Title: The Heir
Author: Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #4
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dystopia, Easy reading, Romance
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: HarperTeen
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: He was followed by a boy with a drawl so thick I had to really focus to catch his words.

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon – and they lived happily ever after.

Eadlyn doesn’t expect her own story to end in romance – she has no interest in repeating the fairy tale. But a princess’s life is never entirely her own – and Eadlyn cannot escape her very own Selection, and one particular entry who may just capture her heart…

I honestly don’t think that I liked Eadlyn until the very last page of this story. She was self-centred, over-privileged and convinced that no one else is as good, or powerful as her. The vulnerability that was revealed in some of her words did help to lessen my disgust at her character, but it only lessened it. Eadlyn’s very make-up and personality screamed over-privileged, spoilt child, and after reading about America’s plight to find love in the preceding three books, it was difficult to see how she could have created such a difficult-to-like young woman.

It was incredibly fun to find out how Maxon and America’s lives together turned out twenty years after they finally managed to find their way to one another. Their four children and the legacy they built in Illea was such a sweet, tangible reality to grasp on to. The stark differences in all of them not only indicates their place within their social hierarchy, but how different siblings can be while still having that integral connection to one another. The way that Eadlyn’s brothers stand up for and support her when she is upset is admirable. However, each one of them are also able to shut her down and remind her that she is not perfect, and there is work to do.

Although Eadlyn’s inability to see through her self-centred tendencies is frustrating, I find it incredibly difficult to completely disregard her. Although she is incapable of letting people in and finds it incredibly tough to form any kind of bond with, well, anyone, she is forced to deal with a lot. Her very way of protecting her heart against harm is what actually does the most harm. Likewise, although she may be more callous, the actions that she takes in her Selection, which are very similar to those which her father performed, are greeted with far more negative responses. It is such a beautiful and stark reminder of the fact that where actions are completely acceptable for a male, it is considered horrific for a female to act in the same manner.

Image source: The Selection Wiki