Tuesday, November 25, 2014

REVIEW: The Young Elites by Marie Lu



The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1)
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.





MY THOUGHTS
This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I didn't like this book as much as I hoped, but I did end up liking it. The main thing that surprised me about this book was how dark it ended up being.

The book's world is so interesting! It takes place in a fantasy world with many dystopian aspects and kind of a resemblance to a renaissance Venice. The world-building was very well-done, though, as I said, very dark. In this world, there was a fever that struck and all the adults with the fever died, children who had the fever and survived (not all survived) came out of it with special abilities. They are called malfetto. All of them are marked in some way (EX: Adelina has silver hair). Malfetto are feared and often killed for suspect of being with The Young Elites. The Young Elites are a group of Malfetto that are aiming to take back the crown to its rightful owner.
The overall world in this book is just so extraordinarily developed!

The characters in this book are a very interesting mix of characters. You will not see any cliche characters in this book. All of them are very different than the usual batch of characters seen in YA books. I'll say this again: they are dark. An example would be Adelina, who has had such a hard life and she is full of such darkness. Another thing I should warn you about: Marie Lu is not afraid of killing off her characters.

There is a brief romance in this book, but it does not distract from the storyline at all. In fact, there is hardly a romance at all.

My only issue with this book is more of a "It's not you, it's me" thing. I just could not relate to the characters. Did I feel for them? Yes. But they just felt flat to me. Same with some of the story. Though, this book is in third person and I usually have that issue with third person books.


IN CONCLUSION
This is a very dark dystopian/fantasy, but very well-done. The world is very developed and the characters are a breath of fresh air compared to most YA books. I had issues with relating to the characters, but all-in-all, a great book!
I do recommend this book (and the Legend trilogy) and I will be continuing the series!

I hereby give this book
4 Wheels
Meaning: It was amazing!

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