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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
This book is wonderfully dark, with Adelina's story twisted in real emotion. My only real issue with this story is that I hate the name "Young Elites" for this band of gifted teens. It does not feel like a nickname that would naturally spring from society. But that's a minor burr that can be overlooked in favor of the story, which is strong and the best part (for me), which came in the acknowledgements at the end. Read them, like you'd stay through the credits of a movie for an extra scene.
I struggled to like the protagonist. This one is not appropriate for a 5/6th grade audience so won't go on my shelves. I'm curious about what Lu did with book two. Unfortunately I'm not curious enough to spend precious time reading it. Meh...
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just wasn't feeling it. No real reason I didn't finish it, other than life is too short for bad books and I just didn't want to keep reading.
Marie Lu is seriously one of the best YA writers that I've read in recent memory. I devoured her Legend series and immediately put The Young Elites on my to-read list because of how action-packed and emotionally-driven her books are. And with this book, she's definitely cemented her position as a YA author whose books I'll definitely read because she completely meets all my expectations with this book.
Adelina Amouteru is a malfetto, a girl who survived the blood fever that ravaged her nation and which killed her mother in the process. Survivors of the blood fever often end up with strange markings on their bodies and some of them, the whispered-about Young Elites, end up having abilities that aren't of this world. Adelina's strange appearance has caused great misfortune upon her household, because many other traders aren't willing to deal with her merchant family and her father ends up taking out his resentment and bitterness on Adelina. Over the years, Adelina's heart has blackened and she's been convinced by her father that she's unworthy of love, that she's an abomination and will never be worth anything.
And on one night, the night when her father barters her away, Adelina snaps and ends up committing a murder with some of her newfound powers. Her ability to create life-like illusions draws to her unwanted attention from both the Dagger Society and the Inquisitors. The Dagger Society is led by the fiery Enzo Valenciano and are a group of Young Elites dedicated to trying to change their system, to make malfettos accepted by society even as hysteria sweeps through the nation and more malfettos are put to death. The Lead Inquisitor, Teren Santoro, is hiding a few secrets of his own and is relentless in hunting down malfettos and putting them to death.
When Adelina is recruited by the Dagger Society, she's drawn into a brand new world that she's never known before, a world where she can learn to control her powers and to perhaps find somewhere that she belongs. But the Dagger Society has their own plans and so do the Inquisitors and each want to use Adelina for their own purposes.
The Young Elites is a book that's in a completely different genre from the Legend series and it combines fantasy with romance seamlessly. Adelina's powers and her training were intense to read about and her mind is a pretty dark place, a place that craves to hurt and to damage. Adelina isn't an easy character to like and it actually took me a while before I started to sympathize with her and with her emotions. Eventually, I grew to love her as a character, at how damaged she is and how vulnerable she can be. At the same time, she's really a scary badass whose powers she's still exploring and who will grow to become stronger as she fine-tunes her powers.
The world-building was really well-done too, with Lu creating an entirely different world from our own and including in it many details such as a good dose of political intrigue (). The blood fever was an interesting concept, with only the young surviving and the old sucumbing to their illness. The fever served as some kind of catalyst that changed the young.
And there's a whole range of powers that Lu has created her, from Enzo's fire to Adelina's illusions and Gemma's ability to talk to animals. I'm impressed by her creativity in coming up with so many different types of abilities and I really want to know how she's going to develop the series.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Young Elites and can't wait for the next book!
Adelina Amouteru is a malfetto, a girl who survived the blood fever that ravaged her nation and which killed her mother in the process. Survivors of the blood fever often end up with strange markings on their bodies and some of them, the whispered-about Young Elites, end up having abilities that aren't of this world. Adelina's strange appearance has caused great misfortune upon her household, because many other traders aren't willing to deal with her merchant family and her father ends up taking out his resentment and bitterness on Adelina. Over the years, Adelina's heart has blackened and she's been convinced by her father that she's unworthy of love, that she's an abomination and will never be worth anything.
And on one night, the night when her father barters her away, Adelina snaps and ends up committing a murder with some of her newfound powers. Her ability to create life-like illusions draws to her unwanted attention from both the Dagger Society and the Inquisitors. The Dagger Society is led by the fiery Enzo Valenciano and are a group of Young Elites dedicated to trying to change their system, to make malfettos accepted by society even as hysteria sweeps through the nation and more malfettos are put to death. The Lead Inquisitor, Teren Santoro, is hiding a few secrets of his own and is relentless in hunting down malfettos and putting them to death.
When Adelina is recruited by the Dagger Society, she's drawn into a brand new world that she's never known before, a world where she can learn to control her powers and to perhaps find somewhere that she belongs. But the Dagger Society has their own plans and so do the Inquisitors and each want to use Adelina for their own purposes.
The Young Elites is a book that's in a completely different genre from the Legend series and it combines fantasy with romance seamlessly. Adelina's powers and her training were intense to read about and her mind is a pretty dark place, a place that craves to hurt and to damage. Adelina isn't an easy character to like and it actually took me a while before I started to sympathize with her and with her emotions. Eventually, I grew to love her as a character, at how damaged she is and how vulnerable she can be. At the same time, she's really a scary badass whose powers she's still exploring and who will grow to become stronger as she fine-tunes her powers.
The world-building was really well-done too, with Lu creating an entirely different world from our own and including in it many details such as a good dose of political intrigue (
Spoiler
I really want to know what the new Queen is going to get up to now that her brother Enzo is dead. And I also really hope that Enzo isn't going to stay dead dead, because there's still so much that we don't know about him! And I want him and Adelina to have a happy endingAnd there's a whole range of powers that Lu has created her, from Enzo's fire to Adelina's illusions and Gemma's ability to talk to animals. I'm impressed by her creativity in coming up with so many different types of abilities and I really want to know how she's going to develop the series.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Young Elites and can't wait for the next book!
In a fantasized version of Renaissance Italy, those who survive the dreaded blood fever find themselves gifted with magical powers. These young survivors call themselves the Young Elite; everyone else calls them malfettos, the cursed. For young Adelina Amouteru, her power is the ability to create illusions so powerful they can drive people to distraction, or even bring about death. When her untrained powers inadvertently bring about her abusive father’s unsavory (but well-deserved) demise, the malfetto-hating Inquisition Axis arrests her and sentences her to death.
Enter the Dagger Society, a group of Young Elites lead by the mysterious youth, Enzo Valenciano. On the day of her scheduled execution, Adelina suddenly finds herself rescued by Enzo, and relocated to the Daggers’ hideout. There, Enzo offers her a chance to join the gang and hone her abilities. She accepts his invitation, but is dismayed to find that many of the Daggers don’t trust her, and actually fear her for her power. As she struggles with her own insecurities and fears—fears that fuel her abilities, and could lead to more death—she finds that the ambitious lead Inquisitor, Teren Santoro, has discovered her whereabouts, and is now threatening to kill Violetta, the sister she left behind, if she does not agree to spy on the Daggers for him.
First, the good: there’s a lot of impressive stuff in here. There’s a splendid fantasy world, lots of adventure, and an ending that will tempt even the most jaded of teens into checking out the sequel. But personally? I think it could have been so much better.
On her site, the author explains that The Young Elites is the beginning of an origin story for a villainess, which, I have to admit, is a pretty neat idea. However, I’m of the opinion that Adelina (the heroine/villainess in question) gets to her desired destination just a little too quickly. Does she really have to go bad by the end of the first book? Why not the second? Or even the third? As anyone who’s seen Star Wars can tell you, it took Anakin Skywalker three whole movies to go from bright-eyed innocent to menacing villain.
I’ll complete my laundry list of complaints by mentioning the criminally underdeveloped supporting cast, and the obligatory romantic pairing between Adelina and the hot guy, which felt rushed in its development.
So, my opinion? It’s okay. Entertaining, but certainly not spectacular. Recommend for Ages 15-Up, and for fans of Lu’s earlier “Legend” trilogy, fans of X-Men, and other areas of fantasy.
Enter the Dagger Society, a group of Young Elites lead by the mysterious youth, Enzo Valenciano. On the day of her scheduled execution, Adelina suddenly finds herself rescued by Enzo, and relocated to the Daggers’ hideout. There, Enzo offers her a chance to join the gang and hone her abilities. She accepts his invitation, but is dismayed to find that many of the Daggers don’t trust her, and actually fear her for her power. As she struggles with her own insecurities and fears—fears that fuel her abilities, and could lead to more death—she finds that the ambitious lead Inquisitor, Teren Santoro, has discovered her whereabouts, and is now threatening to kill Violetta, the sister she left behind, if she does not agree to spy on the Daggers for him.
First, the good: there’s a lot of impressive stuff in here. There’s a splendid fantasy world, lots of adventure, and an ending that will tempt even the most jaded of teens into checking out the sequel. But personally? I think it could have been so much better.
On her site, the author explains that The Young Elites is the beginning of an origin story for a villainess, which, I have to admit, is a pretty neat idea. However, I’m of the opinion that Adelina (the heroine/villainess in question) gets to her desired destination just a little too quickly. Does she really have to go bad by the end of the first book? Why not the second? Or even the third? As anyone who’s seen Star Wars can tell you, it took Anakin Skywalker three whole movies to go from bright-eyed innocent to menacing villain.
I’ll complete my laundry list of complaints by mentioning the criminally underdeveloped supporting cast, and the obligatory romantic pairing between Adelina and the hot guy, which felt rushed in its development.
So, my opinion? It’s okay. Entertaining, but certainly not spectacular. Recommend for Ages 15-Up, and for fans of Lu’s earlier “Legend” trilogy, fans of X-Men, and other areas of fantasy.
I feel like I’ve said this about the last few books I’ve read, but this one surprised me! I read this a few years back and DNFed it, so I expected to do the same this go around. I think it’s interesting to remember how I didn’t like it back then because I felt I couldn’t relate to Adelina and now I liked it because I could relate to Adelina.
The ONLY part that I didn’t like was the romance. Enzo and Adelina were as flavorless as stale white bread. Adelina doesn’t need a romance, in my opinion, and Enzo and Raffaele were just absolute wasted potential. It wasn’t even subtle about how much they clearly loved each other. What a shame...
But other than the romance, or lack there of, this book was great and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!
The ONLY part that I didn’t like was the romance. Enzo and Adelina were as flavorless as stale white bread. Adelina doesn’t need a romance, in my opinion, and Enzo and Raffaele were just absolute wasted potential. It wasn’t even subtle about how much they clearly loved each other. What a shame...
But other than the romance, or lack there of, this book was great and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!
The pre-ending was different than I thought it would be, but the last 25 pages were AMAZING.
Yeah, I think I've covered everything. I will probably reread this book before the next comes out and expand on this review. Until then, you can find me reading [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059] to catch up with like 4 friends who happen to all be reading it right now, and only 2 of them know each other. Anyway, until next time!
Spoiler
I'm more sad about the lost relationship with Raffaele than I am about Enzo's death. Adelina is such a round character, none of he actions are unexpected or out of character. Raffaele is my favorite dude in this book, he's so skilled at all things. I LOVE MAUVE. BAD-ASS QUEER WOMEN GIVE ME LIFE, AND I'M INSANELY EXCITED FOR THE NEXT BOOK BECAUSE OF HER.Yeah, I think I've covered everything. I will probably reread this book before the next comes out and expand on this review. Until then, you can find me reading [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059] to catch up with like 4 friends who happen to all be reading it right now, and only 2 of them know each other. Anyway, until next time!
Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme.... October is so faaaar ;(
~~
So internet has been a bitch. And now I must re write my entire review. It was a long one. Dammit
~~
Actual Rating: 3.5/5 stars
POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE!
* a book that scares you
And believe me or not, I was pretty scared to pick this up! Scared... and excited :D
Now if you know me from instagram or if you have read my previous reviews, you'll know that I'm a great fan of Marie Lu. I love her Legend trilogy and I greatly recommend it to anyone of you who wants to read something fresh in the dystopian genre.
Now, back to this book. I have a lot a mixed feelings about it. I loved all the characters (except maybe Teren. He's some crazy shit I wouldn't want to meet. And I hope he'll die. DIEEEEE [gee I'm going all Coach Hedge now ;)]) especially Star Thief, and I hoped we would have more knowledge about them because all characters contribute to the story, don't they?
Also, I have a feeling that there is something... missing from this book. I cannot really put my finger on it but I know it's here (or rather NOT here)
There were also times where I was a little confused about Adelina and I did not understand why she was feeling this... dark; I mean, you can't really be feeling like that all the time... Can you?
By the end of the book, Lu suceeded in making me mad at Violetta. She could have done something [SPOILER ALERT! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK]
And then there's the epilogue. Good old epilogue who got me like whutt???. Good old epilogue who made me mad at myself for eading this so early. Good old epilogue who made me look up the release date of The Rose Society and cringe. Good old epilogue, we have a love-hate relatioship right now, buddy.
~~
So internet has been a bitch. And now I must re write my entire review. It was a long one. Dammit
~~
Actual Rating: 3.5/5 stars
POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE!
* a book that scares you
And believe me or not, I was pretty scared to pick this up! Scared... and excited :D
Now if you know me from instagram or if you have read my previous reviews, you'll know that I'm a great fan of Marie Lu. I love her Legend trilogy and I greatly recommend it to anyone of you who wants to read something fresh in the dystopian genre.
Now, back to this book. I have a lot a mixed feelings about it. I loved all the characters (except maybe Teren. He's some crazy shit I wouldn't want to meet. And I hope he'll die. DIEEEEE [gee I'm going all Coach Hedge now ;)]) especially Star Thief, and I hoped we would have more knowledge about them because all characters contribute to the story, don't they?
Also, I have a feeling that there is something... missing from this book. I cannot really put my finger on it but I know it's here (or rather NOT here)
There were also times where I was a little confused about Adelina and I did not understand why she was feeling this... dark; I mean, you can't really be feeling like that all the time... Can you?
By the end of the book, Lu suceeded in making me mad at Violetta. She could have done something [SPOILER ALERT! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK]
Spoiler
she could have helped Adelina on so many occasions but she didn't because she was... scared? And now you want to help her? Sorry to tell you that, but if Adelina is all dark today you are also to blame for it -_-And then there's the epilogue. Good old epilogue who got me like whutt???. Good old epilogue who made me mad at myself for eading this so early. Good old epilogue who made me look up the release date of The Rose Society and cringe. Good old epilogue, we have a love-hate relatioship right now, buddy.