The Crown
⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆
The Crown (The Selection, Book 5) by Kiera Cass
I’ll be honest, I probably put way too much thought into this review. (Though really, this is as much about The Heir as it is The Crown.)
I’ll admit it, my heart wasn’t in this book. I only read it out of principle, to finish the series. After The Heir turned me off completely, I had zero excitement going in. Honestly, the first three books made for a perfectly good trilogy. It should have ended there.
The real problem with the last two books is Eadlyn. I knew from the beginning of The Heir that I didn’t like her, but it wasn’t until halfway through The Crown that I figured out why.
Tangent: Ever wonder why Loki, a villain, is one of the most beloved MCU characters? Aside from being fun and charismatic, Loki works because he’s paired with Thor, who (sorry) is one of the flattest characters in the franchise. Nothing against Hemsworth, it’s just Thor’s nature: drink, smash things, swing hammer. His only real conflict is with whoever’s trying to kill him at the time. Loki, on the other hand, has ambition, goals, and deep inner conflict: his hunger for power versus his love for the family that raised him.
And therein lies the problem with Eadlyn. Her story is being read through the eyes of a reader who just got done falling in love with America and all her emotional baggage. With their relationship as mother and daughter, and the premise of them both being thrown into a Selection process they didn’t want, it’s hard not to compare the two.
Eadlyn is Thor. She has no ambition, no motivation, and zero desire to be part of anything, not even a relationship. Her indecisiveness during key moments is frustrating. The only time she acts is when she’s forced to, and even then, it feels like the story is dragging her along rather than her driving it. Like the old saying goes, “you can’t help someone who won’t help themselves.” Well, I can’t root for a character to accomplish her goal when she has no goal.
America was the opposite. Her ambitions and desires changed throughout the trilogy, but they were always present. You knew what she wanted, and you wanted her to succeed. Plus, like Loki, she had inner conflict, between Maxon and Aspen, and between wanting to leave the Selection and wanting to support her family. That gave her depth and made her compelling.
Stories without strong conflict have to rely on great characters. Unfortunately, The Heir and The Crown didn’t deliver either, making them an unnecessary continuation to a completed story. If you’re planning to read The Selection series, do yourself a favor: stop at The One and enjoy it as the solid trilogy it was meant to be.
