The Heir
Title: The Heir
Author: Keira Cass
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian, Fiction
Published: 6th May 2015
Pages: 342
Start Date: 24th September 2022
Finish Date:25th September 2022
Summary
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 has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.
But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection, no matter how fervently she protests.
Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.
Review
I did not expect the Heir to be about what it was about, I thought it was seeing America transition into her role with Maxon and they found out they were expecting. Instead, we meet Maxon and America's children which includes Eadlyn the heir to the throne. I was not sure about the book at first because I was not sure I liked the perspective but as the book went on I loved seeing it from the Heir and not seeing the Selection views.
Eadlyn will undoubtedly rub people wrong, especially considering how charming and endearing her parents were as characters. This is something that's repeatedly called attention to, so it is just her character and not an example of poor characterisation. Basically, we have a flawed protagonist and part of the reading is watching her develop alongside the plot.
One of the great things about this story was how it pointed out all the double standards and trappings of being a woman-in-power who has her literal pick of men. Flawed as she is, Eadlyn is constantly defending herself or justifying actions a man in her position wouldn't need to explain himself over. It's absurd and unfair it does contribute to some of her assertiveness and sour attitude.
Whereas the first three books played the Selection straight and even romanticised it, The Heir deconstructs this process while exploring the pressure and fallacy inherent to it. For better or worse, this isn't a rehash of the original trilogy but I'm still curious to see what will amount from it.
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️