wjreadsbooks 's review for:

The Rose Society by Marie Lu
4.0
Once Upon a Time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all.

In this second instalment of the Young Elites series, Marie Lu goes darker as we delve further into Adelina Amouteru's head and discover the plans that she has laid for the future. She's fled Kenettra, the city where other malfettos have been hunted down by the Inquisitors and the newly crowned Queen Giulietta, for Merroutas in search for a powerful malfetto whose name has been whispered in tales. Adelina now knows how easily the Young Elites in the Dagger Society had betrayed her and she's now thirsting for revenge and for a society of her own. Magiano, the Young Elite that Adelina has been hearing about, is the first Young Elite that she wishes to collect for her society. But Magiano isn't easily convinced about the need to join her society and Adelina will have to impress him in order to bring him into her fold.

Meanwhile, her former friends at the Dagger Society have plans of their own. Raffaele, the beautiful young courtesan who had welcomed Adelina into their society, is now the de facto leader of the Dagger Society. However, he knows that he's ill-suited for the role, for he does not have the same strength or conviction as their previous leader had. But he is now all that they have left and now they are seeking an alliance with Queen Maeve of Beldain, a ruler of an icy land who treats malfettos with reverence and detests how Kenettra treats its own.

Adelina's agenda and her plans for revenge is not compatible with the Dagger Society's plans for the future. When the two met each other again, only one can conquer Kenettra's throne and defeat the bloodthirsty Teren Santoro, the Lead Inquisitor who has taken something precious from all of them. Meanwhile Teren remains entirely convinced about his mission in life, about the need to cleanse Kenettra of all malfettos who are abominations in his mind.

The Rose Society is jampacked with action and political intrigue, as each camp has their own agenda to push forward and they intersect with each other in the most unexpected of manners. Adelina remains an anti-hero, who has truly captured my heart, even though she continues to do things that are unspeakably horrible but feels no regret for them. And yet, at its heart, she is more or less the same girl who's stinging from all the rejection and hate that she's had to face thus far. Only now, she's determined to hurt everyone who has hurt her back:

Why can't I be like that? Why can't I be the father who just shrugs off the love of his daughter? Why can't I be the Lead Inquisitor who enjoys watching his pleading victims burn at the stake? Why can't I be the one who befriends a lonely, lost girl and then casts her out? Why can't I be the one to strike first, to hit so early and with such fury that my enemies cower before they can ever think of turning on me?

What is so great about being good?

And I loved every moment of her dark perspective, of how her plans for revenge collide with the Dagger Society's plans to take down Teren and to ensure the safety of all the Young Elites that live in Kenettra. And even though Adelina constantly tells herself that she has some noble purpose for her actions, the truth is that she is every bit as self-centred and vengeful as she has ever been.

Aside from Adelina's fantastic characterisation, all the other characters in the book are fully fleshed out as well. There's Raffaele, who has misgivings about making an alliance with Maeve, but believes that he has no other options. There's Teren, whose fevered belief in the evil that the malfettos pose has caused his hold on his sanity to tip ever closer towards the loss of control. And of course, there is the tragic figure at the centre of it all. There's also Magiano, who's greedy and impulsive but also endlessly cheerful, who seems to care about Adelina in some capacity aside from the power that she wields.
Spoiler There's a plan to bring Enzo back from the dead, using Maeve's powers which was foreshadowed at the end of the book. And sure, Enzo is brought back but he really does not seem like the same person that he used to be. And Lu gets to show off Adelina's cunning, in her switcharoo to get Enzo bonded to her, as well as Adelina's selfishness in making the situation all about her again.


The world-building continues to expand in this book, as we get introduced to new lands and new cultures and how they treat the Young Elites of their lands. I think this tends to be a trend with Marie Lu's books because at the end of [b:Champion|14290364|Champion (Legend, #3)|Marie Lu|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1382652310s/14290364.jpg|19931517], she had introduced a lot of backstory and had created a very realistic, alternate world.
Spoiler And now that Adelina has ascended Kenettra's throne, effectively cutting off Enzo's chances to be King, she is going to have to deal with more politics than ever before. And of course, Adelina is going to have to deal with her fall-out from her sister Violetta and how her control over her sanity is starting to slip as well and with Raffaele and Violetta's discovery that the Young Elite's use of their powers will only cause them to die faster.


The Rose Society is an action-filled read, with many twists and turns along the journey. Marie Lu is a masterful storyteller and I can't wait for her next creation!