Faith Zhang

I was so excited to read about America and Maxon's daughter's story because I loved the original Selection trilogy so much, but The Heir was a bit disappointing. Starting off, half the book was filled with Eadlyn's complaints about being the heir of Illea and not wanting to fall in love. Eadlyn's dates with the Selected suitors were bland and almost always ended with Eadlyn getting uncomfortable and ending the date quickly. The only remotely eventful date was the one with Jack, and even that only lasted, like, 3 pages. Eadlyn's personality is vastly different from her parents'. She gets mad or irritated easily and pushes away or acts snippy with everyone. She's also extremely arrogant, and she thinks of herself as the "most powerful person in the world" when, in reality, she hasn't even become Queen yet. Her personality is like a generic brat and is quite plain. Eadlyn was raised with luxury and everything was done for her. There was no hardship for her in the book, which is a huge contrast from her mother, America (protagonist of the Selection trilogy), who was raised as a Five, had a love triangle between both Aspen and Maxon, and had conflicts with the other Selected. The book in general was really plain and boring. Speaking of America, her and Maxon's personalities also change immensely. America has lost her fiery, sometimes sarcastic attitude, and has been replaced by a gentle, robotic personality. I was super upset because America completely CHANGED. Maxon seemed 50 years older and also a lot more plain. I couldn't believe that the kindhearted protagonists in the main trilogy would force their daughter into a Selection for a distraction. That does not seem like them! *~SPOILER ALERT~* The last few pages of the book were extremely rushed. Ahren elopes with Camille and he acts like a lovesick idiot around her all the time. It felt like their relationship was shallow and there was nothing that explained how they fell in love, so it doesn't feel like they have much chemistry. Then, Queen America has a heart attack due to Ahren's eloping and that all happened in a matter of pages. So, in general, the book was plain, the ending was rushed, and the character's personalities weren't that great.

I really liked the original Selection trilogy. However, this spin-off series of America and Maxon's daughter feels very cliche in general. Eadlyn's personality is just too bratty and bland. Half of Eadlyn's thoughts in this book is about how she does not want to fall in love and how she complains about "tough" her job as the heir of Illea is. Erik and Eadlyn's relationship is more on the friendly side, never romantic until the last few chapters of the Crown. The end of this book feels extremely rushed, and Eadlyn and Erik's love story is quite generic and simple. There was not much character development in the book whatsoever. Also, Eadlyn is HORRIBLE to Kile. There were so many romantic interactions between them throughout The Heir and a most of The Crown, and then suddenly, Eadlyn banishes Kile, sends him away from the palace, and falls in love with Erik instead?! After getting banished by Eadlyn for a year and returning, Kile apparently marries this random woman named Alice, according to the Happily Ever After novella. Alice never shows up in the books. There is no info and backstory on who she is, and no backstory for how she and Kile fall in love. The book just states that Kile is married to a woman named Alice. Kile's bratty sister, Josie, is also married to Eadlyn's little brother, Kaden Schreave, without context or reason. There is little to no interaction between Kaden and Josie, similar to Kile and Alice. Josie is basically a less calculating, more boy-crazy Eadlyn and a generic "wannabe popular girl". Talk about a lack of variating personalities and backstories. America's fiery, energetic personality is completely taken out of her character and she becomes this gentle robot who says the most unoriginal motherly sentences. Maxon is also really plain and has a lack of personality in this book. Summarizing this book, I'd say it was okay, but it was extremely cliche, plain, had a lack of personality, mediocre plot, and a few rushed scenes.