Marie Lu is one of my favorite authors of ALL TIME. I became a fan when I started reading the Legend series, and after that I knew that I need more of her books.
I hope you'll enjoy reading my review and thoughts about The Young Elites trilogy which I'll be rating individually.
"I am Adelina Amouteru," the phantoms whispered to my father, speaking my most frightening thoughts in a chorus of voices, dripping with hatred. My hatred. "I belong to no one. On this night, I swear to you that I will rise above everything you've taught me. I will become a force that this world has never known. I will come into such power that none will dare hurt me again."
In the story, we follow Adelina Amouteru, a survivor of the blood fever which is a deadly illness that swept through her nation. Those who were infected have died, while those who survived were mainly children and the blood fever left them with strange markings, thus they are to be called malfettos, an abomination to the world. But some of the fever's survivors are believed to possess strange abilities - powerful gifts feared by everyone. Adelina discovers her own ability in an unfortunate way, causing to meet people like her which they have come to be called the Young Elites.
The Young Elites (Book 1) by Marie Lu
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/ 5
Marie Lu has did it everyone! If you want to know the darker and sexier side of Marie Lu as an author, then I would highly recommend you to read Young Elites. I admire her even more because of this book. It's a dark fantasy but I think it has a little bit of dystopian vibe. This story is packed with magic, action, a story with kings and queens, and even gods and goddesses.
The story and plot itself is amazing that will hook every reader and can easily finish this book in one sitting. The Young Elites has surprised me in so many ways. Marie Lu's writing style still amuses me because it's fascinating how she delivers every character's point of view (yes, this book has multiple point of views) and explains every topic or scenes before moving on to the next, so it's not confusing even though we are reading back and forth from one character's point of view to another. However, the world-building is not strong enough in my opinion, I hope there was really more into it since most of the fantasy books I've read has superb world-building and just wish Ms. Lu added more description about the setting. Even though the world-building didn't quite impressed me, the characters left me in awe. I can say the author really thought a lot in making her characters and put a lot of effort in portraying them successfully. The way she described the characters physically, what are their traits as well as the unique abilities they have were so well done. All of them are complex and I'm just really excited to know how each one of them develop in the succeeding books.
"Everyone. They will cower at my feet, and I will make them bleed."
Adelina Amouteru is one of the characters that I really appreciate because she endured every hardships she went through. Our main character has suffered a lot, she's scarred both on the outside and inside but I admire her spirit and determination to try and change her life. Although she can be a little annoying on the decisions she make and appears to be quite weak here in the first book but I can't wait for her to go all out and be the badass queen that she is.
Enzo Valenciano, the leader of the Dagger Society (secret sect of the Young Elites) has caught my heart! He's so strikingly attractive and not to mention that his ability is to create and control fire which makes him freaking hot (literally)🔥😍 Other than that, I love how he cares for the other members of the Dagger Society and I truly admire his leadership and passion.
Aside from Adelina and Enzo, there are other characters to love and hate. Moreover, the thing I like about this book is that readers can't choose whose side are they going to support, not even our very own main character. It's just really intriguing , and I was very eager to know what will happen next. Also, I wasn't expecting the ending of this book which gave me a lot of questions instead of answers! If you haven't read the Young Elites, well this is a sign for you to go, pick it up and read it!
"Our hearts fill with terror at the thought of harm coming to our loved ones, don't they? You cannot have love without fear. The two coexist."
