A review by gummifrog
Elite by Mercedes Lackey

4.0

"Elite" was a satisfying and exciting sequel to "Hunter," and I found that there was some repetition in the continuous fighting scenes, but I still really enjoyed it. Lackey really shines when the political games and tensions come out, and the relations between characters are realistic and really pull at my heartstrings. I also especially love Joy as a character, because she is smart and responsible, but is able to break down and be weak when she feels overwhelmed, and feels her mistakes, however small, very harshly. She reminds me of myself - someone who is high-functioning depressed, with some anxiety, and is constantly in a battle with herself to be the Best. Her voice is so strong and not at all passive like a lot of YA protagonists' are, and I adore her as a character.

I will never understand the strange hate some people have for this series. It is written appropriately for the younger age range it is intended for, and the drama is fitting, as well. I don't normally take time to point out what I've read in other reviews and rebut those feelings, but I have to comment on the dislike of the treatment of the character Jessie - she was a super minor character, showed up on maybe 5 pages total, and didn't take up that much time. She was a minor subplot to create tension between Joy and Knight, and I never really saw a reason why someone would have an issue with this (unless they were offended about the "Christer" thing, which, let's be real, a dystopian setting an undetermined amount of time in the future might realistically have a rather warped or simplistic version of Christianity!!!).

My only other qualm, MAJOR spoiler warning:

Spoiler

The death of Retro left me really upset because I felt his presence was a healthy influence on Joy, and his death meant she had lost a relationship that could have potentially been meaningful to her. Before his death it seemed as though they had settled into a flirtatious platonic friendship and I was actually all here for that. Not to mention, his death happened offscreen, so I worry that the author is going to go with a ~Josh is the only boy for mE, SOULMATES~ type route, when I never bought the Josh romance to begin with. We'll see how this is handled.