Book Review: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

I did it...I think it was a couple weeks ago, I got an email from Amazon that said that if I signed up with Audible I would get 2 credits, which equals to 2 books.  I clicked on the link and browsed and found 2 books that have recently come out and I downloaded them.  And I started listening to the book, but it wasn't love at first sign.  Nope, totally not.  It gave me a headache (or the headache was coming and I ignored it until it was to late), I couldn't concentrate on the words, I couldn't visualize the word or the characters and it really aggravated me a lot.  One of the reasons I love to read, it's because I can visualize the words and characters and I love that and I wasn't getting it from Audible.  What did I do?  I stopped for a few days.  And a few days later while I was driving I gave it another try and I started to like it and I was able to do what I love to do when I read, visualize and get attach to the characters.  So, bottom line it took me a while but I am liking this Audible thing a little more.

And I just finished listening to that first book, which was:

The Young Elites by Marie Lu

The story begins with Adelina, who is a survivor from the blood fever, but she was left with strange markings, but she was also left with a mysterious and powerful gift.  Adelina's hair turned silver, her lashes pale and she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was.  There is a name for people like her, MALFETTO and in some parts they are not wanted.

It's the time of Kings and Queens and where power is everything.  Malfettos are blamed for everything bad that happens; the poverty, starvation, everything.  And because of that the Inquisitors take them out whenever they can.  Adelina's own father thinks that she is worthless and that she ruined her family name and because of that his faith is not a good one.

The first chapters were pretty good, you had action and Adelina started off as someone who was not afraid to fight for what she wanted.  But after she is rescued by the Elites (a secret society of malfettos with gifts) she becomes kind of boring for a few chapters.

Yes, in those chapters she brings you back to her childhood and explain the reason why she is feeling the way she does.  But I felt like she just complaint so much for a while and wasn't really doing anything to save her sister, or to learn more of her powers so she could seek revenge. 

The Dagger society welcomes her with open arms and they start training her.

Characters?  Well, there is Enzo who is a member of the Dagger society but also the rightful heir to the throne, but he was banned from it since he was affected by the blood fever and became a malfetto.  The main mission of the Dagger society is to assassinate the King and make Enzo the rightful King that he is.  But things do not go according to their plans and everything changes.  I really liked him, but I think I was wishing him to be a little more like Day, which I know it's wrong, everybody is different, but I wish he was a little more out there.

Then you meet Teren Santoro who works for the King, or should I say the Queen.  His job is to look for Elites and kill them.  But he hides a much darker secret of them all.  He also has Adelina's sister in his hands and uses that to get information out of her. 

Rafaelle is my favorite character by far. I don't know why, I just connected with him right away.  He is part of the Dagger society and pretty much takes Adelina under his wing.  I loved the friendship that he has with Adelina, it is so nice to see how a male and female can be friends.

Adelina's powers are something that the Elites had never seen before and they realize how dangerous she can be.  I loved the last few chapters and I couldn't wait to finish listening to it to find out what would happen in the end.  When the unexpected happens, everybody's world is turned upside down.  Especially for Adelina, the Daggers want her out of their society, but for the first time in the book I saw Adelina doing what I wanted her to do from the beginning, FIGHT for what she wants and believes. 

Ok, I was just about to spoil the book, but I am not going to do that.

There is a big cliffhanger in the end and I loved the little Epilogue, it was just perfect to get you interested in the next book.

I have recently finished reading the Legend trilogy and I really had high hopes for this book.  Did I hate it? NO way.  Did I love it?  I'm not sure yet, I do give it a 3.5 stars.  I know some people may not agree with me, but I wanted more of what happened in the end to have happened earlier, did I just make any sense??? No clue.

Will I read the next book? Heck yes, I will.  With new characters coming aboard I cannot wait to see what is going to happen.  And I am really hopping to see Adelina be a kick ass character, no more feeling sorry for what happened to her, I just want to see her fight and use her scary, dark powers. 

Have you read The Young Elites?  What did you think of it?

XOXO,

Nelia