Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Young Elites

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

_nyctophob1a_'s review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My fave book trilogy

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐ CW: Violence, blood, child abuse (emotional and physical), self harm, discrimination, death, torture

The Young Elites by Marie Lu is book one in the Young Elites series. This came out in 2014 and honestly I'm sad I slept on it for so long! This was such an excellent villain story! It gave me X-Men vibes.

We follow Adelina, a malfetto girl who is being abused by her father and only has her sister Violetta. One night when Adelina tries to runaway, she kills him with illusions she is able to conjure. She discovered that not only is she a malfetto, she is also a Young Elite, children who caught the fever when they were young and survived and gained powers.

Adelina is arrested and sentenced to execution, but is rescued by the Dagger Society, group of Young Elites fighting against the king and queen's brutal discrimination of malfettos. She finds out she is aligned most strongly with fear and Fury, and passion and ambition. We see her fight to control her power and the pleasure she gets from fear and power.There is a constant battle inside of her, and that makes her a great villain. There is also some political stuff with the main antagonist, Teren, who is an Elite that hates himself and has pledged to rid the world of all malfettos. Dude needs some therapy.

I loved this story. Adelina went from a meek, abused girl afraid all the time, to do gooder vigilante with some morally gray aspects, to complete villain. I want to learn more about the rest of the Daggers! I'm also really looking forward to the extended world-building that's coming up in the next book. I just really love the way Marie Lu writes her FMCs. Plus we get some queer rep in side characters and disability red in Adelina with her missing eye.

I'm very excited to read The Rose Society!

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sophieamreacher's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Dark and magical world. Interesting characters and plot twists.

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yokelsoreads's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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3.0

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vaniavela's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Adelina Amouterou is a malfetto, marked in more ways than one.

I loved the concept of The Young Elites and the different powers and abilities each Elite has. I can't believe Marie Lu always writes such amazing stories. I am so in love with her mind.

One of my favorite aspects is that the "special" characters, the ones with powers, are not treated like heroes or royalty. They are cursed and cruelly killed. Even if you're just marked, with no sign of powers, you can end up dead in the worst possible way.

These characters yearn for more. Whether it's love, power or revenge, they all need something. I love complex characters, they constantly make me hesitate between loving them or hating their existence. This time, Marie Lue has achieved both.

The diversity is this book has been well written, finding not only different skin colors, but sexualities and disabilities.

The Young Elites has exceeded my expectations, giving the perfect start to a trilogy.

TW: ableism, abuse (during a sexual encounter, off page), blood, body horror, child abuse, confinement, death, death of a parent, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, (minor) gore, self harm, suicidal thoughts, torture, violence, disease, bigotry, imprisonment, physical abuse, ableism, eye removal due to illness, ableist slurs, child selling, mention of stoning, mention of fire, mention of putting people the stake, child abandonment, bigotry, mass death, mention of death of parent, stabbing, soldiers brutality, mobs, murder, cheating, manipulation, vomiting.

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lizzyc_16's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i finished this like 1 minute ago and...

what the frick.

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robin_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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sarahmreads's review

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adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I read this book as a kid and I think I only got so far before not finishing it. So this summer I decided to give it a second shot and actually attempt to finish the series.

Adelina is a survivor of the blood fever, a disease that ravaged the world and left the survivors with special marks and powers. Adelina never knew what hers was, until she accidentally kills her father with the power of illusions and somehow finds herself in the hands of the Young Elites, a group of malfettos trying to take back what is rightfully theirs. How far will Adelina go, and how much will she discover about herself?

The world-building of this story was pretty simplistic and easy to pick up and understand from what is told. It has mystical creatures and easily defined boundaries and power systems. I did really like the magic system and how malfettos are connected to each other with these threads, but also how they connect to the gods themselves. It helped make a lot of connections in the story that I appreciated a lot.

The characters I would say were okay. I really liked seeing the slow process of Adelina's corruption and how she ends up in this spot in the first place, and it really demonstrates her as a morally grey character who is willing to do what is best for her, even with her powers slowly but surely corrupting her. I loved Enzo and Raffaele, and Teren had such an interesting complex that reminds me a lot of Eli from Vicious. Everyone else was kind of unforgettable sadly.

As for the plot, it's pretty basic. Rebel groups fights "bad guys," big final fight, something happens that makes them reconsider everything they know, and cliffhanger set up for next book. But I'm definitely excited to meet these new characters and how it will set up for the rest of the series.

Young Elites is a fast read and good for anyone looking to get their foot in the door of a dark fantasy.

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noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

4.25

Content Warnings: Child abuse, self-harm, murder, discrimination, emotional abuse, violence, blood/gore, hate crimes, suicidal ideations, police brutality, and mention of: sex work, human trafficking, sexual harassment, pedophilia, loss of loved ones, and sex work.

5/03/2022

I decided to use THE YOUNG ELITES as my Mage prompt 2 book for the #ReadYourOwnAdventure Tiktok readathon. Since it’s been almost a year since I’ve read book one, and I finally have copies of books two and three, and it’s AAPI Heritage Month, I figured it was the perfect time for a re-read!

There’s not much I want to add to my original review other than the fact I completely spaced on the few chapters we get that are from Raffaele’s POV. Since most of the book we get Adelina, Teren, and Enzo’s POV I completely forgot to comment on the few brief chapters we get through Raffaele’s POV.

Another thing that I didn’t really think about, during my first read-through, was how much Adelina’s POV seems to view sex work in a negative light. Even when she’s conversing with Raffaele he makes a comment about how no one would choose the life of a concubine…which just doesn’t sit right with me. I understand this is a Young Adult book but I feel like it could at least have Raffaele say something along the lines of reality that some people do enjoy the work while others might just be biding their time? I don’t know, just felt weird that no one seemed to have a positive thing to say about it.

5/27/2021
I read this book as a part of "The Backlist Book Club" which was created by ChronicallyBookish
(on Tiktok and Instagram). From my time on Booktok I've heard countless praise for Marie Lu but had yet to pick up any of her books. So when I found out the May selection for "The Backlist Book Club" was one of hers I was excited to jump in!

Adelina, Teren, and Enzo are all emotionally complicated individuals who have all suffered and endured many hardships due to the fever that hit their nation ten years ago. Each has unresolved trauma connected to the fever and each has been shaped by that trauma. For the most part, we see the story through the eyes of Adelina with a few small chapters switching us to Teren or Enzo's perspectives.

I enjoyed how the Inquisition Axis really felt like the church during the witch hunts. The Inquisition Axis, led by Teren, is hellbent on finding and destroying any and all malfettos, as they feel their powers come from hell and are abominations that should be destroyed. Teren is portrayed as a zealot...fierce in his belief that malfettos are not meant to be and should all be sent to the Underworld.

Enzo seems to be the biggest mystery, out of the three, as we don't really know much of his inner feelings or emotions. Enzo will do whatever it takes to protect The Young Elite and ensure the proper people are put in positions of power to ensure the slaughtering of malfettos ends.

Adelina, who we get to know the most, is so unsure of her place in the world. When the fever hit her house, ten years ago, it killed her mother and physically altered her. After surviving the fever she was left without an eye and her normally dark hair now shifts between different shades of silver. She was also left to be raised, along with her younger sister, by a father that's turned cruel to her.

It's interesting when you realize how cruel treatment by others can affect and color the way you see the world around you. As we get to know more about Adelina, and as she starts to learn more about her powers, she starts to see how her father's cruelty has colored her memories of the past.

In this first book, we start to see Adelina begin to evolve and see the world differently...we see her starting to not only come into her powers but also come into herself. She is definitely not done with her metamorphosis but I'm excited to see how much she changes and evolves in the other two books.

I really enjoyed this story, it had me invested from the start and I look forward to picking up the other two books to continue the journey!

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