It took me a while to get to this book because 1) it has a foo-foo dress on the cover, and 2) the synopsis sounds way too much like The Bachelor.
35 girls get picked to go live in the palace, competing for the hand of the prince. The winner marries the prince, becomes princess, and eventual queen.
It's really a lot better than that though. The world building is amazing. After WWIV, North America is reinvented as a new country. It's broken into provinces, with a ruling family instead of a president. There is also a caste system, ranking One (royalty) to Eights (homeless). The protagonist is a Five, the artisan caste. She is a singer and plays instruments for money at parties. Most of the time, her family has enough to eat.
She is secretly in love with a Six, who she meets every night in the treehouse after curfew. Sixes are the maids and laborers. He never has enough to eat.
Meanwhile, the prince is actually a cool dude. He is caring, intelligent, and compassionate. He's very easy to like.
It sounds like it's leading into a crappy love triangle, but it didn't at all. Rather than choosing between two guys, it was choosing which direction her life would take. She could marry her first love and struggle with starvation for the rest of her life. Or she could pursue the prince, try to win the competition and become queen. Or she could let things fall where they may and see where life takes her after the Selection. It was really well written.
As for the other girls, there was only some cattiness and backstabbing. Most of the girls have their own set of hardships, but the author doesn't go into those. Sometimes a girl will cry or say something cryptic, hinting at a possible backstory. Everyone, even the supporting characters, have depth.
There's a lot of mystery in the book too; many unanswered questions. Why are there no history books anymore? What really happened in WWIII and WWIV? Who are the rebels and what do they want? How was the caste system created?
I can't wait for the sequel. If it's anything like The Selection, it'll be a seriously good read.
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