This book is set in a future North America called Illea. In this country the people are divided by castes. There are quite a few of them, I think eights are the lowest caste, but I can't say for sure because there were so many. The books protagonist is called America and she is a five (artist caste). The people who are in caste four and above (5,6,7,8) have a more difficult way of life due to the fact that they have less chances of getting more work and more money to feed their families. The whole country is governed by a royal family who has a younger son, Prince Maxon, who must choose his wife through a Selection process. The ladies who are chosen for the selection are highly compensated, which means they have the opportunity of a lifetime to save their families. America does not wish to participate because she is in love with Aspen and doesn't care for the selection process, nevertheless he convinces her to submit her name for her families sake. From here on out several things happen, which I don't want to go into detail because I think finding out while reading the story is better and makes you feel more connected to the book. I really enjoyed this book! The writing is superb, the story is original and I felt things while reading it that I hadn't felt in a while. When I was a young teen I read Ella Enchanted and the relationship that starts to grow between America and Prince Maxon reminds me a bit of what I felt watching Ella and Char's relationship grow throughout the story. I think one of the things I mostly enjoyed while reading was the fact that this wasn't only a romance story, and I think that's what kept me interested the whole time. I think America is a very lovable character, she is very smart, stubborn and giving which I also think is a great plus to the story; there is nothing better than reading a book where you like the main character. Anyways as you can sort of see in my "preview" of the book this is another one of those books where you end up being team something.... being completely honest I have to say I prefer Maxon to Aspen because I am a firm believer that there is more to love than just passion...but if America ends up choosing Aspen I'd be fine with it too. I also get the feeling that this is a story where the character America will be deciding this for herself and that the author of the book may have no say in this at all until she pens it all down. Anyways, it's a good fast read of an original story that keeps you interested for hours so I really recommended to everyone.
