Review : The One by Kiera Cass

Title : The One
Author : Kiera Cass
Genre : YA dystopia, romance
Release Date : May 6th, 2014
Publisher : HarperTeen

GOODREADS

The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

Honestly, I'm actually not a big fan of this series, but I didn't hate it either. I enjoy the first book, but the second book is pretty boring for me. As for this book, well, let's just say I enjoy and did not enjoy it at the same time.

For me, the plot is more interesting than The Elite, but less interesting than The Selection. It has some twist that I did not expect before, mainly about the Northern rebel, and that's why I enjoy it. However, one of the many things that made me didn't enjoy this book is the character. Sure, their friendship are pretty great, but sometimes the girls act a little 'bitchy' toward each other, America included. I know that it's not inevitable--they have the same goal, after all--but I kinda feel bothered by this act.

America is a complicated character for me. In the first book, I admire her bravery, and  how she do something that other people are afraid to, but I think in this book, her personality has change (not to mention I kinda feel tired seeing her doing the basically-same thing after 3 books). She may be still brave, but to the point it became reckless. She often do something without thinking that made Maxon--at least--has to fix it. That's why sometimes I think that Maxon deserve better than her.

The romance. I don't know how to describe this one, quite frankly. I don't like love triangle--in fact I'm pretty sure this is the only series that I manage to finish which have a love triangle. At first, I ship America and Aspen, then change to America and Maxon, then back to America and Aspen, and so on. Until I closed The One, I still don't know which one I ship, so let's just say I did not ship anyone in this series. Both ships has their pros and cons, and it's complicated to explain. This is probably another thing that made me didn't enjoy this book--I don't even ship anyone in this romance book.

The last and probably the worst thing that I didn't enjoy is the ending. I had a feeling that Cass want to make a tragic yet happy ending at the same time--like Mockingjay maybe?--but to me, it's a big fail. I honestly can't explain it without ranting and spoil everything, but it's way too rushed and so cliche. It probably will be better if it became a sad ending rather than 'a fail happy yet tragic ending'. Overall, if you're a huge fan of this series, you'll most likely love this book, but since I'm not, I can't say that I love this book.

*note : if you want to know how the ending is, I put it under spoiler tag on my review on goodreads