The Heir | Book Review

Title: The Heir
Author: Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection #5

Publisher/Year: HarperTeen, 2015

Genre: Young Adults, Dystopian, Romance

Pages: 368

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.98/5

My Rating: 4/5

Twenty years after The One, it's time for Eadlyn, America's daughter, to have her own selection. She enters the Selection with hesitation but when she meets the men competing for her hand, her feelings change.







I went in ready to hate this book. After reading The One, I was so disappointed in the series so I was surprised to find myself enjoying The Heir. It certainly wasn't the best book I've ever read but it was enjoyable nonetheless. 

Eadlyn is a spoiled, snobby brat. Her attitude irritated me. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to be a strong, independent female without being a bitch. Every time someone confronted Eadlyn, she would say something along the lines of "I'm going to be queen, the most powerful person in the world, so I can be a bitch if I want to". Umm no. Being queen doesn't make you special and it doesn't mean you can't respect others. Not everything is about you. Eadlyn does have a character arc and grows later, just not as much as I would have liked. America had no character development and was incredibly frustrating, where as Eadlyn is bitchy but at least grows a little.

Most of the characters I really enjoyed. I liked a lot of the boys, and once Eadlyn started going on dates I got more into the book. I also really liked the relationship between Eadlyn and her brother Ahren. However, Maxon and America, as 30-something-something-year-olds, didn't seem like themselves. Obviously people change as they get older but Maxon and America acted nothing like they did in the previous books.

For once, Cass didn't completely fail at mixing politics and romance. One of my main problems with the previous books was that it had a lot of potential to explore the world the characters were in and to delve deeper into the politics rather than focusing so much on the romance aspect. In The Heir, while I would have liked a little more, Cass does go further into the workings of the world. Eadlyn, as heir to the throne, has to deal with a lot of politics and we get to see a little bit of that.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. It wasn't without it's faults but it was an interesting read and I look forward to the next book.

Red Queen | Book Review

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen #1

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian

Pages: 320 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5

My Rating: 4/5

Mare lives in a world where Reds are the poor commoners and Silvers are the rulers of the land. When she discovers she has powers similar to what the Silvers have, her life is flipped upside down and changed forever.

This book was definitely worth the hype. It was gripping and fun to read through. I really liked the characters and the plot. If you haven't read this yet, I definitely recommend it.

First of all, let's just take a moment to admire this cover. So one thing I really enjoyed was the writing. It was really easy to follow and the action sequences were written really well. Usually in an author's first book, the writing is mediocre but I think Aveyard did a pretty good job. There was a ton of badass moments, which is always a plus. Often in dystopian books, the love triangle takes over the story but the love triangle (possibly square) took a backseat and didn't overshadow the plot in Red Queen. Some of the characters were really interesting as well. I enjoyed Mare and her ability to understand her emotions and face them head on rather than deny that they exist, as well as the complex personalities of Maven and Cal(sort of).The plot twist was also well done. I had no idea that was going to happen but thinking back I feel like I should have known.

The main reason this was a four star rather than five was that there were too many similarities to other dystopian novels. Throughout the book I constantly found myself thinking "this is a lot like Divergent/The Hunger Games/The Selection/Shadow & Bone". Normally, I don't like comparing books to each other and I understand that dystopian books have a lot of the same elements. However, I felt Red Queen wasn't too original and was basically what Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Selection, and Shadow & Bone would be if they were one book. I also felt that the world building was a bit underdeveloped but there's supposed be a lot more of it in the sequel so it's not too big of a problem. One thing I didn't like was how the characters weren't very real. Besides the three main characters, the others were pretty one dimensional. Mare, Cal, and Maven also had so much room to grow but that didn't happen. Cal's personality didn't really make sense to me either. In the beginning and end he seemed to have a pretty strong personality but it just faded in the middle, but since the book is from Mare's point of view, it kind of makes sense. The villains also didn't have a real reason to do what they did. They were evil just for the sake of it. Another problem I had was the romance. I didn't think the characters had much of a connection.

It seems like I disliked the book more than I liked it but I really did enjoy it. I think the second book will probably solve most of my problems and I can't wait for it to come out! (in 2016 //cries) 

Happy reading!

Hana

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