Breaking Out My Tiaras Once Again: A Review of The Crown by Kiera Cass

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Well, we all know the topic of today’s review. We’ve all been waiting for it. I am finally finishing reviewing The Selection series today. We have made it to the fifth and final entry of the series: The Crown.

Please welcome to the stage, officially, The Crown by Kiera Cass!

I do have to say, all the book covers in this series are gorgeous!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. So let’s crack in!

Princess Eadlyn Schreave is at the lowest point of her life. Her twin brother Ahren up and left with his girlfriend in the middle of the night to elope in France which caused their mother, Queen America Schreave, to have a heart attack. Things are not great in the palace, but the public is rallying for the queen to pull through; there’s that at least.

Due to the circumstances, Eadlyn narrows the Selected down to the Elite. The top six in this case are Hale, Kile, Henri, Fox, Ean, and Gunner. Though another suitor has entered the fold, and no, it’s not Henri’s translator Erik. Marid Illéa, the son of two former allies of Maxon and America’s, and if we want to get technical about it, the rightful heir to Illéa’s throne. There’s some lore there. It’s probably best to check out the Selection’s wiki page to get the full story on Marid. The important thing to know is Illéa’s public loves Marid and he’s seemingly interested in Eadlyn out of nowhere.

Yeah, he’s interested in the throne. He wants the crown for himself. Marid’s nefarious plans leave Eadlyn with no other choice: she must get married. Her Selection was never meant to end with a marriage proposal. She had planned on ending the thing after three months saying she wasn’t in love with any of the Selected, but that’s no longer an option. Thankfully her heart does seem to be taken by someone. The issue is he’s not a member of the Selection. Eadlyn has found herself in love with Henri’s translator Erik. Whatever is a princess to do? Can she follow her heart? Or is she honor bound to marry one of the Selected? And can she prevent her nation from entering a civil war? Find out in The Crown.

For nothing happening in The Heir, The Crown packs it all in. We have a love story unfolding, the country is on the brink of a civil war, an outsider is scheming to steal the throne, and Eadlyn is still complaining. At least this time her complaints are somewhat warranted. Anyway, my biggest issue with The Crown has to be the pacing.

The Crown is so rushed. So, so rushed. The pacing of The Crown is a good example of how not to pace a book. Readers don’t get to digest Eadlyn’s feelings towards the Suitors, the political unrest, nor the introduction of the main villain. Nothing is given the chance to breath. Events just occur one right after the other. What doesn’t help is The Crown being noticeably shorter than any other entry of the series. There are 100 pages less in The Crown in comparison to The Heir. And because every single plot point had to quickly be wrapped up, I question if there was supposed to be a third entry to Eadlyn’s story but poor public opinion and sales led to there being only two books. Regardless, there is no excuse for the poor pacing. The only compliment I can give it is the pacing works if you want to read this book in a few short hours; which I did.

At least Eadlyn had some amount of character development. It is the most bare bones character development, but she has a character arc. Eadlyn goes from being a self-centered, snobbish princess to a privileged queen who knows and recognizes her faults. Does this character arc, if I can even call it that, feel like I’m being hit over the head with a steel chair? Yes, but I can at least say it’s there.

I can also say the same thing about the romance. It’s there. Eadlyn and Erik get much more time together this time around. While I found it obvious in The Heir that the pair would end up together, it was nice to see them have proper interactions in The Crown. They go on one date! Where I can see why they fall in love! All that said, the romance was extremely predictable. Like I said, it was obvious from the beginning. And while Eadlyn and Erik do interact and spend some time together in The Crown, their romance is not well-developed. Especially not in comparison to America and Maxon’s relationship. Eadlyn and Erik have a forbidden romance. I should see longing, secret rendezvous, stolen kisses; The Crown could have been so incredibly trope-y and I would have eaten it up! Instead the pages are littered with flat characters and a bare minimum romance that I’m applauding because nothing happened in the book prior.

The Selection series should stayed a trilogy. The Heir and The Crown were wholly unnecessary inclusions. I have no love for Eadlyn, or really any of the new flat characters introduced. Rereading both The Heir and The Crown ten years after their release, I clearly remember why I chose not to ever read them more than once.

Gonna pretend The Selection ends at The One forever.

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Books Nerds. I hope you had a lovely time with this blast from the past these last two week. I will see you all again next Wednesday with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then you can always follow Reading Has Ruined My Life over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you’d like something not related to books then I highly recommend checking out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk about everything and anything. We talk about weird people and moments from history, we’re reviewing every Disney, Barbie, and Scooby-Doo movie ever made, I talk about haunted houses and cryptids a lot; there’s bound to be something that strikes your fancy. Nothing to See Hear can currently be found on Spotify and YouTube. New episodes release every Wednesday evening.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me. 

See y'all then, bye!