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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Wow I liked this. Such a dark dark book. Huge contrast to the previous book I read. Excellent writing, the plot was semi foreseeable, but not with how it turned out. I love the anti-heroes. I loved the characters and how Adeline has grown, how that first insight into her past completely changed your perspective of her. Marie Lu is becoming one of my favourite authors.
adventurous
medium-paced
I liked the legend series easy better. This one just seemed…generic/boring
*4.5 stars*
I really enjoyed "The Young Elites". It kept my on the edge of my seat the entire time was reading it. I had no idea what direction it would take and each time it took it to a whole new level that I never would have thought of.
I really enjoyed "The Young Elites". It kept my on the edge of my seat the entire time was reading it. I had no idea what direction it would take and each time it took it to a whole new level that I never would have thought of.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Boring
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I loved the concept of this book with a "blood fever" that either killed or gave children powers! I loved how random and unique each power was, and I could never guess what someone had or how much it would evolve (power wise). I enjoyed the characters a lot. A few made me sad at times (I'm still not over the last 50 pages), I enjoyed learning about the different people in the elites, and I was interested a little more than we got for the group's background and also some characters. The setting of this world and how dark it felt was such a cool part of this book. Overall for the first book in a trilogy, I loved this! I can't wait to order the second book!
The Young Elites is set in a world were a deadly blood virus has swept through the nation. Most of the people who were infected died but a lot of the children survived. The children that did survive were left with strange markings and rumored to posses deadly powers. These survivors are called malfetto’s, marked ones. The malfetto’s who posses powers are also called The Young Elites. Our MC is Adelina Amouteru, a malfetto, who lost her eye due to the infection. But that’s not her only marking, her hair and eyelashes have turned silver/white due to the infection also. When her abusive father tries to sell her off to pay his debts she runs away from home. Things don’t go as planned and Adelina’s powers finally emerge and she ends up accidentally (or maybe not so accidentally) killing someone.
Because of what she has done Adelina is captured by The Inquisition, our equivalent of police officers, and scheduled to be executed. Adelina is rescued by The Dagger Society, a group of Young Elites who want to bring down the King and claim the throne, on the day she is supposed to be executed. That is basically where the story takes off.
Let me start off by saying the last 20 or so pages of this destroyed me then restored me. But I am kind of getting ahead of myself, aren’t I.
I absolutely love the world Marie Lu has managed to build in this book. It is a very dark and violent world with a very grim under tone to it. The Inquisitor’s work for the head Inquisitor, Teren (one of our villains), who works for the King (but mostly for the queen). After the virus and the malfetto’s started to pop up people became scared and fearful of the powers they were rumored to have. Because of this, malfetto’s are treated no better than the scum on the bottom of a shoe. They are beaten, killed, and harassed even if they have never showed any sign of powers. It’s their markings that set them a part and leads them to be treated horribly by not only The Inquisition but also their peers.
The story isn’t only dark because of the looming figures of The Inquisition themselves but also because of our MC Adelina. Adelina grew up with a very physically and emotionally abusive father who hated her because she was a malfetto. Adelina had to grow up seeing her father love and cherish her younger sister while she herself was punished basically for just being alive. Her father saw her as useless unless she had a power he could use to his own advantage. He did everything in his power to trigger her powers, nothing worked. Growing up this way a darkness manifested in Adelina. I eventually learned Adelina is not only our MC but also in a way one of our villains.
We discover very early on that Adelina’s power is the power of illusion. She can create deadly illusions, make people see, hear, feel, and believe things that aren’t really there. It doesn’t take long to also realize that Adelina’s powers basically feed on other peoples darkness and fear. Her powers and the darkness is not something she can always control.
Adelina starts working with The Dagger Society where she meets people like herself. We meet Raffaele who can find and sense other malfetto’s and he can also manipulate threads of energy. He use’s his ability to manipulate threads of energy by working as consort to help fund The Daggers and their plans. I loved the fact that Raffaele was a consort, sex worker, and slept with other men and it was just so normal. When Adelina found out what he did she didn’t judge him or wonder if he was gay she just took as fact and it didn’t alter her opinion of him. We also have another character (I won’t say who to avoid spoilers) who’s is either lesbian or bisexual. Some of our main characters are also described as having darker skin. I just love how Marie Lu added what some authors don’t ever add into their series in the first book, diversity. It was refreshing. I liked Raffaele and I’m excited to see what she does to his character but I really liked Enzo.
Enzo is the leader of The Dagger Society. He has the ability to create fire. He is your typical broody male character that your MC instantly falls in love with but I DON’T CARE. Despite the fact that a lot of my fellow readers hate the typical bad boy love interest I tend to always love them (expect Rowan Whitethorn). We didn’t get very much character development in the first book for many of the characters, including Enzo, but there was something different about him that I really enjoyed.
Okay, now lets wrap up my final thoughts. I loved that no of the characters were purely good or bad. They were all very morally grey characters is a way to put it. After the events of the first book you can really see Adelina going down a very dark path. I’m excited to see the character development for her and the others characters in the second book. Like I said earlier this is a very dark and violent book throughout the whole thing (I’m not exaggerating when I say very dark). I think the best way to go into this story is blind and to just form your own opinions from there.
I will be picking up the second book soon and I know Marie Lu is going to find a way to rip my heart out again. Bring it on.
Because of what she has done Adelina is captured by The Inquisition, our equivalent of police officers, and scheduled to be executed. Adelina is rescued by The Dagger Society, a group of Young Elites who want to bring down the King and claim the throne, on the day she is supposed to be executed. That is basically where the story takes off.
Let me start off by saying the last 20 or so pages of this destroyed me then restored me. But I am kind of getting ahead of myself, aren’t I.
I absolutely love the world Marie Lu has managed to build in this book. It is a very dark and violent world with a very grim under tone to it. The Inquisitor’s work for the head Inquisitor, Teren (one of our villains), who works for the King (but mostly for the queen). After the virus and the malfetto’s started to pop up people became scared and fearful of the powers they were rumored to have. Because of this, malfetto’s are treated no better than the scum on the bottom of a shoe. They are beaten, killed, and harassed even if they have never showed any sign of powers. It’s their markings that set them a part and leads them to be treated horribly by not only The Inquisition but also their peers.
The story isn’t only dark because of the looming figures of The Inquisition themselves but also because of our MC Adelina. Adelina grew up with a very physically and emotionally abusive father who hated her because she was a malfetto. Adelina had to grow up seeing her father love and cherish her younger sister while she herself was punished basically for just being alive. Her father saw her as useless unless she had a power he could use to his own advantage. He did everything in his power to trigger her powers, nothing worked. Growing up this way a darkness manifested in Adelina. I eventually learned Adelina is not only our MC but also in a way one of our villains.
We discover very early on that Adelina’s power is the power of illusion. She can create deadly illusions, make people see, hear, feel, and believe things that aren’t really there. It doesn’t take long to also realize that Adelina’s powers basically feed on other peoples darkness and fear. Her powers and the darkness is not something she can always control.
Adelina starts working with The Dagger Society where she meets people like herself. We meet Raffaele who can find and sense other malfetto’s and he can also manipulate threads of energy. He use’s his ability to manipulate threads of energy by working as consort to help fund The Daggers and their plans. I loved the fact that Raffaele was a consort, sex worker, and slept with other men and it was just so normal. When Adelina found out what he did she didn’t judge him or wonder if he was gay she just took as fact and it didn’t alter her opinion of him. We also have another character (I won’t say who to avoid spoilers) who’s is either lesbian or bisexual. Some of our main characters are also described as having darker skin. I just love how Marie Lu added what some authors don’t ever add into their series in the first book, diversity. It was refreshing. I liked Raffaele and I’m excited to see what she does to his character but I really liked Enzo.
Enzo is the leader of The Dagger Society. He has the ability to create fire. He is your typical broody male character that your MC instantly falls in love with but I DON’T CARE. Despite the fact that a lot of my fellow readers hate the typical bad boy love interest I tend to always love them (expect Rowan Whitethorn). We didn’t get very much character development in the first book for many of the characters, including Enzo, but there was something different about him that I really enjoyed.
Okay, now lets wrap up my final thoughts. I loved that no of the characters were purely good or bad. They were all very morally grey characters is a way to put it. After the events of the first book you can really see Adelina going down a very dark path. I’m excited to see the character development for her and the others characters in the second book. Like I said earlier this is a very dark and violent book throughout the whole thing (I’m not exaggerating when I say very dark). I think the best way to go into this story is blind and to just form your own opinions from there.
I will be picking up the second book soon and I know Marie Lu is going to find a way to rip my heart out again. Bring it on.