The Young Elites

4.6

I know I'm already a year too late to read this book and get along with the hype. This is the first Marie Lu book that I've ever read, and I decided to go with this before I read the Legend trilogy. The premise seemed really interesting, it had great reviews, so I figured why not? Anyway, here's my honest critical analysis for this book.

The story is very interesting. A plague sweeps through a country leaving behind a group of survivors with super powers. Because they are different and powerful (think of the mutants from X-Men), the everyday people are scared of them. This causes a group of the mutants (or in this book, ‘malfettos') to band together and form a society called the Young Elites. They battle against the forces of evil and oppression for their rights, but aren't afraid to kill to get what they want.

If you like deep, rich characters that you get deeply attached to, then this is a book for you. Adelina herself is very badass and has a lot of inner struggles. Her sister, while seemingly a flat character in the beginning , actually had a nice twist and some good character development towards the end. Enzo was a good character, probably a little bit of a stereotypical prince who has been wronged and wants his revenge (sigh), but that's fine. But Raffaele, dear lord - what a deep, dark character. He seems so straightforward and gentle at first, but develops quite interestingly at the end. Here's the bottom line: there are lots of good character development, all around.

As for Ms. Lu's writing style, I think it was superb. I am not usually a fan of books that are written in the present tense, but this was written so well that I hardly noticed it. The whole mutants-being-turned-on-by-society-and-seeking-to-fit-back-in storyline is hardly a new one (X-Men is one big name that comes to my mind). So that's not terribly original. But aside from that, Marie really makes this her own through the character building and overarching storyline.

If you aren't a fan of young adult fiction, you probably won't like this book. But if storyline and characters (which in my mind are the most important aspects) are important to you, then yes, you should read this book. Believe me, it gets so much better because the epilogue promises more of Adelina Amouteru and the Young Elites. I will definitely be looking forward for The Rose Society (which was already released, by the way)! So yeah, GO READ IT NOW!