arabian film director. She is one of the country's best-known and one of the first female Saudi filmmakers.

Leila Gerstein is an American television producer and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krysten Ritter</span> American actress (born 1981)

Krysten Alyce Ritter is an American actress. She came to prominence starring as Jane Margolis in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad (2009–2010), a role she reprised in the spinoff film El Camino (2019). She gained further recognition for her lead roles in the ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012–2013) and as the title character in the Netflix superhero series Jessica Jones (2015–2019) and the Netflix miniseries The Defenders (2017), both set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Elise Gatien is a Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Candice "CJ" Ward in the Cartoon Network live-action series Tower Prep.

<i>GCB</i> (TV series) Television series

GCB is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Robert Harling, produced by Darren Star, and starring Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Bibb, Jennifer Aspen, Miriam Shor, Marisol Nichols, and Annie Potts. Based on the semi-autobiographical 2008 novel Good Christian Bitches by Kim Gatlin, the series centers on a recently widowed woman who moves her family back to the upscale Dallas-area town where she grew up.

<i>Divergent</i> (novel) 2011 science fiction young adult novel by Veronica Roth

Divergent, the debut novel of American novelist Veronica Roth, was published by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2011. The novel is the first in the Divergent series, a trilogy of young adult dystopian novels set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago. The society defines its citizens by their social and personality-related affiliation with one of five factions. This rigid system has removed the threat of anyone exercising independent will and re-threatening the population's safety. In the story, Beatrice Prior joins the ranks of the Dauntless and explores her new identity as "Tris". Underlying the action- and dystopian-focused main plot is a romantic subplot between Tris and "Four", one of her instructors in the Dauntless faction.

<i>Throne of Glass</i> Young adult high fantasy novel series by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass is a high fantasy novel series by American author Sarah J. Maas, beginning with the entry of the same name, released on August 2, 2012. The story follows the journey of Celaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupt kingdom with a tyrannical ruler, the King of Adarlan. As the tale progresses, Celaena forms unexpected bonds and uncovers a conspiracy amidst her adventures. The series concluded with the eighth book in October 2018.

<i>Continuum</i> (TV series) Canadian science fiction television series (2012–2015)

Continuum is a Canadian science fiction television series created by Simon Barry that premiered on Showcase on May 27, 2012, and ran for four seasons. It was produced by Reunion Pictures, Boy Meets Girl Film Company, and Shaw Media. The plot centres around the conflict between a group of terrorists from the year 2077 who time travel to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2012 and a police officer who unintentionally accompanies them. In spite of being many years early, the terrorist group decides to continue its violent campaign to stop corporations of the future from replacing governments, while the police officer endeavours to stop them without revealing to everyone that she and the terrorists are from the future.

<i>Kiera Cass</i> American writer of young adult fiction

Kiera Cass is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known for The Selection series.

<i>Star-Crossed</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

Star-Crossed is an American science fiction romantic teen drama television series created by Meredith Averill. The series premiered on The CW on February 17, 2014, and concluded on May 12, 2014, with a total of 13 episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soman Chainani</span> American author and filmmaker

Soman Chainani is an American author and filmmaker, best known for writing the children's book series The School for Good and Evil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Malarkey</span> British-American actor and musician (born 1983)

Michael Karim Malarkey (born 21 June 1983) is a British-American actor and musician. He is best known for playing the role of Enzo St. John in the series The Vampire Diaries.

<i>The Elite</i> (novel) 2013 novel by Kiera Cass

The Elite is the second novel in the Selection series by Kiera Cass. It is narrated by America Singer, a 17-year-old girl who is selected to compete with 35 other girls to become Prince Maxon's wife and become queen. The Elite tells the story at the stage in the competition where there are only six girls left and tensions are high from both the competition and the dangerous rebels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. E. Schwab</span> American writer (born 1987)

Victoria Elizabeth Schwab is an American writer. She is known for the 2013 novel Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which was nominated for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. She publishes children's and young adult fiction books under the name Victoria Schwab. She is the creator of the supernatural teen drama series First Kill, based on her short story of the same name originally published in the 2020 anthology Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With Fresh Bite.

<i>A Christmas Prince</i> 2017 film by Alex Zamm

A Christmas Prince is a 2017 American Christmas romantic comedy film directed by Alex Zamm, written by Karen Schaler and Nathan Atkins and stars Rose McIver, Ben Lamb, Tom Knight, Sarah Douglas, Daniel Fathers, Alice Krige and Tahirah Sharif. The film was released on Netflix on November 17, 2017. A sequel, titled A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, was released in 2018 and another one in 2019, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.

Elite is a Spanish-language teen drama series created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona for Netflix. The show is set in Las Encinas, a fictional elite high school in Spain which caters to privileged and wealthy teenagers. Élite initially focuses on three working-class students who win their enrollment at Las Encinas through a scholarship program, and on the social and romantic interactions that they have with several students there. As of April 2024, the show has a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

  1. "Author Kiera Cass' Love Triangle Heats Up". RT Book Reviews. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  2. "'The Elite': Kiera Cass talks about the sequel to 'The Selection'". EW. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  3. "Young Adult Author Kiera Cass on The Selection". Teen Vogue. 27 April 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  4. Potts, Jessie (April 24, 2013). "Interviews: Kiera Cass and Cornelia Funke". USA Today. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  5. 1 2 agi, Dijana; Peter-Katalini, Jasna (2007), "MALDI-MS of Glycans", MALDI MS, Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, pp. 181–214, doi:10.1002/9783527610464.ch6, ISBN   978-3-527-61046-4 , retrieved 2021-02-09
  6. Roth, Elana (25 March 2013). "The Elite". Publishers Weekly . 260 (12): 71. ISSN   0000-0019.
  7. "Children's Review: The Selection". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  8. "'The Selection' Is Another Jewel In Dystopia's Crown". MTV. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  9. "Review: The Selection". Booklist. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  10. "Review: The Selection". School Library Journal (BookVerdict). Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  11. "Review: The Selection". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  12. "The Selection, a YA book and incipient CW series, looks for royal love in a post-WWIII world". The A.V. Club. 11 June 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  13. "Past Winners: Young Hoosier Book Award" (PDF).
  14. "Goodreads: The Selection Review". Goodreads. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  15. "Goodreads: The Selection Review". Goodreads. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  16. "Should Authors and Agents Weigh In on Citizen Reviews?". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  17. "Breaking the Silence: The Selection Debacle". The Midnight Garden. Archived from the original on 2014-08-06. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  18. "Authors Behaving Badly". Pocketful of Books. Archived from the original on 2012-05-23. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  19. Ausiello, Michael (February 23, 2012). "Exclusive: FNL's Aimee Teegarden to Headline CW's Hunger Games-esque Pilot The Selection". TVLine . Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  20. Goldberg, Lesley (May 17, 2012). "Upfronts 2012: CW Redeveloping 'Hunger Games'-Esque Pilot 'The Selection'". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  21. "Pilot Update!". kieracass.com. October 1, 2012. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  22. "Development Update: Wednesday, January 23". The Futon Critic . January 23, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2016. Selection, (The CW) – Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain have received the green light to produce a second pilot for the project...
  23. Andreeva, Nellie (February 22, 2013). "CW Pilot 'The Selection' Casts Its Lead". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  24. "The Selection' finds its new lead: Yael Grobglas replaces Aimee Teegarden as America Singer". Hypable. February 23, 2013. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  25. Andreeva, Nellie (May 9, 2013). "'The Selection' Dead At The CW". Deadline Hollywood .
  26. Fleming, Mike Jr (April 22, 2015). "Warner Bros Buys YA Title 'The Selection', Sets Black List Scribe Katie Lovejoy To Adapt". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  27. "Haifaa Al-Mansour Set to Adapt Popular YA Novel 'The Selection' for Netflix". IndieWire. 2020-04-11. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  28. Kroll, Justin (April 10, 2020). "Netflix to Adapt ‘The Selection’ Novel With Director Haifaa Al-Mansour (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety (magazine). Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  29. Moore, Kasey (May 31, 2023). "Netflix Scraps ‘The Selection’ Movie Adaptation". [What's On Netflix]. Retrieved August 13, 2023.