REVIEW + DISCUSSION: the young elites; marie lu

The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, Penguin on October 7th 2014
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Magic, General, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
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From the New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series
I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside. Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites. Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her. It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

i had pretty high expectations for this book. legend, another series by marie lu, is one of the favorite books/series of all-time. it’s action packed and the characters are so solid and likeable and just plain awesome/badass. day and june (the main characters of legend) felt so real. even though that series is a dystopian, i still could see them. they were right there in front me running around or something.

throughout this entire book, i felt so confused. not because i didn’t understand their world or plot, but i couldn’t see where this book was going. adelina was so murky and slippery. i felt like her emotions were slipping all over the place; she would be furious and defiant one moments, then frightened and cowering the next. i feel like marie lu tried doing this on purpose because her emotions are a fairly big part of the plot, but it was just too much. it made her seem unpredictable and unrealistic. (she’s also super frustrating sometimes. ugh!) it was very different and interesting to see things from an antagonist’s (who is the protagonist of her own story) point of view.

the relationship building was also lacking in this book. when i first read the blurb, i thought this was going to be a love triangle. thank goodness this wasn’t. but instead, i felt like there was nearly no romance at all. there was some building at first, then it would go in other directions, then it would come back. because of that, it felt like, “i kinda like you, but i’m not sure. okay let’s make out.” there were a few strong relationships such as adelina and her father, as well as adelina and her sister. but all the new characters/people she meets feel very untrustworthy, therefore making this book less fun to read. also, adelina is a very sad person to read from.

in terms of plot and other shenanigans, this book is so good. there were a lot of surprising plot twists and fun stuff. your feelings should get ready for an extreme rollercoaster. it left me crying and numb. it was also nice how you mainly heard from adelina, but there were also other povs.

the young elites is definitely a lot darker (cold-blood murder! yay!) and talks about heavier topics, but you should read it nonetheless. it kind of reminded me of divergent and the night circus at some parts, but the story is very original and unexpected.

[rating-report]

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*spoiler-filled discussion and in-depth review beginning. please do not read unless you finished the book! enter with caution!!*

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instead of my usual paragraphs, i’ll be reviewing and responding this part in gif-format. it honestly left me in a “aslkfdnjviopdlr;sd” form and i can’t put my thought to words.

oh the plot twists in this book! there were so many times i was left like

let’s list them all out, starting from the beginning: when her father caught up to her and she “killed” him with her silhouettes (technically the horse killed him), enzo was the prince?!I, teren comes and doesn’t kill her and instead forces her to be his spy?!, and probably every five seconds in the second half of the book. also, that ending?!

it started with violetta having powers and keren being able to heal himself. honestly,

and when enzo actually died, and she helped kill him

then raffaele made her leave the daggers, and said he always wanted her dead, i just

then at the very end when it’s revealed that the princess maeve is actually magiano and she could go to the underworld and bring enzo back

overall, i was just

ANYWAY, that’s the end of my gif reaction for the plot twists. i simply could not even throughout this book. let’s talk about adelina’s sick, horrible, sadistic father. when he first appeared and was going to send her off as an illegal mistress, i

then adelina went off to kill him and HELL YES, HE’S FINALLY GONE. but then he appeared to haunt her throughout the rest of the book with his stupid side comments and i was honestly like

i understand that he made a huge impact on everything, but he just has to go. i hate his guts.

at first, i kind of liked keren. i thought he was going to be like june iparis in legend. (spoiler for legend: where she works for the government then defies them and saves the day. yay!) yeah well, that certainly didn’t happen. i probably hated him just as much as adelina’s father. the only reason why you want to kill the young elites is because you’re in love with the queen and you’re having affairs with her. he is so hypocritical. “i’m going to save you all by sending you to the underworld.” well, you should save yourself and go to the underworld too.

okay, so that fight with spider. OHMYGOD i did not expect her powers to be that strong. it’s kind of insane, but i kind of liked it. her illusions are so cool. i never expected a power like that to be so frightening and well.. powerful. the concept with the strings and energies and emotions was also super epic. every single time she trained with enzo and and battled and improved, i was like

adelina is such an unstable character, so i really hope to see her become more sure of herself in the next books. she’s so infuriating sometimes though. like, WHY CAN’T YOU TELL THEM THE TRUTH. she was given so many opportunities but she always chickened out. WHY.

in a nutshell, this book was:

and

what did you think of this book? please share your thoughts below!

– alexandra