The One

The One
author: Kiera Cass
published: May 6th 2014
pages: 323
my rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars


The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants. 




This is probably my favorite book in this series. While the first book was mostly just a fluffy and entertaining romance book and the second not that much different but with a bit more action, this book felt way more serious and it didn't concentrate on the actual selection as much as the previous books.


The issues of the system get more attention and the rebels are also further explained in this book. I liked that romance wasn't everything this time and enjoyed reading more about the darker parts of the kingdom.

I was also really happy that the girl on girl hate the previous books had got dissolved. Previously the other contestants didn't really have that much character. There are exceptions of course but lots of the girls seemed to come from one characteristic like mean and backstabbing, nice, elegant and so on. The remaining girls gained major depth in this book and they also get to know each other more and stop their hate against each other. It was nice to read about a fun female friendship instead of backstabbing and jealousy.

Now lets talk about America for a minute. I like her, I really do. But at the same time I wanted to shake and slap her regularly throughout the book. She always has good intentions but like in the previous books she makes mistakes and embarrasses herself a lot. She is really impulsive and never seems to think things through which was infuriating at some points. I get that she is seen as rebellious and bold but I think her character isn't actually as courageous as everyone believes she is. Sure, she does do things that not everyone would do but in the end she mostly just in the castle, wearing nice dresses and saying things on international television or big events that she shouldn't.
Her relationship with Maxon was tough for me. I ship them but they are always fighting! The moments they aren't I really like reading about them but most of the time they are bickering about problems that could be solved by just talking with each other.
I know this might sound like I hate her but I do like America and I ship her with Maxon. There were just some things about her character that made me kinda angry with her.

The ending was good but I think it isn't a big surprise how everything is going to end. But still, how that ending comes to place wasn't as predictable as I would've thought.
While I was satisfied with how the book ended in the romance aspect the political situation was left a bit too open in my opinion. I know there is a spin off series after this but I would've still liked a bit more closure on that part.

Overall this book was as entertaining and fast paced as the other books in the series but it is also more serious and has more depth which makes it my favorite in the series. I don't think I'll read the spin off series though. From what I've heard it isn't as good and in the moment I have no urge to see what happens next.