Book Review: The Heir by Kiera Cass
The story follows Prince (now king) Maxon and
America’s (from the first three books of the selection) daughter Princess
Eadlyn. The story takes place in a fictional country Illéa, which is set in the
future. Even though the caste system has been removed by Maxon in the earlier
novel the people are still unhappy because they still feel that there is still
a caste system due to the fact that they still embody their previous way of life
and that they still hold a prejudice against one another because of their
previous castes. So in order for the people to take their minds of the current
issue Prince Maxon decided that a selection for her daughter be made to make a
sort of a diversion. At first Princess Eadlyn refused because she is not yet
ready to be married but she agreed in the end with her own conditions to the
selection.
The
novel presents two kinds of conflicts. First is the man versus himself which,
is seen with Princess Eadlyn’s trying to deal with her emotions and her issues
with meeting suitors, dating, and trying to hide her weaknesses with her
strengths. Second is man versus man where in the royal family is trying to deal
with the issues with their people. Furthermore, this is a first person
protagonist point of view therefore we get to fully understand Princess
Eadlyn’s emotions and see her intensions very clearly.
In term of characterization, Princess Eadlyn
was hard to love in the beginning of the book (unlike her mother, America)
because I did not like her attitude, which came off as someone who thinks
highly of herself and often speaks what is in her mind without even thinking if
it would hurt other people. But I came to like her when see realizes that she
may not be as highly as what see thinks she is and when she became fully aware
of her weakness, especially when she was comparing herself with Princess
Camille, she became more relatable in a sense that we also have or is still
dealing with that issue of knowing our weakness and not knowing how to handle
them and comparing ourselves with other people, which puts us down.
Princess Eadlyn’s behavior
is reserve meaning that she keeps people at a distance and she shows a tough
looking exterior. She has a hard time connecting with her suitors because she
does not let herself be open to them. Maybe because she’s scared of getting
hurt or may be as a future queen she does not want to let other people see or
know about her weakness, which is what is wrong in her situation because of her
not showing people who she really is and keeping them at arms length they are
doubting her capabilities of being a queen and that they can’t relate to
her. In her part, there is a need to be
balance. She needs to show both her soft and tough side. She needs to let her
people see that they could relate to her and see that she is compassionate but
at the same time see that she is capable of leading the country.
Moreover,
even though they are royalty they author still made the Schreaves a normal
family, where in they have their fights with one another and that they also
show that they love one another. And they truly showed that they care for one
another, especially in the scene where Ahren (Eadlyn’s twin brother) was in the
hospital wing for defended Eadlyn by punching Jack and we see the rest of
family there making sure Ahren and Eadlyn were safe and it was just a nice
depiction of a family dynamic. Also, in Marxist point of view we see how
different social classes interact with one another. With Burke and Fox case we
see how Burke belittles Fox because he does not know anything about quality
food, which made Fox feel dejected and conscious about him being poor. So it is
an irony to see a discrimination against the poor even though the caste system
has been abolished. But at the same time we see a different case with Maxon and
America being Maxon a prince and America poor before they were married.
Furthermore,
the novel is relatable to the readers because the protagonist deals with a
problem that readers have or is still struggling, which is growing up. Princess
Eadlyn is struggling to do her duties as a princess and future queen of her
country and at the same time finding a suitable husband. And the readers can
relate to that because most of us have troubles with balancing life, with
(family or job) duties, and with dating and opening up to other people. In
terms of feminism, we see that Princess Eadlyn is feminist in a way that she
want to be dominant then her suitors and she believes that she can run the
country without having a husband at her side. There is a shift in male and
female traits throughout the book with Eadlyn playing baseball, and with the
men, though it is not seen but it is implied that they gossip with one another
to know more about Eadlyn.
To
assert, this book was very entertaining. I love that I get to see more of Maxon
and America and that we get to see how their children are. I also love how
Princess Eadlyn is a mixture of both her parents’ characteristics but at the same
time she is her own individual. As usually the writing was good and the pace of
the book was face and quick. The ending nearly killed and I hope nobody dies!!!
My only problem was the lack of world building. This book is set in the future
but when I was reading it does not feel like it is in the future since it lacked
futuristic ideas unlike other future setting books like the hunger games. But furthermore,
this was a delight to read, I commend Ms. Kiera Cass for writing another book
about the selection, and I cannot wait for the next book.
I give this book a 4 stars out of a 5
P.S. Comment down below what you thought of the book.
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Isabel Samonte
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