Reviews with content warning for Torture - Silver Elite

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Silver Elite by Dani Francis

39 reviews

lindsayerin's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

zhanae_j's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Starts off at an interesting clip with solid enough characters and setting. Doesn't really get engaging again until the last stretch of chapters. I won't get too deep into my dislikes but the uneven pacing of the action interspersed with a whole lot of chemistry devoid 'romance' and lackluster hookups from the leads made everything between the beginning of the book and the end progress in a way I personally did not find appealing.

The buildout for the politics, belief and value systems, and history of conflict in this world works on a surface level. As the story goes on it gets difficult to parse out from Wren's perspective which side we are supposed to be rooting for because she had some flip-flopping ass motivations. Like what is supposed to be the takeaway? Both sides--the Primes and the Modified led rebellion--are equally corrupt? I don't know, it just doesn't work for me. Perhaps if her ties to the rebellion (who she eventually turns spy for) were emotionally stronger and Wren was more empowered in her modified identity that argument would be more nuanced

The way this book was marketed you would think it was the next Hunger Games or Divergent. I would compare this more to Shatter Me, both being closer in theme, tone, and writing style. This book is supposed to be adult dystopian but Wren's voice, her attitude, and the writing style give YA.

Content Warnings

porpoise06's review against another edition

5.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

Content Warnings

taryn_g's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

efletcher2014's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

fedoratheexplora's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

Content Warnings

xalrynne's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Take Divergent and make it R-rated and remove all the worldbuilding, and you have Silver Elite. Or take Fourth Wing and remove the dragons and add a half-baked dystopian setting, and you have Silver Elite.

This book feels like it was written for what’s selling in the market right now: take all the most popular tropes and combine them into a book reminiscent of other fantasy bestsellers, and make it spicy. But don’t give it any depth.

This book is the epitome of “I didn’t say it was good, I said that I liked it.” But did I actually like it? It’s definitely not good. But I flew through it. My biggest compliment about Silver Elite is that it’s compulsively readable. It’s very easy to keep turning the pages when the chapters end because each chapter ended on a cliffhanger and I was interested just enough to want to keep reading.

I have to emphasize that the worldbuilding in this story is nonexistent. We are given lots of words that sound important, but no explanations, no descriptions, no painted pictures. The author capitalized a bunch of terms to make it seem like she built a world: Primes, Mods, the Program, Command, Silver Block, Faithful, Aberrant, Continent etc. But none of it is ever explained in any sort of context. It’s basically like, “Primes join the Command and attend the Program so they can defeat the Aberrant Mods and locate the Faithful.” What does any of that mean? I still don’t even know who the Faithful are or why they need to be found. Then you have a sentence like,“seven continents were devastated, four of them razed or underwater,” and in the same paragraph, “dwindling resources,” “overpopulation,” “radiation,” and the “Last War” are mentioned, but nothing is explained or mentioned ever again in any sort of clarifying context. There is no history, no backstory. There’s Silver Block, but there’s also Tin Block and Copper Block, etc. What do the metals have to do with anything? We never find out. The author really did a disservice to the readers on the worldbuilding front because it’s all as flimsy as a sheet of paper.

This book tries to be both post-apocalyptic and dystopian, yet it’s pitifully neither. It really feels like it’s set in the present day and they’re just at a normal strict military academy. There’s a supposed post-apocalyptic setting since a toxin wiped out the majority of earth’s population—which would absolutely affect societal infrastructure as there are way fewer people to produce goods and teach skills, etc., but we don’t hear about any of the ramifications of this—and apparently all the continents are devastated and half underwater. But there’s ZERO information or worldbuilding to support this setting or indicate how it got this way. The setting is not clear from the context, and I would have no idea the setting wasn’t the current day if it wasn’t explicitly stated. Silver Elite is also supposed to take place under a dystopian government, but it really doesn’t read that way. There are strict rules in society, and Mods are generally looked down upon, but it doesn’t have that oppressive feel that most dystopian books do. I don’t know what the government’s motivations are. There is no discussion or critique of the system, which is also a common thread among dystopian novels. Everything here is half-baked . . . it’s actually not even half-baked, it’s just plain raw.

I didn’t care for Cross at all. He is toxic and possessive. I don’t like how he talks to Wren. What happened to relatable and likable love interests? Also he is only 22 and as a military commander who is described as so “broad” and “muscular,” he definitely needs to be in his late twenties at least. Early twenties is just not believable. I didn’t like Kaine in the beginning either, but he grew on me throughout the book. I wish he had been Wren’s love interest, at least in this first book, because they had more chemistry together and made more sense together than Wren and Cross did.

I was most interested in the character Wolf because he’s a total mystery. Who is he? Where is he? What’s so important about him? I’m glad we got answers to those questions in this book and didn’t have to wait until the next book, even though those answers felt cheap. And I liked Tana because she was kind and level-headed. My favorite character though was Lyddie. I loved her and I loved how happy and positive she was while still being mentally strong. She was so much more interesting to me than Wren.

Wren was fine overall, but man did she make a ton of stupid decisions. Chapter 48 had me fuming because it was one idiotic move after another. If you’ve read it, you know. The whole bloodmark situation made me so angry. I also hate that the book started with Wren having a one-night stand. Gross. What a scene to start a book with. Almost made me DNF. But I guess it’s the kind of thing the target audience for this book would be into.

I haven’t decided yet if I will read the sequel. The ending definitely has me interested but will my interest remain until the second book comes out? We’ll see. Was Silver Elite entertaining? Yes. It’s a quick read that’s easy to get through despite being over 500 pages. But was it good? Not really. And if you look more than surface deep, the entire story falls apart. I really wish this book had more worldbuilding as I prefer depth to my stories and it would have made the story so much stronger. I think the premise here was great, but it could have been written to be so much better than it was. It seems like the publisher knew this would sell so they didn’t bother to put forth the effort to turn it into something great, which is disappointing.

I’m so glad I was able to buddy-read this with my friend because that made the experience so much more fun. We texted each other updates and theories, and it was great. I need to do more buddy reads.

Content Warnings

madi_miss's review against another edition

1.0

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

ks75's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

SPICE: 3🌶 | RATING: 4⭐️

I completely get the hype for this book! 👏

We’ve got a strong, smart, no-nonsense FMC 🧠💪, a broody and battle-scarred captain 😏⚔️, a dystopian world on the brink of chaos 🌍🔥, and secrets lurking in every shadow. Toss in a military academy with high-stakes tension, plot twists that slap you in the face, and characters that cling to your heart? Yep, I was hooked from the first chapter.

I’m officially invested. Book 2, you better be ready because I am. 🫡📖💥

--- POTENTIAL SPOILERS FROM HERE ---

This reminded me of Shatter Me, Fourth Wing, and Zodiac Academy. Some scenes really gave me flashbacks. Overall i still enjoyed it!

Content Warnings

akschafer's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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: Complicated

I’m going to have a book hangover after this one. Absolutely outstanding. Can’t wait for the next one!

Content Warnings

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