The Young Elites

4,5 Stars

This series might be a good match for you if you love morally grey mc/corruption arcs!

High-fantasy-esqe world with historical elements in it, not too big of a focus on romance, and has a realistic sibling dynamics as the rock of the story. The plot itself doesn't present typical paths, there's no way to see which path the conflict will unravel. The heroine is a complex and sympathetic anti-hero, which also includes other morally ambiguous characters who had their own motivations (usually on the belief that they're doing it for the greater good), and experiences which shaped their personal choices.

one of the series I always reread, whenever I am in a reading slump!

4.5 Stars--Before I start this review, I want to say that I have a weird reviewing scale- I rate all books I read on a scale from 1 to 4, 1 being "ew" and 4 being something like "oh I really love that book." 5 stars are saved for the very few books I have encountered that I am hesitant to let people even touch, my babies. So that being said, do not think that 4 stars doesn't mean this book wasn't fantastic, because it was very very good. It was on the verge of being a 5 star, but it didn't leave me stunned and thinking about it . The young elites was recommended to me by my sister, her saying it was one of her favorite books and comparing it to another book we both liked. I was a little hesitant to start, and it was a little bland for a while, but I have to say that once the plot picked up, I was enthralled. I have always liked the sort of "super team" kind of books and movies, such as in TYE. Must be old habits from watching too many justice league movies. Anyways, the world building wasn't very confusing like some other books like it. The characters are great and the plot very interesting, but looking at the book as a whole, it wasn't my absolute favorite to be honest. However, the ending is very good, and draws you into the next book very well. I don't know when I will be able to get my hands on the next book, but hopefully soon, and I am looking forward to it. 8.8/10 would recommend to fantasy lovers or someone wanting to try the whole "superpower team" thing.

8.8/10✩ i had high expectations for this book, and they weren't quite met.. this book was filled with lots of plot twists and action, but the characters weren't as likeable. read my full review here! the first half is spoiler-free and the second half is a discussion for those who've already read it. xoxo, alexandra buy books here♥ // instagram // blog

I love this book. 4/5 stars just because I thought the beginning was slow. I absolutely love the end. I am going to tell you that I thought that this book was good. I enjoyed reading it and I felt like Marie Lu has a dark side. I haven't read Legend yet, but I did hear really good reviews on it so it is in my i need shelf. I loved the end because it was a good summarization to the whole book. The beginning I thought was okay. I didn't think it was all that great until it got to Adelina going to the Dagger Society and meeting Enzo and Raffaele. I loved the characters in this book. I thought that Marie Lu really knows how to explain what characters look like. One thing though is that she does it throughout the book. I pictured the characters more and more during the book. As the story became more clearer. (view spoiler)[Enzo dies. I can't. I had to get that out. Gahhhhhh (hide spoiler)] xoxo, Bebe

Man... I don't even... This was a really good book, don't get me wrong.... But I just didn't LOVE the story.... I like that is doesn't prescribe to the usual story formulas, but the ending... I just don't even. That end was just not cool, Marie, just not cool. I thought the structure of the story and the writing were spot on, I just personally didn't absolutely love it...

Oh wow. This book comes with a lot of pain and gasps, so beware. Mixed feelings. There's too much going on at some point but it keeps me going. I don't know how I feel about that. But I love it for the most part. Let me warn you on how intensely insane this book gets ok. (view spoiler)[There's plenty of main (?) characters dying. (hide spoiler)]Try to not read it in public because I have come close to crying about 5 times reading this book.

“Be true to yourself. But that's something everyone says and no one means. No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like.” Dark fantasy dengan semua tokoh-tokohnya ngga bener-bener baik antihero, layaknya cerita-cerita hero lainnya. Romance nya pas ngga banyakan juga ngga ganggu jalan cerita nya. Action nya juga menegangkan masih banyak adegan darah-darah nya. Storytelling dan plot nya yang lumayan juga. Meskipun di pertengahan bagian agak bosenin dan karakter Adelina yang agak unconsisten. Ide cerita nya juga menarik soal wabah berdarah dengan efek samping penderita nya memiliki kekuatan super ala-ala mutan X-Men. Seru sih. Karakter penjahat nya pun masih terlihat manusiawi meskipun terlihat kejam & jahat. Ngga ketinggalan yang slalu ada di buku-buku marie lu lainnya, building hubungan antara saudara nya kerasa banget yang bikin terharu. Suka hubungan Adelina sama Violetta yang ngingetin Day sama Kakak dan adik nya.

Although I was never really into Legend (yes, I know) I really wanted to give The Young Elites a chance, and I'm glad I did! The story was beautifully written, the world building is one of the best I've seen out there, the details of the setting and the characters are so intricately written, vivid and overall it was perfect! I have so much respect for Marie Lu. The were only a few downfalls, one of them being the romance, which was in my opinion meh at best. It was well written but it wasn't convincing enough for me, otherwise I would be fangirling to the ends of the earth right now. Another one was that the whole villain thing wasn't really sold on me. Again, this is my own opinion, but I feel like no matter how bad Adelina is, or how much the other other Elites whine about her affinity for greed, fear and ambition, I think at her core she is truly good. No matter how much her actions say otherwise, when you're in her head its an obvious fact that she wants what best for everyone around her. If she was a villain, I'd say she was a very reluctant one. Otherwise, I really liked this book. I am SO looking forward to the next book especially since the reviews I've read so far are singing praises for The Rose Society. "Think X-Men meets Assassin's Creed 2." A THOUSAND TIMES YES TO THIS STATEMENT.

4.5 stars!

ADELINA AMOUTERU IN HER VILLAIN ARC

"Fear creates the strongest illusions. Everyone has darkness inside them, however hidden." I read Marie Lu's debut novel, the Legend trilogy, back in 2015⁠—and I can safely say that it was one of my favorite dystopian series. I really enjoyed her writing style back then, and I think it's one of the few series that had a great ending. So when I was contemplating on what to read next, I spotted The Young Elites series on my bookshelves. It's been sitting there for quite some time now, thus I decided to pick it up⁠—hoping that it will be as good as the Legend trilogy. Now that I've finished the first book, I'm still unsure as to how I feel about it. I still enjoyed Marie Lu's writing, it's also action-packed and intense, but unfortunately I'm not that invested in the characters and story line (that's why I'm giving it a 4/5 rating) 🤔. However, I'm not going to jump to any conclusion just yet, because I also felt the same way about Legend at first. That series gradually gets better as it continues to the second and third book. So I'm hoping it'll be the same for this series. *fingers crossed*"Be true to yourself. But that's something everyone says and no one means. No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like." "I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside. It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt." The book is written in multiple perspectives of different characters: Adelina Amouteru, Enzo Valenciano, Teren Santoro, and Raffaele Laurent Bessette; but only Adelina's is written in first person POV, while the others are written in third person. The story is set in Kenettra, a country that has suffered through a deadly illness that left markings on its' survivors. It's a world where these survivors, called malfettos, are deemed as abomination and are despised throughout the country. The plot focuses on Adelina, who managed to run away from her abusive father but was then captured by the Inquisition Axis, an army that hunts down malfettos who brings harm to other people. But then Adelina was discovered by a group of malfettos who call themselves the Dagger Society that consists of several Young Elites. Each of them has unique and different gifts of their own. And their mission is to overthrow the throne, so that Enzo, the rightful heir, will be able to lead the country and bring security to all malfettos. Unfortunately, things gets complicated when Adelina is unable to control her power and she's also put in a tight spot when the Inquisition threaten to harm her sister if she's unwilling to cooperate. I think that really creates an interesting plot because there's a lot at stake and Adelina is forced to choose. Either one of her decisions comes with a risk. But I definitely did not see the plot twist coming towards the end of this book. I won't spoil anything here, but the GIF below depicts my reaction when I was reading 😱. It was very sudden and unexpected, so I was utterly shocked. To be honest, I was a bit sad as well because it involves a character that I really liked. I think I'll be able to mention it in my review for the second book. I'm hoping for some miracle that will turn things around 😂. As for the characters, Adelina Amouteru is a very interesting one because she has a dark side to her; almost like an anti-hero character in some ways. It's a pretty realistic character arc considering she has quite a painful past involving her abusive father, which creates a deep resentment and darkness in her soul. She's definitely not the typical heroine that you see in most YA books, because Adelina had a lot of personal issues that soon became her weakness that she has to work through. Since her side of the story is written in first person, we really get to see what's going on inside her mind—and it's not pretty. But somehow, throughout this first book, I didn't find myself liking Adelina very much. I admit that she's an interesting character but somehow I'm not completely hooked just yet. If I have to choose a favorite character in this book, it would be Enzo Valenciano, the crown prince. First of all, I think Enzo's power is very cool. And he's an assassin so that makes him 10 times cooler 😂. He's full of charisma and definitely has a trait of a leader. Everyone in the group respects him and there are moments that shows how Enzo truly cares about his people. On the other hand, Teren Santoro, the antagonist of the story, is also quite interesting because his power made him invincible and his character has a pretty dark past too. I can't wait to see what is he going to do in the next book. And I'm definitely curious to see if anyone will be able to defeat him."To love is to be afraid. You are frightened, deathly terrified, that something will happen to those you love. Think of the possibilities. Does your heart clench with each thought? That, my friend, is love. And love enslaves us all, for you cannot have love without fear."I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though it didn't blew my mind just yet, but I still have high hopes for it. The story is action-packed, intense, full of intrigue, and dark. There's a little bit of romance but it's definitely not the main part of the story. I think it focuses a lot more on the character building and how each of them strive to accomplish their own personal agenda. The plot has managed to keep me interested so far because I'm always curious as to what's going to happen next. I'll be reading the second book right after this, and hopefully it will be even better than this one 😊. "I hereby pledge to serve the Dagger Society, to strike fear into the hearts of those who rule Kenettra, to take by death what belong to us, and to make the power of our Elites known to every man, woman, and child. Should I break my vow, let the dagger take from me what I took from the dagger." Read the full review here: http://www.thebookielooker.com/2019/0...

This book and the entire series have been on my TBR shelf onn Goodreads since 2016 and I kept on not getting them until last year. For some reason I still didn't really know the premise of this book fully. So I was a bit surprised. I did enjoy it overall and hope to finish the series ASAP.

now this book right here had me ALL OVER THE PLACE omfgggg. deff keen for the next book. wow.

i feel like this book just left me with so many mixed feelings: i hated it but at the same time...i liked it? the ending redeemed this book from getting a 2 star rating and from me not being interested at all to continue on with the series, to wanting to read the second book asap, because damn, that's how you end a book. marie lu introduced new characters that are going to change the political map of this world and based on what these characters will be able to do in the sequel, i think i'm up for a better story. but like i said, i had to drag myself through the boredom of the middle of this book just to get to the most action-packed part of the book, and coincidently, the most captivating part, which was the end. at times this felt so similar and reminiscent to how i felt about throne of glass that i wanted to hit my head against the wall and end my suffering. the young elites' world can be said to be loosely based on the italian renaissance with the gondolas and the lakes and the buildings, but to be honest, we don't get any more world-building than that. there are weird ass animals and who the hell knows what they are, because we never get any explanations for anything that exists in this world. this is why i say that this book can be described as a big ass contradiction: we have the sense of a rich world resembling the italian renaissance with a cool magic system but at the same time, there is NO description whatsoever of a detailed world building. the same thing happens with the characters. now talking about the characters is gonna be tricky because it's hard to explain the feeling i got while reading this book. the characters felt most of the times carbon copies of every other bland YA fantasy character and at the same time, there were times when i could see their complexities and their appeal. i love characters that are morally gray, antiheroes and even villains, but i think there was something about adelina's characterization that didn't feel organic, and instead, it felt at times that the writing was completely extra and not at all subtle. the way she kept repeating to herself how much she enjoyed other people's fear of her and how she got excited when she saw the darkness and the fear and anger surrounding her, i was like....okay? we get it, you are supposed to be showing villanous traits, i got it the first 20 times you said it. it wasn't subtle at all, it didn't feel real, instead it felt like marie lu was pointing at adelina and saying "you see her? you see how much of a villain she is?" and it just made it feel unrealisitc. overall, my feelings towards this book are all over the place. i liked it but i hated it, i care enough to continue onto the second book? quite possibly, thanks to that epilogue and that ending. i guess i'll see when i get to the rose society whether my feelings towards this series change or not.

“Everyone has darkness inside them, however hidden.” What just happened? Seriously what just happened? I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. “I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside. It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.” Adelina is a survivor. She survived the deadly illness, she survived the death of her mother, and survived her cruel father. After being left branded by the deadly illness, a malfetto, she is an abomination to her father. On one fateful night, everything changes, and she’s thrown into a deadly world where only the winners will stand in the end. Teren is the leader of the Inquisition Axis, and works for the king. His job is to destroy every single one of the rumoured Young Elites. The Young Elites are a group of malfetto’s who have developed powers. Teren plans to destroy them. Enzo is a member of the dagger society, a society that tries to seek out Young Elites before Teren and his men can find them. Will Adelina make the right choices or will she break? “Sorry, always sorry. What in the world can you buy with an apology?” I don’t know what happened in this book. All I know was that it was great. Thank you for reading my review. Just joking! I actually have a review. But where do I begin? I seriously have no words. I picked up this series because I love Marie Lu and I heard there was a corruption arc in this. I did not expect to enjoy it this much. IT WAS SO GOOD. Why isn’t anyone talking about it? (Maybe because of when it was published but we don’t talk about that). This whole book is just god tiered (amazing fantastic there is not enough words for me to describe it). I’ve had a bit of a hard time committing to series’ lately, but let me tell you I have no problem committing to this. I BINGE READ THE FIRST BOOK IN ONE DAY. WITH SCHOOL. AND LIFE. It was crazy. One second I was like hmmm this is interesting and the next I was going crazy over this book. “No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like.” The corruption arc. That’s what you are all here for. This whole book was just the corruption of someone who is being swallowed hatred that was created from childhood for being different. Even though this takes place in a fantasy world, it really talks about how people are treated terribly for something they can’t control. It really was a good message (look at me, actually looking for meanings in my books, my teachers would be proud lol). I loved how it showed the corruption as slow and steady, and how it slowly ate away at the character throughout the whole time. It was a true corruption arc, and I like how the author didn’t immediately make them the villain. Perfection. “You have goodness in your heart, but your darkness overwhelms it all; your desire to hurt, destroy, and avenge is more powerful than your desire to love, help, and light the way.” Adelina. The main character. Our best girl. The kind of girl that you never want to be on her bad side but is still SO PRETTY. I know I know the author barley focused on it but she was so pretty like seriously I just want to wrap her up in a blanket and give her some tea and gate keep her. But I’m not gonna do that because I’m nice. She’s just the best. I liked how the author didn’t force her to change for the group. So many books force the mc to change for the group, and I hate when the character isn’t their self anymore. Also I found the fact that she was following her own moral compass was so interesting, I love when characters do that (cough cough jacks from once upon a broken heart cough cough). Enzo. I can’t say too much about him butttttt I really think he was kinda dull. She didn’t make him detailed (for reasons I can’t explain) but honestly I think he could’ve been created better? I didn’t really care about him honestly. NOT my newest bookish boyfriend that’s for sure (even though he was hot 🥵). “Some of us are broken and there’s nothing you can do to fix it.” THAT ENDING. What did Marie Lu do. I’m still not over it. I know exactly what happened but I’m not acknowledging it till I start the next book. It couldn’t happen. It shouldn’t happen. Nope nope nope. I’m staying in denial. THAT WASN’T EVEN A CLIFFHANGER LIKE SERIOUSLY. The epilogue… I can’t say much but it was one of my favourite parts seriously. There was a new character introduced and I really loved them. I better meet her next book or I’m gonna be really sad like seriously. I love this book 5 stars. 10 stars. 1 billion stars. It has my heart forever and ever and ever. “Embelish your flaws. They will turn into your assets. And if you become one of us, I will teach you to wield them like an assassin wields a knife.”

Dissapointing, at least for me. There was lack of communication, no plot twist, slow paced. I didn't really care about the characters either.

I didn't actually realize this was a villain origin story until about 20 pages from the end. While the writing was only mediocre, looking back it was much better than I originally assumed. I thought this book was about a troubled hero who would struggle but pull through and be good. Instead I got a much darker and more intriguing story.

Moral ambiguity abound, wrapped in an incredibly detailed fantasy world! Lots of old-world themes like, for instance, religious persecution of those different. There's also people with cool powers!

Moral ambiguity abound, wrapped in an incredibly detailed fantasy world! Lots of old-world themes like, for instance, religious persecution of those different. There's also people with cool powers!

This book is one of my all time favourites! This goes down as one of the most intense books I have ever read!