Book Review: The One by Kiera Cass

Title: The One
Author: Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection
Published: 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages:
From: Walmart
Rating: 7/10

The third of American author Kiera Cass’ Selection series has finally been finished, and I must say, I am at least a little bit excited for the fourth novel The Heir.

Cass’ novel The One focuses on America Singer still fighting for her spot at the top of the Elite, the final group of girls vying for the hand of the prince. This novel has all the aspects of her previous novels: mystery, romance, politics, drama. But, I actually liked this one so much better.

Cass finally started taking on bigger themes than romance. The romance was a good start, I think, with a young adult series, but it was a little boring to me at first. Now that Cass has added the politics and diplomacy, the danger, the possibilities of death to the mix, the story has gotten infinitely more interesting.

There is obviously more to a future nation than a prince. With The One, Kiera Cass aded all those extra facets, like the possibility of ties with Italy, how America puts herself in danger, what the relationship is like between the king and his only son. These are things we can relate to, these are things that make a story more than just a story. I was very excited to see all this.

Again, the only downfall in my opinion is the way the characters sound to the reader, that they all sound the same. I felt a bit more separation between the different girls in the Selection and America this time around, especially Kriss, but otherwise even King Clarkson and Queen Amberly seemed very inexperienced or something.

I think Cass is becoming a more accomplished writer. She has been very consistent in her writing style, and the flow and transitions run smoothly. She knows her audience very well, and if The Heir is anything like The One, it’ll take in all the different themes and hopefully be even better.

The novels of Kiera Cass can be found online and in stores, at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, as well as many other places. The Heir is recently released, and Cass has previously said there is a fifth book in the works.