Author: Marie Lu
Part of a series? The first book in the Young Elites trilogy.
Synopsis: After a disease ravaged Adelina's home when she was young, she has been treated as an outcast for her whole life. Then, one disastrous event sets her life off onto a completely different path, one that finds her in the middle of The Young Elites, a group of people all like her. As she becomes submerged in political intrigue, assassination plots, and a pleasure court, she begins to embrace the hidden powers inside her. But soon it will become clear that not even Adelina knows what she's capable of, and that the Young Elites have more enemies than they could imagine.
Rating: 4.25 stars.
When we first meet Adelina, she is in prison for committing
a murder. This essentially sets the scene for a powerful, dark story that tests
your loyalty to every character!
This is my first book by Marie Lu, and it did not
disappoint. The twists and turns throughout the novel kept me hooked, and the
twist at the end especially was unexpected. The world was well-developed and
reminded me of Venice slightly, though it was slightly confusing with all of
the different place names. The descriptions of the catacombs and the Court were
particularly good.
As for characters, I didn’t warm to Adelina as much as I
would have liked to. I think it was because at
times I would feel sorry for her, but then she would think or say something that just made me question her, and even though that meant I wasn’t as connected to the main character, that was really interesting to read. You never knew if she was the villain or the hero of the story, and this is not something I’ve read much in YA! The rest of the characters were equally well-created, Raffaele being my favourite for how kind he was compared to others. Violetta was innocent, a good contrast to the darkness in Adelina, and I loved their sibling relationship, although her actual character got on my nerves sometimes.. It feels like that was the main relationship in The Young Elites, as to me Enzo and Adelina’s relationship felt a little off. It would have been better if we had read more about Enzo and Daphne’s relationship before, but it was still upsetting to read about how Adelina was betrayed. Enzo was perhaps my least favourite character, although I’m not sure why.
times I would feel sorry for her, but then she would think or say something that just made me question her, and even though that meant I wasn’t as connected to the main character, that was really interesting to read. You never knew if she was the villain or the hero of the story, and this is not something I’ve read much in YA! The rest of the characters were equally well-created, Raffaele being my favourite for how kind he was compared to others. Violetta was innocent, a good contrast to the darkness in Adelina, and I loved their sibling relationship, although her actual character got on my nerves sometimes.. It feels like that was the main relationship in The Young Elites, as to me Enzo and Adelina’s relationship felt a little off. It would have been better if we had read more about Enzo and Daphne’s relationship before, but it was still upsetting to read about how Adelina was betrayed. Enzo was perhaps my least favourite character, although I’m not sure why.
Overall, I am really looking forward to reading The Rose
Society and seeing where Adelina and Violetta end up, and I have no idea what
could happen! If you love fantasy novels, I would definitely recommend this!
Thanks for reading(:
I'm not sure if I'm going to read The Rose Society yet! BUT PROBABLY. Because I'm addicted to all books. ;D I didn't adore the Young Elites as much as you did....but it was really interesting! And dark! And AGREED: YA doesn't do so much from the villain's perspective so this was uber refreshing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
(I love that photo!! SQUEE!)
Same! I do want to continue the series at some point, but not immediately(: Aw thank you, and no problem, it's a really great blog!(:
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