Series: The Young Elites

The Rose Society (The Young Elites #2) by Marie Lu

April 15, 2016 / Anna

The Rose Society (The Young Elites #2)
by Marie Lu
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all.

Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she flees Kenettra with her sister to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her.

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good when her very existence depends on darkness?

Bestselling author Marie Lu delivers another heart-pounding adventure in this exhilarating sequel to The Young Elites.

What indeed.

I AM SPEECHLESS. If there’s something I didn’t expect, it was to meet a female-lead who could equal Jorg of Ancrath‘s dark ambition.

Saying that I didn’t have great expectations before starting The Rose Society would be an understatement. Indeed I was part of the (very) few who weren’t convinced by The Young Elites, mostly because I felt that what I read wasn’t what I’ve been sold : I found the first installment boring, tame, in a word : disappointing. That’s why I’m glad to tell you that none of my complaints are still relevant.

➊ The pacing improved grandly : This sequel is an exciting journey whose pacing never wavers, letting you on the edge of your seat all the way. Although Marie Lu chose to write her story in several POV (which can be a no-no for me, if not handled well), there was NEVER a moment when I wasn’t hooked and eager to know what would happen next. No more useless and boring parts : the story was highly compelling through and through.

➋ What a formidable tale of ambition and revenge. Gah. Jorg would be so proud. While the first book only set the (needed, I realize) foundations of Adelina’s story, I didn’t care for the romance there (I know, I know, I’m such in a minority on this, but Enzo is flat in my opinion) View Spoiler » and her relationship with Enzo didn’t make much sense to me. Great news! The plot finally focuses on her ascension and no matter how painful some steps were (I sure don’t condone all her actions), the events taking place brought so many raw feelings that I can’t find in me to complain. Granted, the world-building is still a little sketchy, and there were inconsistencies in some parts, but Marie Lu managed to make them believable. (Please don’t make Magiano suffer ~~too much~~, though) (I ~~have a soft spot for~~ LOVE this little thief)

➌ Truth is, what can be annoying is also great : this is my second book by Marie Lu, and I can safely say that I don’t get her – I can’t wrap my head around the direction she takes her stories, and it used to make me lose patience in The Young Elites, especially during the boring middle. But. Here it definitely played in her favor, because I could never predict what would happen (I still can’t). Also, the twists were brilliant. Of course I loved that (I’m worried, though) (I did read Emperor of Thorns, you know).

➊ Adelina is a true villain in training : When my boyfriend asked me why I was so happy with Adelina and her Elites (why yes – clapping might have been involved at some point), I told him, “because they’re no good”. He raised his eyebrows (a little worried, I think), not sure of what to make of my answer (I swear, I’m a nice woman – most of the time). Really, though? I genuinely think that my fascination for unusual and darker characters lies in the large number of books I read. See, had I read 10 books in my whole life, hell, had I read 10 YA Fantasy series in my whole life, even, I would probably not seek this kind of characters out (or maybe – I’ll guess we’ll never know *smiles slowly*). But there’s only so many farmer boys soon-to-be heroes I can take, and in this ocean of one-dimensional super-villains whose goals are often vague as fuck, I thrive on meeting multi-layered and dark characters who twist the tropey rules and make their owns.

After The Young Elites, I didn’t think that Adelina had it in her to become the free female-lead I wanted her to be. I was wrong.

*cackles with glee*

Yes she threatens my boundaries and her decisions make my skin crawl sometimes, but I get her, I really do. I’m not sure what that says about me, though.

➋ Give me some sarcastic and unapologetic male-lead, pretty please : I loved Magiano (I can’t be the only one who roots for him, RIGHT?). Where Enzo’s passion seemed too similar to Adelina’s for me to really care, Magiano adds something different to the story, and if I’m not sure I understand all his reactions yet, he is endearing, mischievous, and he makes me laugh.

[creepy interlude]

Let it be known that his smile brightened my day and that I would defend him like a wolf.

Do. Not. Touch. Magiano. OKAY?

[/creepy interlude]

➌ Every one of these characters – Sergio, Teren, Violetta, Maeve, Raphaele – are fleshed-out, complex, and interesting to follow. None of them is wasted or one-dimensional.

► I closed The Rose Society out of breath, worried as hell and intensely satisfied by the daring direction Marie Lu took. What a great surprise really.

BOOK REVIEW – The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1) by Marie Lu

August 14, 2015 / Anna

The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1)
by Marie Lu
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
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.

Hey YOU! BOOK! You pretended to be right up my alley! You said I will love you! You said you were dark and captivating!

The truth is, after getting off to a flying start, the tension loosened more and more, making the next 300 pages a real core to read for me. When I first met Adelina, I was ecstatic : because of the darkness that seemed to lie in her heart, she appeared to be the kind of morally ambiguous character I could root for.

Too bad the whole book turned out to be completely anticlimactic : I. WAS. BORED.

✘ I don’t like Mari Lu’s writing : I wouldn’t be able to point what was wrong, exactly, but I kept feeling that something wasn’t quite right with it. Frankly, I think that the present tense throws me off guard. And her sentences seemed… weird to me sometimes, bugging me so much that I had to reread them. It didn’t flow smoothly. Not in my opinion anyway.

✘ Let’s forget the fact that there’s barely any world-building, except a re-creation of the Renaissance Italy with the black plague as an explication to the Young Elites new powers. Frankly, I’m okay with authors using real settings to create their fantasy world (take Mark Lawrence for example, whose Broken Empire is nothing more than Europe after an atomic war). However, if Mark Lawrence plays with this real background, letting the reader know where his inspiration lies, Mari Lu merely uses entire settings without never acknowledging what she borrowed. Changing names isn’t enough. Is it high fantasy? No. It’s alternate history with fantastic elements.

✘ The pacing was ~~uneven~~ a big fail : after a strong beginning which put my feelings all over the place, nothing really happens during several chapters…. until we start a new cycle again : an amazing scene and then boring pages during which I don’t really know what to think. Like, the consort pages. What’s the point?

While I desperately wanted to feel something, to feel captivated, I was drowned in descriptions of clothes and other useless details. For real, how many times do I have to read the word velvet? Huh? Take Gabriele for example. I don’t need to know everything he’s wearing every day. Call me shallow, but I don’t care.

✘ This book is… putdownable. Is that a thing? (apparently, no, but I’ll make it a thing, because I can) Indeed I kept feeling distracted during my read and before I could think more about it I was doing something else entirely (laundry, watching TV, just name it). As far as my investment in the story is concerned, it’s a big huge fail for me.

✘ But my biggest disappointment is Adelina. I expected dark. I expected complex. That’s absolutely not what I got. Let’s get this straight : I love antiheroes. I have no problem to adore characters who are complete little shit and who embrace evil as a living. I crave them, for crying out loud, because good (haha) antiheroes are rare and complicated to create : how to make the readers root for a character whose actions disgust and disturb them? I have no clue, but when it’s well-done, it’s amazing. Adelina… wasn’t quite like that. She is NOT an antihero but spends her time whining about events that aren’t even her fault. Okay, okaaaay, she thinks about killing people and keeps telling us that there’s a darkness inside her but frankly? BRING IT, GIRL. Stop whining and show me that there’s more to you than your internal confusion. I was ready to accept EVERYTHING from her : jealousy, selfishness, murder instincts, betrayal, everything. What I got is a lot of TELLING but not near enough SHOWING to make me care about her. I didn’t.

And you know what happens when I don’t care about the characters?

It becomes a core to finish.

✘ I didn’t feel anything towards Enzo as well except during his first apparition (what? I’m an Assassin’s Creed whore and my eyes sparkle at the mention of daggers, don’t mind me).

✘ To be frank, during most of the book I got the impression that the characters were… wandering… to go…. somewhere… I think… It lacked directions and the plot was almost non-existent, except for the betrayal trope I see in every Fantasy YA book I read these days. Look, it was a trope I used to love, and I still do, when it’s executed properly, when it’s more than an easy way to bring angst in a story. Sadly, in my opinion it belonged to the second category : I simply COULDN’T FEEL Adelina’s struggles. Oh, she tells us. Well, she tells us a lot of things. But to me neither Teren nor Violetta felt like real characters, therefore I was never moved by this situation. Heavy sigh.

✔ The ending, though? It was good. It was everything I wanted from the book. It came… too late. How am I supposed to savor epic scenes if I haven’t given a fuck about the characters for pages and pages? Why using most of the book as a set-up for a shocking ending? It feels just… cheap to me. A genuinely great ending won’t make me forget that I was bored to death during 300 pages. Nope. Sorry.

This book didn’t quite give me what it was telling me.

BOOK REVIEW: The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1) by Marie Lu

August 12, 2015 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1)
by Marie Lu
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
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.

“Come out, demon.” His smile fades, replaced with a chilling blankness. “Come out, so we can play.”

I can’t breathe. I swear to God-I literally. Can’t. Breathe.

I was in shock. I was in utter denial. I was half hyperventilating and half watching Friends (I mean, I have to calm down somehow, right?). The beginning and the end….they were truly something to behold. When I picked this book up, it felt right. Near the end, I was an absolute mess and completely engrossed in what could possibly become of these wonderfully flawed characters-And that is really saying something, because somewhere in the middle I had decided I didn’t care anymore-Go figure.

Who will ever want you, Adelina?
My fury heightens. Everyone. They will cower at my feet, and I will make them bleed.

I always say I won’t write a long review and then I proceed to write an even longer review. It’s one of my many ~~curses~~ gifts-The gift of gab. But, with so many mixed emotions, I feel it would be unfair-or rather, very hard on myself-to write a review on a book that I both loved and hated. Because I did-I loved and hated it. And I think that’s testament to this author-everyone adores Marie Lu. And as a person? I think she’s great. As a writer-So creative. But, somewhere along the lines, she always loses me in her books. It’s like, do you have a certain way you’d love things to go in your mind when you read? Especially dystopian or peril-ish type books? Well, I do, and most authors tend to either go exactly in the direction I want it to-but much better-or somewhere very close and very pleasing to me. But, with Marie Lu, she always…veers off. And I don’t know why. I never like the journeys her books take, but I generally always love the end result. I guess we will call that a matter of creative differences.

My sorrow turns to anger, then to ice-cold fury. My soul curls in on itself in defense. I am gone. I am truly gone.
I am not sorry.

The beginning. Strong. Haunting. Engrossing. It immediately draws you in and you’re like-Fuck yes, this is going to be epic. And the beginning is.

I struggle feebly against my chains. My legs are shaking violently. I want to hide my body from all of these people, hide my flaws from their curious eyes. Is Violetta somewhere in this crowd? I scan the faces for her, then look up toward the sky. It’s such a beautiful day-how can the sky possibly be this blue? Something wet rolls down my cheek. My lip quivers.
Gods, give me strength. I am so afraid.

We learn of a girl who is badly mistreated because of a genetic defect she can’t help, a genetic defect she acquired through no fault of her own when she was younger-it effected more than just her because of a plague or something. The kids effected by this plague are labeled malfettos….they are mistreated and deemed not fit to be a part of society. But there’s one strong male who is gathering malfettos-the best of the best. They are called the Young Elites….and he’s coming for Adelina. (By far one of my favorite scenes of book, second only to the end). Rating? 5/5.

The Middle. I’m sorry, the middle just….ugh. It lost my interest. And it’s not because it wasn’t good-it was. It just….wasn’t for me. It gave me negative angst-not the good angst I crave and am sickeningly in love with. No, this angst had me losing sleep (not in the giddy, excited way) and worrying if Lu was going to ruin the end for me (yes, I’m very selfish like that)…and basically the middle was what I was speaking of earlier-It just wasn’t going where I wanted it to go. Boring and almost cause for DNF….which is never a thought in my mind. Rating? 2/5.

Enzo watches me silently. The lanterns on the courtyard wall outline his face in a halo of damp, golden light, and the beads of water glitter in the darkness. He is such a startlingly different beauty from Raffaele-dark, intense, wary, perhaps even menacing-but I see a softness in him, a stirring desire. Something mysterious flickers in his eyes.

The End. Can you really put this fucking epic end into words? Can you? I’m not so sure. Let’s just say-It’s my absolute favorite. Most-perilistically-pleasing. Sickening. Maddeningly perfect. Ending type ever. Ever. I got exactly what I normally want but…Marie Lu? You got some balls, girl. Because…

Rating? 10/5. I’m not happy about it, though.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.
My turn.

So, you know. I don’t know what to say. I hated it. I loved it. It was perfect. It had dumb parts. It was intense…but only in the beginning and not until the very end. I don’t know. I mean, are we all always so sure what works for us? Why something doesn’t click until we get precisely what we want? Is it fair? I never have a problem with authors playing things out as they please, but, I definitely am feeling a little harsh on this one. But, eh, I’ve always been fickle. Take what you want from this review-I have no clue what to say to anyone, anyway.

If you want a more thorough and well thought out review, check out Anna’s review. Thanks for joining, Bug!