For the four girls who remain at the palace, the friendships they’ve formed, rivalries they’ve struggled with and dangers they’ve faced have bound them to each other for the rest of their lives.
Now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.
America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown – or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realises just how much she stands to lose – and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.
My Thoughts:
This ended how I thought it would but not exactly in the way that I expected. Which was both good and bad. Mostly because I didn't want it to end that way.
A couple of things really got annoying. While America wasn't quite so wishy-washy in this book as the 2nd, she still cried all. the. time. About everything. Happy, sad, frustrated, angry, humiliated, touched, excited; There is no emotion for which this girl does not shed tears. I can't tell you how much that irritates me. It's so a) immature and b) ridiculous and c) just plain annoying. I don't know how people cry that much. Seriously. Maybe the author thought it made the story more dramatic. Which it did. But it wasn't a good thing.
What happened to Anne? I want to know. And the other girl that helped America on the street? What happened to her? It was almost as if that entire scene could have been taken out of the book because it had no real point.
The final climactic scene felt like a cop-out. All of the problems solved in one fell swoop. Too convenient for me.
Ok, and during this entire series America and everyone else refers to dating the prince to see if they fall in love as the competition. "Are you still competing?" "Are you still trying to win?" I basically think it's a recipe for future infidelity. These girls don't feel comfortable or secure enough to be completely themselves or let Maxon in completely and they always feel like they're being compared to the other girls that they know Maxon has some kind of feelings for. And, on Maxon's end, his only romantic experience has been dating multiple girls at once. How does anyone expect him to get used to just one girl when he finally chooses who he'll marry. And does the idea that Maxon can choose any one of them and they'll accept no matter what make anyone else angry? If I was in this competition I'd try to make it to the top just so I could refuse a marriage proposal out of spite. No matter how I felt about the prince. Duty before feelings, right, Elise? And I know Cass touched on this issue a bit but it wasn't enough to quell my anger.
And America is way too open with her feelings. She talks to everyone about how she feels. And explains her feelings in great detail. Just... bleh. No one talks like that. Especially not to near-perfect strangers. Why does she do that? And the author also touched on this a bit but never fixed it; America never does anything to prove how she feels toward Maxon. He's always making gestures big and small but she never does anything for him except kiss him once in a while. When she feels like it. She was just so temperamental and irritating. And selfish and immature. (to see my spoiler comments, feel free to go here.)
And I still think the fake future world in which this takes place is dumb. And the Northern rebels don't make sense to me.
Maxon. I don't think he would have turned out the way he was presented in this book. With all the pampering and training and polishing and manipulation and abuse I think he would have been a bit different. Even if he did turn out to be a nice, decent guy he would have at least been more skeptical or something. I don't know. I liked him and in a different setting I would have found him believable. But not here. Although I loved (and hated) his reaction to America's attempted seduction. Highly entertaining.
Oh! And the way they talked bothered me; Everyone sounded outdated. Not futuristic, not even modern. It sounded like everyone spoke like they were in a Jane Austen novel. If this is supposed to be the future, I'm betting language would have evolved somehow or at least stayed as lazy as Americans are now. It was too formal, too stiff. Not very believable.
So, all in all, the series has been an entertaining fluff read. I read all of it and just could not put it down but I scoffed and rolled my eyes a lot. I wouldn't read it again and can't decide if I'd want to read anything else by this author.
Sexual Content: Moderate (make-out scenes, a very vague idea that characters had sex)
Language: Mild
Violence: Moderate (some fight scenes, a few deaths, nothing too gory)
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
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