The Heir (The Selection, 4)

SPOILERS AHOY!Spoiled brat Crown Princess Kuzco is forced into a Bachelorette-like contest to find her Prince Consort in a Marshmallow Dystopia with Retsyn™. Hilarity ensues.These Selection books are such sweet crackfic train wrecks. There’s so much wrong with them, and I don’t want them to be right. I know I probably shouldn’t like Eadlyn, and she sure has her faults, but she is so much better than the YA Milquetoast Brigade of Bellas that have been served up lately, and that includes America Singer. I hope she doesn’t lose too much of her edge in The Crown.Eadlyn is the Scott Summers of IllogicaEadlyn clearly has a streak of Grandpa Clarkson running through her. You remember him—the two-dimensional, mustache-twirling nasty king who beat his son Maxi-Pad. Anyhow, Scott Summers is the leader of the X-Men, but he’s not popular. Why? He makes decisions that people don’t like, he seems whiny and a stickler for the rules, but he does what’s best for the group. It’s kind of like what a queen does. Also, if Eadlyn can make a grown man cry by dismissing him with a flick of her wrist, that says a lot more about the man than it does about her.There are plenty of jerks to go around in this book without focusing on all of Eadlyn’s flaws and roasting her alive. Her twin brother Ahren runs off with his princess and leaves her a letter so he can get the last word in as a final slap in the face rather than telling her in person. Baden shreds her in the press over a date and one rejection. One of the Selected guys started a fist fight—this was actually stupid and entertaining at the same time, but still, he beat the crap out of one of the other guys. Josie has her own section in this review, if you can stand it. One guy got rapey with Eadlyn, but her foot in mouth disease is what gets everyone upset. There are plenty more.How about Eadlyn’s parents using their daughter in a wag the dog operation? How about 38 year old King Maxi-Pad planning to abdicate his responsibilities to dump them on 18 year old Eadlyn? How about the public humiliation and abject disdain Eadlyn is enduring as a result of this? I don’t see a lot of complaints about those two, but in the original series, they were willing to just lie there and take it. Eadlyn doesn’t do that, and she vents about it, so that makes her a jerk.What really gets me is that the people around her are aware that that the public hates her—especially Ahren—but no one will offer any specific advice on how to change that. It’s all “you wield your power like a sword” and “you must go though the selection and see the change.” It sounds like “you have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” and “with great power comes great electricity bill.”The Primogeniture TangoSwendway is probably Sweden plus some other territory. Sweden has been an absolute primogeniture monarchy since 1980. This would be the royals that Gregory Illogica married his daughter into to so he could become king. (I know, it doesn’t work that way. Just don’t ask, don’t tell.) There is no reason that Illogica should have had agnatic primogeniture to begin with. In other words, girls should have kept their place in line to the throne, and America and Maxi-Pad never should have had to make any changes to the line of succession in the first place. This choice never needed to be made.The Name GameI went over this in my review for The One, but it bears repeating because the problem actually gets much worse in these two sequels about Amerenesmee. The publisher had to make a video on how to pronounce the names in these books. They’re spelled differently so that you trip over them while reading. It’s not like they’re actual high fantasy names—which are also highly irritating. They’re regular names disguised as exotic because they’re not spelled conventionally. It makes them unreadable.Maxi-Pad is Now Super Absorbent, and America Has Checked Out♫America! America! Such sweet passivity! And drown thy good with motherhood, and no personality!♫ Maxi-Pad is now America’s father, and America is America’s father in female form. Neither of these two had much personality to begin with, but now they’ve just gone full basic. NEVER go full basic.Toddlers and TiarasThere’s no doubt that Eadlyn could cut Josie some slack. It’s clear that Josie looks up to Eadlyn and sees her as a role model. Eadlyn is needlessly cruel to Josie, but Josie doesn’t understand boundaries. Josie should not be taking other people’s things without permission. Maxi-Pad and America will never say anything to Marlee and Carter about Josie’s behavior because they still feel guilty about them being whipped in the last Selection. As for why Marlee and Carter allow Josie to run unchecked, your guess is as good as mine.As an employee’s child, Josie would absolutely never be allowed to freely access a royal’s room, let alone be allowed to wander around a public official function where she would be photographed wearing property belonging to the royal family. THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS. THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS. This would cause huge problems in reality. Most of the jewelry Eadlyn owns would have been inherited or given to her as gifts. Think about how you would feel if someone carelessly broke a priceless heirloom your grandparents left to you by treating it like a toddler toy.Now take that up a level. Royal children often receive ridiculously expensive, lavish gifts from foreign dignitaries, often other royals. Imagine Prince James of House Buffet, in the Land of Margaritaville gave Princess Eadlyn a sumptuous, costly tiara when she was born. Over 18 years, relations have gone a bit sour, and now Prince Jimmy, wasting away in Margaritaville, sees a photo of random guests tossing his gift to Eadlyn around like a frisbee. Jimmy’s lost shaker of salt goes forgotten as he starts imposing trade sanctions and kicking out ambassadors because no one will put a stop to Josie’s shenanigans.It’s well within Eadlyn’s right to be upset about Josie taking her things. It is the fault of the narrative for making this seem so superficial.Think of It as You're Being Let GoWhy are the parents in this series the harbingers of death? “I won’t be around much longer/forever. You’ll be X soon!” Because when Maxi-Pad starts talking like that, he is at most 38 years old. There may have been some lowering of the life expectancy in our marshmallow dystopia, but it’s in absurd territory. Do they retire when they hit 40 or something? I know there’s not some kind of Logan’s Run carousel thing going on, because that might get interesting.Speaking of bad health, two of the queen’s first degree family members have died of heart problems very young, and nobody anticipated her having a heart attack. Don’t tell me they don’t have the equipment or knowledge to try to do any preventive care. They have TV, cell phones, computers and beef injections for their soldiers. Don’t tell me they don’t have cardiologists.Swiss Cheese Security Corporation Run by Gomer PyleAspen is a general now? He wasn’t any good as a private!Eadlyn asks Maxi-Pad if there is a vetting process in place to make sure no psychopaths end up in the palace as part of The Selection. Considering the laissez-faire security in the last three books, all I could do was LOL. When they finally DO vet the candidates, they worry about one guy because he is quiet and keeps to himself. God help the introverts in Illogica, because they’ll be the ones who get rounded up into camps when the Hitler expy begins his rise to power among the caste-less unrest.Speaking of Swiss cheese security, now that Illogica is living in a new age of perestroika, they might want to try a little glasnost with their history, particularly with VIPs riding in open floats in a parade through Dealey Plaza. Food is not the only thing a discontent public would be throwing. I hope there aren’t any book repositories along the route, because as we found out in the previous installments, their gun control isn’t worth crap. I can take care of your Selection problems real quick, Eadlyn. Got grassy knolls?Also, they might want to think about educating more than one royal kid in the ways of running the country. I bet none of these chimpanzees have thought about a designated survivor, either. You know, in case one falls off a parade float and dies. It’s called an heir and a spare.The Feminine CritiqueEadlyn doesn’t want to be the queen, and a lot of people seem to have a problem with that. People love all these books where girls don’t want to be princesses, but along comes one where the MC doesn’t want to be the queen, and now all of a sudden they’re grabbing their torches and pitchforks because the MC isn’t feminist enough to give up her dreams and take one for the “team.”There are some things that you cannot ram down a kid’s throat. Marriage and career are two of those things. Not so long ago, feminists were hopping mad that Bella Swan was cooking dinner for her father, and wanted to get married to a vampire right out of high school. Now they’re hopping mad that Eadlyn Schreave wants to have a regular career, and doesn’t want get married straight out of high school. I don’t know how people reconcile this.Pleasurable GarbageThis book was so enjoyable that as much as it pains me to reward trash, I have to give it four stars for sheer entertainment value. I like bad books and I cannot lie. Like bad movies, they beckon me to wallow in their hilarity and to point out their gaping flaws. I like these bad books the same way I like bad reality shows, the National Enquirer and The Daily Mail. I think I know how this is going to end, Buttercup, but there is only one way to find out. ONWARD-- to the planet of the sequels, where we rightfully belong!“Stupid Swendish baker with his stupid spices.” –Kiera Cass, The Heir“Stupid, shiny Volvo owner.” –Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

About 24 hours after my mail carrier Finally delivered my copy of The Heir,I read the final page. Here are my thoughts:First Impressions: Disappointment. I wanted so bad to love this story and new characters as much and as quickly as I had the first three stories in the series. But I just wasn't as captivated. The reason is because I couldn't connect with the main character, Eadlyn. I understood why she acted the way that she did, in a way. But I thought that she was a spoiled brat who thought she was better than others. Halfway through the book she hadn't gotten much better, and my hopes of liking this book were falling.What I liked: Of course I enjoyed getting to catch up with some of my favorite characters from the first three books and seeing how their lives had changed over 20 years. I liked the relationships that Eadlyn had with each of her family members. It was special to read about the King and Queen and their four children. When tough situations arose they banded together as a family. I liked how Eadlyn finally let some of her walls come down a little towards the end of the story and allowed herself to start caring for someone besides herself.I like how each of her younger brothers have unique personalities. Ahren (pronounced like Aaron I think, although I kept reading it as air- hern) and Eadlyn have a close, special bond as twin. Ahren is a level-headed prince who likes to read and write and who loves his soulmate with all of his heart. He looks just as his father did at his age. Kaden studies hard to learn the duties of ruling his kingdom, although he is third in line for the throne. He is very perceptive and I think that he would make a great ruler. Not that I want anything to happen to Eadlyn (even though I'm not her biggest fan) or Ahren for Kaden's rule to be possible. Osten is the youngest prince. (I just realized his name is probably pronounced Austin) He's very mischievous and always keeps things interesting.I have a few favorite suitors for Eadlyn. I like when she is with Kile and allows herself to open up and talk to him. The chemistry is just there and is right. Henri is very sweet and is all in for Eadlyn. I also like how passionate he is about what he loves to do, cooking! I just don't feel that he is the right match for Eadlyn. Now his translator Eric...even though he was not selected. There is a natural connection between him and Eadlyn. He is a good, honest friend.Finally, the story is written so well that it's a fast read.What I Didn't Like: I was completely frustrated with Eadlyn's character throughout most of the book. I believe readers should be able to connect with the main character; to root for him/her to succeed. But this is the most I have struggled with liking the main character. She was spoiled and acted like she was superior to others. I couldn't believe that beloved characters from the first books were her parents. Although she loved both of her parents, she was very disrespectful and mean to them many times throughout the story. She even gave them the silent treatment. At one point she really needed to talk with her parents but wondered if she had given them a long enough "punisment" of silence. Ugh! Grow up and act like a queen if you want to be one so bad! Other characters called her out on her behaviour several times throughout the story. She never seemed to learn from those occurrences or try to change. She doesn't have to change her true self. The Eadlyn that she is when she is in her room designing clothes. Or those rare moments when she lets her guard down and is just herself. I understand that she has the pressure of trying to be perfect but she is the next ruler of her country. But she choose to do so by being powerful to make others respect her. Her mother and her brother Ahren hits the nail on the head twice in the story.Another thing I didn't like was the frantic kisses she shared with one of the selected men. After they kiss, then she starts to give him a chance and finds every excuse to kiss him again.him. The heavy kissing leads to grasping and pulling at clothes. In my personal opinion, light kisses are ok outside of marriage. Anything more could lead to more intimate situations that should be saved for man and wife.Finally, I felt like readers didn't really get to know any of the Selected guys because Eadlyn didn't try to get to know any of them. She promised her father that she would really try for his sake and for the sake of their country. But, time after time she refused to do just that.Overall: In the end, I think The Heir is a worthwhile read for fans of the series. If a reader had not read the first three books however, I'm not sure they would enjoy this book. I know I wouldn't have. Had I not known how talented of writer Kiera Cass is, by reading her previous work, I may not have stuck with it. I'm glad I did. I realize that Ms. Cass is kind of a genius. The way she wrote this story is realistic. People can change, but change does not happen overnight. She first introduces us to Eadlyn, explains why Eadlyn is the way she is, and then, over time, allows us to meet the real Eadlyn as her guard slowly comes down. Readers didn't get to know the Selected men until Eadlyn allowed herself to get to know them better. Just when the reader starts to connect, the story ends in a MAJOR cliffhanger that I didn't see coming. I knew I was coming close to the end of the story but when I turned the page and saw it was the last my exact words were "The story canNOT end like this!" Now the wait for the next story. My hope is that Eadlyn will learn from her past and the twist of events. Until the release of the next book, my bookcase offers many distractions.P.S. The One is still my favorite Selection book!

The author writes these books without the usual cursing and filth of so many novels. Excellent book for teens and anyone. My granddaughter started me on this series and I have enjoyed them all. Look forward to more! Excellent price, arrived quickly and in perfect condition..

I love the selection series and of course, I had to continue and read The Heir, However, it was a disappointment, the story goes from good to meh, the only parts where I was really enjoying this book is where America or Maxon show up. NO SPOILER, Eadlyn could be a much better character.

Can't wait to see what comes next!Kiera Cass definetely knows how to drive us mad waiting for more.Delighted with it!

El primero me gusto mucho, el 2ndo y 3ro son tan similares que pensarias que aun sigues en el 1ro, pero este porfin cambiamos, es la historia de la hija de America y Maxon.Eadlyn es forzada a tener una Seleccion ya que el pueblo de Ilea tiene muchos descontentos.Me agrada mas Eadlyn que America, no es tan dramatica como la mama, este libro se me hizo mas ligero en ese sentido.

La historia ya es un poco rebuscada

Le quite una estrella porque el personaje principal tardó mucho en desarrollarse, pero en general muy gusto mucho y creo que el siguiente libro será más interesante en la toma de decisiones.