The year was 2012. “The Hunger Games” movie had just come out, the world was getting over the apocalyptic ending scare, skinny jeans and sky-high platforms were in fashion and most importantly, dystopian young adult fiction was dominating bookstores and movie theaters. This was the perfect condition for the feel-good dystopian romance, “The Selection.” Released on April 14, 2012, “The Selection” follows the story of America Singer, a sixteen-year-old girl in a world where people’s talents and jobs separate them into different numbered castes. In the fictional world of Illea, citizens are grouped into eight levels, conveniently named after their number. The Ones are the members of the royal family; the Twos are high-ranking political officials; the Threes are teachers, scientists and doctors; the Fours are farmers, factoryworkers and shopkeepers; the Fives—America’s caste—are musicians and artists; the Sixes are common laborers; the Sevens are servants; and the Eights are either homeless or criminals. 

In Illea, a selection for a new princess, the daughter of Illea, happens each time a prince comes of age. In this process, 35 women from different castes and states are picked to compete against each other for the position. The book begins with America and her family being sent a letter informing them of her eligibility to sign up for selection. America is vehemently against the idea, as she is already hiding an affair with Aspen, a caste Six boy. After he breaks up with her because he feels insecure about not being able to provide for her financially, America is forced to sign up and is unexpectedly picked to participate among the 35 women. Now she has to survive in a competition she doesn’t want to be in to secure money for her family, while also having to choose between Aspen and the prince, Maxon.   

This begins the first book in a five-part series, with three following America’s journey throughout the selection and the last two with the next generation. In the past five years since I first discovered it, I’ve read it over seven times. The level of joy the books bring me is honestly ridiculous. The drama, the chemistry between America and the Prince and the visualization of the world make the series weirdly addictive.

Now I’m only slightly delusional, so I can recognize that “The Selection” is cartoonishly bad. It’s not poor because of the writing style or an uninteresting story; there is just a layer of silliness to the story that I feel makes it even more endearing. To make this caste system even more convenient for everyone, people’s last names are usually indicators of their jobs. Someone named Darrel Fisher is, you guessed it, a fisherman. Our dear main character is named America Singer, and guess what, she’s a singer. 

“The Selection” has long been criticized for poor world-building, as the fictional country of Illea is essentially the United States with different state names slapped onto it. There is no real effort put into the country’s history, and the storytelling gets lazy when it comes to side plots and character depth, often abandoning logical political storylines in favor of romantic drama. Additionally, when it comes to simple characterization, there are many faults in the characters’ personalities. America, like almost every other main character in her time, is not like other girls; she doesn’t wear makeup, doesn’t like looking pretty and is perfectly fine shaming other women for doing so. She participates in the Selection to secure status and money for her family, but looks down on other selected women as social climbers. 

Now, this could easily be chalked up to bad writing; however, these issues can work well in a different media format. Despite being someone who’s usually not the biggest fan of live-action adaptations, if there’s any book that needs a live-action adaptation, it is “The Selection.” This setting for Illea as a country would be much more interesting with romance as a side plot and political conflict being the focus of the story. In the book, we are made to agree with all of America’s points, as it shows her perspective exclusively. In a show format, however, we may get the opportunity to have more fleshed out characters alongside a clearer display of how misogyny and classism affect Illean society to the point where even the main character carries very overt biases.

In May 2023, Netflix officially canceled its planned film adaptation of “The Selection,” despite already being supposedly years into development. While the best time for this would’ve been in the 2010s rave for dystopian films, I still think the current popularity of fantasy-world-setting shows such as “Bridgerton” and “House of the Dragon” proves there is still an audience for stories like this. I have no doubt that with the right director and the right network, “The Selection” could become an incredibly entertaining series with the type of escapist television audiences love.