The Young Elites - Marie Lu

Title: The Young Elite

Author: Marie Lu

Series: The Young Elites #1

Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: October 7, 2014

Source: Printed ARC

OMG! The feels! I have been suffering a massive book hangover since I finished this book.  I absolutely loved it.  Marie Lu did a fantastic job with this one.  It was even better than her Legend Series, which I loved as well!

Adelina is our main character in The Young Elites.  When she was younger she suffered from a blood fever that left her marked.  She has a scar where one of her eyes should be and her hair is the color of silver.  She, and others like her, are known as malfettos, and they are looked upon very poorly by those who are not marked.  Malfettos are seen as damaged goods and bad luck.  Barely any one wants anything to do with them.  To make matters worse, some malfettos, known as The Young Elite, have powers and have been known to harm others.

Adelina is one of the Young Elite, but she discovers this much later than most do.  She discovers her powers on the night she runs away from home, the night she kills her father.  She can summon shadows...illusions.  It is this discovery that leads her to meeting the members of The Dagger Society - other malfettos that also have powers.

The Dagger Society is run by Enzo, the crown prince.  He has the ability to summon fire at will.  His ultimate goal is to win back his crown from the King and his sister.  He will spare no one if they get in his way.

The Dagger Society takes on Adelina and decides to try and train her to use her powers despite warnings that she is unstable.  Her powers feed off of fear and anger.  The darker things get, the more power she has.  Was this a mistake on their part?

This book is just so amazingly done.  I loved the characters, especially Adelina.  I kept finding myself more attached and more drawn to her.  I could feel her inner turmoil as I read.  I felt for her.  The character that I felt the least connected to was her sister Violetta.  I wish we saw more development in her character.

The one thing that really just kind of irked me about the characters was that for some reason I kept envisioning all of the male malfetto characters as though they were drawn in an anime style and not as people.  I think it was due to how their hairstyles and hair colors were described.  Thankfully over time I was able to get over this.

The thing that I really loved about this book was that it brought up the issue of who is really the villain.  I felt that it was written so that each side kind of felt villainous and that there really is no hero.  That it all just depends on what side of the battle you were standing on.

I also liked that it takes a look at some things that may make someone a villain.  Is it the lack of love? Bullying? Torture?  The need for acceptance? All of the above?  

I am so glad that I finally read this book.  This book has skyrocketed itself up into my current top 5 reads.  I am so happy that I wont have wait forever for The Rose Society to come out!

This review is based on an ARC provided by the publisher for review.

My Rating

5 out of 5 beautiful stars

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Now For Some Fun Stuff!

My Villain Identity

I am Twisted Cupcake. 

I am a mad scientist.  I have perfected many different cupcake recipes.  I can use cupcakes to achieve my evil goals.  One bite of my chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling will put you into a deep slumber.  A lick of my vanilla frosting will allow me to control your mind.  And you don't want to know what my strawberry cupcakes will do to you...

I have an elite villain squad.  You do not want to cross us.  Keep an eye out for:

Tati from Books, Cats, and Caffeine

Kaitlin from Reading is My Treasure

Alexandra from Twirling Pages

Diana from Booking an Adventure

Though it is up to them if they want to reveal who they really are and their powers to you!

And Don't Forget About the Giveaway!!

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