REVIEW • The Young Elites by Marie Lu

TITLE: The Young Elites

AUTHOR: Marie Lu

SERIES: The Young Elites #1

PUBLICATION: October 7, 2014

PUBLISHER: Speak

FORMAT: Paperback

PAGES: 384

SOURCE: Owned

(goodreads.com)

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.

The Young Elites has long been in my TBR after I read and LOVED The Legend Trilogy. Legend has been such a unique dystopian trilogy and when I discovered that Marie would be having a new series, I automatically added The Young Elites onto my TBR because I know it would once again be unique and that Marie Lu would blow my mind. Again.

Marie Lu created a wonderful world which was not hard to understand at all. The book had such a strong and interesting start which makes you forget all about the time because you just want to keep on reading. Yes, the world she has created might be confusing at first, but all fantasy books are like that, although not all manage to explain the world they created. And Marie Lu? She nailed it. She did it so well that it wasn’t hard to connect with the characters and the places they’re in even though they are (sadly) fictional.

Adelina Amouteru as the main character in the story was extraordinary. She was not your typical heroine who saves the day. Instead, she was an antiheroine. She had darkness inside of her and was indecisive at certain points in the story, all the more making her a very real character. She was imperfect, making it easy for the readers to connect with her. She had an astonishing character development throughout the novel, and you’ll really see how much she has changed and improved from the time she was still in her father’s house.

And Enzo Valenciano,the lead male character,  was aloof perhaps due to his past. I felt that his character was kind of left unexplained, and I’m looking forward to knowing all about him in the next book.

All of the scenes in the book were very well written, especially Adelina’s  internal arguments. The story was far from predictable, which is good since it will keep you guessing about what else could possibly happen. And overall, the story proved to be strong and gripping, and I’d love to come back into reading about this world soon. I loved that the book showed that not all heroines are perfect. They’re not supposed to be. Recommending this one to those who love fantasy and those who like just little romance, lastly, to those who like multiple point of views in the books they read.

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5 out of 5 dazzling stars!

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Marie Lu was born in China in 1984 (perhaps a sign of dystopian stories to come), and moved from Beijing to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the same year the Tiananmen Square massacre happened. Eventually she and her parents settled down in Sugar Land, Texas—which she still considers her hometown.

She finished her first novel when she was 15 years old, but it took her second manuscript to acquire a literary agent. When that one didn’t sell either, she went off to college in Los Angeles and wrote two more manuscripts. Although those still didn’t sell, one of them did get her the amazing literary agent Kristin Nelson, who sold her fifth manuscript, the dystopian young adult novel LEGEND, to Putnam Children’s/Penguin USA at auction in a major deal. LEGEND will be coming out on November 29, 2011 as Putnam Children’s and Penguin Young Readers Group’s lead title. LEGEND is Marie’s debut novel.

Marie graduated in 2006 from USC and currently resides in Los Angeles, where she spends her time stuck in traffic.

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