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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is... fine? Idk there's nothing particularly objectionable about it, but nothing really landed right for me. Not sure if I'm going to continue on with the series, but it's not looking great considering I don't really care what happens to the characters.
YA lit seems to have caught a case of the X-men lately. Lots of teenagers with powers running around.
The Young Elites was not exactly what I was expecting. I liked Legend okay, but I never read the rest of the series, so I didn't know if I would like this or not. I was pleasantly surprised, but because this is a day that end in y, this is a part of a trilogy, and I'm not sure if I will read the rest.
Adelina lives in a world that was ravaged by diseased, leaving some of the children marked. These marked children, malfettos, are looked down upon in Adelina's world. As a malfetto, Adelina's father is cruel to her, she will not have marriage prospects, and people think of her as cursed. When she is arrested for the murder of her father, the Young Elites, malfettos with magical powers, rescue her and help her to hone her abilities.
The world building here is pretty good. You get a decent idea of the differences between the various lands, even though Adelina's is the only country featured heavily. You get a pretty good picture of malfettos and the mystery behind why some have powers and others don't (spoiler: they really don't know), but the whole mystery of it is pretty complete.
Though I could have done without the romance, I enjoyed the characterization. I did not like Adelina, but felt that her characterization was completely natural. Of course I'm not going to like her. She has turned into a cruel, bitter person because of how she was raised. Teren and Enzo felt like an inversion of stock characters almost; Enzo the cruel one on the side of good, and Teren the gentler (though threatening) one on the wrong side.
I liked that the epilogue gave us a look at the rest of the world, and if I'm being honest, that epilogue is what will get me to read the rest of the series (if I decide to).
The Young Elites was not exactly what I was expecting. I liked Legend okay, but I never read the rest of the series, so I didn't know if I would like this or not. I was pleasantly surprised, but because this is a day that end in y, this is a part of a trilogy, and I'm not sure if I will read the rest.
Adelina lives in a world that was ravaged by diseased, leaving some of the children marked. These marked children, malfettos, are looked down upon in Adelina's world. As a malfetto, Adelina's father is cruel to her, she will not have marriage prospects, and people think of her as cursed. When she is arrested for the murder of her father, the Young Elites, malfettos with magical powers, rescue her and help her to hone her abilities.
The world building here is pretty good. You get a decent idea of the differences between the various lands, even though Adelina's is the only country featured heavily. You get a pretty good picture of malfettos and the mystery behind why some have powers and others don't (spoiler: they really don't know), but the whole mystery of it is pretty complete.
Though I could have done without the romance, I enjoyed the characterization. I did not like Adelina, but felt that her characterization was completely natural. Of course I'm not going to like her. She has turned into a cruel, bitter person because of how she was raised. Teren and Enzo felt like an inversion of stock characters almost; Enzo the cruel one on the side of good, and Teren the gentler (though threatening) one on the wrong side.
I liked that the epilogue gave us a look at the rest of the world, and if I'm being honest, that epilogue is what will get me to read the rest of the series (if I decide to).
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
🗡️ I dnf’ed the Young Elites twice in one day, but then I kept thinking about it so I decided to read it anyway (though some parts were skimmed, so please take that into account with this review).
🗡️ The main problem for me was that this book reads really young, even for a young adult novel. This wouldn’t have bothered me 10 years ago, but unfortunately, I am now old, and the writing felt quite childish.
🗡️ Though the premise is intriguing, I found the world a bit underdeveloped. The Italian words felt awkward to me, and combined with the writing, it felt a bit forced. The Young Elites thing also didn’t seem to be too well worked out.
🗡️ My favorite part, and the reason I couldn’t fully dnf this book, was the main character. Adelina’s character development (origin story?) was very intriguing to me. I LOVE morally questionable characters, and it keeps getting better (worse?) throughout the book. I love that Lu made this choice.
🗡️ The ending is also surprisingly good and dark and twisty. I’m intrigued by the epilogue.
🗡️ I’m not sure if I will continue this series because the writing really didn’t work for me, but I am kind of intrigued to find out what happens, so who knows! I might just look up a recap.
🗡️ The main problem for me was that this book reads really young, even for a young adult novel. This wouldn’t have bothered me 10 years ago, but unfortunately, I am now old, and the writing felt quite childish.
🗡️ Though the premise is intriguing, I found the world a bit underdeveloped. The Italian words felt awkward to me, and combined with the writing, it felt a bit forced. The Young Elites thing also didn’t seem to be too well worked out.
🗡️ My favorite part, and the reason I couldn’t fully dnf this book, was the main character. Adelina’s character development (origin story?) was very intriguing to me. I LOVE morally questionable characters, and it keeps getting better (worse?) throughout the book. I love that Lu made this choice.
🗡️ The ending is also surprisingly good and dark and twisty. I’m intrigued by the epilogue.
🗡️ I’m not sure if I will continue this series because the writing really didn’t work for me, but I am kind of intrigued to find out what happens, so who knows! I might just look up a recap.
adventurous
medium-paced
Loved it! I have not read the Legend trilogy yet, but after reading this and loving Marie Lu's writing style, I know I will soon. This book is full of twists and turns!
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
đź‘Ť Beautiful medieval Spanish setting
đź‘Ť Vengeful main character
đź‘Ť Fast paced writing
đź‘Ť Interesting powers
However it’s still very much your typical teen-with-powers fantasy book. It was a fun read but it didn’t strike me as anything special
Moreover there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense to me and I wish were a little more fleshed out, such as:
How the general public viewed Malfettos. Some people despised them, some liked them and some wanted the young elites to succeed, but what drove the people to hate or love the Elites? the reasoning for this is seemingly random
The young Elites society. They make it seem like there’s a lot of them but there’s like maybe 6-7 of them. And the “society” is fairly newly built but there are super formal practices/traditions that make it seem like it’s been around for a long time.
Idk, maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention but these made it hard for me to give this book anything above 4 stars
đź‘Ť Vengeful main character
đź‘Ť Fast paced writing
đź‘Ť Interesting powers
However it’s still very much your typical teen-with-powers fantasy book. It was a fun read but it didn’t strike me as anything special
Moreover there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense to me and I wish were a little more fleshed out, such as:
Idk, maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention but these made it hard for me to give this book anything above 4 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Another preview I got at LeakyCon 2014 that I did not like much.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated