The Young Elites Series by Marie Lu
The
Young Elites series spins a dark, almost tragic tale of sisterly love and pain. The
story starts in the kingdom of Kenettra, 10 years after the Blood Fever hits
the world. The survivors of the Blood Fever are scarred, branded, and rejected
by society. Adelina and her sister Violetta are survivors of the Blood Fever,
living with their abusive father. Violetta survived the fever with no visible
markings, making her their fathers favorite. Adelina on the other hand, came
out of her fever with silver hair and a jagged scar where her left eye once
was. Her father believes she is a malfetto, disgraceful to society, an
abomination. He abuses Adelina both physically and emotionally, constantly
reminding her how much better Violetta is. When word comes out that some of the
survivors have started to develop strange powers the abuse gets worse as her
father tries to awaken Adelina’s. The night Adelina runs away from home she
discovers her powers when she accidentally kills her father.
With
Adelina’s newfound powers she is recruited into a group of others like her, the
Daggers. The more she learns about her illusion-creating powers the more others
around her realize how dangerous she is. When she receives a threat, a choice
to her sister’s life or Dagger information, she’s thrown at a crossroad.
Adelina choses her sister and she is kicked out of the Daggers because of her
choice. The betrayal she feels is the turning point in the series where Adelina
goes beyond help. Adelina’s heart is filled with hurt, and her mind corrupted
by vengeance and hate, so she builds her own group of elites. She kills,
conquers, gets revenge, but when she finally sits on the throne something feels
off.
Overall,
I thought this was a good book. The world building was nicely done, and the plot
moved along smoothly. After reading this series for the second time I had some
different feelings than my initial read. First, the story seemed much darker
and it’s definitely not for those looking for a cheerful happy love story.
Adelina’s a unique character, and unlike most protagonists not quite the hero
of the story. She’s cruel, but there are parts of the story where you can feel
her burning humanity. To the ones Adelina cares for she loves them fiercely,
especially her sister. The author did an amazing job while writing in Adelina’s
point of view. You can feel all Adelina’s emotions, her anger, hate,
unfairness, sadness, like they’re your own. After finishing the series you’ll
probably be feeling pretty gloomy and sad. The second thing I found different
were my opinions towards some of the side characters. (Slight Spoilers
ahead!) Enzo, Adelina’s first love and the leader of the Daggers, wasn’t as
likeable as he was before. One of the main reasons was because I don’t believe
he truly cared for Adelina, and only treated her well because she looks like
his dead fiancé. Personally, I think that’s really tacky and I was much more ok
with him dying this time around. (Spoilers end) Looking past some
unlikeable characters and some slow parts of the series, I’d still highly
recommend The Young Elites series to someone looking for something different or
dark. Though I’ll have to warn you to get some tissues ready for the ending of
the trilogy!
- Bridget
I remember reading and re-reading this series over the past couple years and this just brought a surge of memories back my way. The first read through keeps you on the edge of your seat, and re-reads are basically just preparing yourself for the tragic ends. Adelina's character is truly unique and I almost want to read it for my 3rd or 4th time after this lol. This blog post was well written, and I think you got across a lot of good points without too many spoilers.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job describing the book. It was interesting to hear what you thought of the book the second time reading it compared to the first. I like re-reading books and I think when you do, sometimes you realize things you didn't the first time you read it. This series sounds really interesting, I'll check it out sometime!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! I love how you compared the first time you read to when you re-read it. It highlights details in the story that to a first time reader wouldn't be so obvious. Sounds like a great series, might have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds interesting. You really gave me an idea of what the book is like and I liked how you described it without giving away too much about the book. I liked how you mentioned a few aspects that I would have to read the book to fully understand. I don't think I have ever read a book with a character that can be cruel sometimes. I am curious about what it is like. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI think I read part of this, maybe the first book or something, at some point. I remember it was quite interesting but I didn't really like the author. Her books, which also include Legend and Warcross, aren't really creative with the character backstories and I get the same vibe from all of their thought processes. Nevertheless, they are always a fun and engaging read. Great post!
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