The Young Elites

Let me start off by saying, I have only read the first too books in the Legend Trilogy, and while I don't hate them, I don't really love them either. I love Marie Lu's writing style though. The Young Elites grabbed my attention right away. Magic has always been a weakness for me and the idea of the fever, markings, and the Elites was really intriguing to me.

I think Marie Lu did a great job of introducing the world and the stakes with the Inquisitors and the Daggers. I loved the little snippets of information at the beginning of every chapter. Though small, it really added to the world and my understanding. It is also interesting the time period that this book takes place in. We are basically in Juno of 1361. This added lords and servants to the fantasy element of the book.

This book was told with very interesting POVs. Basically we had Adelina's first person and then third person with Teren, Enzo, and Raffaele. At times I wanted more from Enzo and Raffaele since we mostly saw things from Adelina's perspective. But having Teren's side was great because we saw the “bad” side and what they were up to. The storyline between Teren and Giulietta showed just how complex this world and the malfettos were.

I found it slightly predictable what Teren's secrets were, but I see why they were important. i also think he is going to have a large part to play later in the trilogy. This book was a great start to the trilogy and I can't wait to see where it is going. This book definitely exceeded by expectations and for me was better than The Legend Trilogy.

That ending was so not fair. Between the introduction of a brand new character that was clearly involved from the beginning to the result of the battle. Completely unfair, especially because now I have to wait.

Solid 4.5/5 Stars.

I struggled to connect with the narrator in this book. She was like a cardboard cut-out. When I got to the end, I discovered that she had not been the narrator in the first draft of this novel and I thought, “Aha!” There are a million ways to tell the same story; not all of them will be good. This one isn't, which is too bad because I enjoyed Ms. Lu's other works immensely.

I didn't know much going into this book. All I knew that it was somewhat fantasy, the main girl was missing an eye, and that Marie Lu wrote it. That is all I really needed to know but the entire idea behind this book is better reason to pick it up.

The Young Elites is about this sickness that hit the world and caused the adults that got it to die and the children have been marked where some even grew to have certain “powers”. The main girl is named Adelina Amouteru and damn is she not the most broken main protagonist I have read in a while. She has this dark twisted background that a lot of characters do not have without being the villain in the story. She has so many problems and they all have to do with her father. He grew a type of anger toward her after she grew sick and lost her appeal. She never felt loved by her father but her little sister got all of the attention because she was still pretty and he could get some money off her by giving her away.

Adelina got sick during this time and it caused her to lose one of her eyes, gained marks on her face, and was marked as a malfetto. These are the people that have been marked from the sickness and are frown upon by the other people around the world. I mean what the fuck is that about though? Like I am sooooo sorry I got sick as a kid, lived through it, and now I have these marks. My bad. It was obviously my entire fault and you should hate me. Anyway.. some of the kids that lived through this fever have gotten certain powers and are known as the Elites.

Learning about the background of the fever and the Elites bothered me a bit. It didn't add up that much in my mind and I needed more information. I'm sure Marie Lu will go more into it in the second book and the first book was just there for the structure of the actual problem. There wasn't much information about where this part of the world actually was and it was hard for me to picture it all happening except in a generic area.

For the young elites, they all seemed weird and I had a hard time picturing what they looked like and ended up matching their faces up with their personalities. All of the Elites have this broken background (except Gemma) because they were all shunned or left alone. The Reaper, or Prince Enzo, was a different character to get to know. He just takes care of all these people and trains them for what is to come. The problem is that they are fighting fire with fire because The Elites are pretty much a terrorist group, killing people around them to get back at the kingdom and even their own people/malfettos.

I did like the Prince though because he seemed like one of those main characters that actually had their shit together. (Even though he was broken as well) He took care of everyone around him and made sure that they did their best but he wasn't afraid to kill them if they got out of hand or would be a problem for the others.

One of the characters I liked the most was Raffaele because he was very protective of the Prince but he also wanted to see the best in Adelina... even though we know that he was also scared of her. He and Enzo pretty much ran the Elites. Raffaele would find the others like them and Enzo would help train them. He was just an interesting character to read about.

Even though Adelina was pretty weird and dark, she was an interesting character to read about and narrate. I enjoyed that twisted side that she had and the little thoughts in her head being the angel/devil. It was something new for Marie Lu to mess with and I think she did a decent job on creating the correct atmosphere for the characters.

I cannot wait for the next book to come out because that ending made me so mad and I needed to find out what will happen next! The epilogue kept me interested in wanting to read the next book and even introduced a new character that seemed pretty kickass.

I would recommend picking up this book if you like fantasy (not high fantasy) and need a bit of a change in protagonists. There are no heroes in this book. They all have problems and they all seem to be on the bad side of things but it is interesting to view it as such. Also, Marie Lu writes her characters well and there are so many different ones in this book.

If anyone would ask me what I thought of Marie Lu's sexy new book The Young Elites, i'd reply with five words: dark fantasy at it's finest. I absolutely could not put this book down! It was like X-Men meets Game of Thrones meets Throne of Glass meets Cruel Beauty meets.. arrghh nevermind. Why don't I just give you five reasons why The Young Elites deserves that five-word praise? Here we go..

1. The Malfettos. A decade ago, a deadly illness called the Blood Fever swept through the nation, killing thousands of people. The few who survived the fever, mostly children, were left with strange scars that marked them as outcasts and bad luck to society. However, 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.

In an X-Men kind of universe, the Malfettos would be the mutants. Shunned by society and deemed as “bad luck” as an excuse to hide the king's negligence in ruling his kingdom, innocent malfettos have been killed left and right. That doesn't make them weaklings though- most of the Young Elites are pretty kick-ass! What I loved about the malfettos is that their origin was never fully explained and there's still so much secrecy surrounding the Young Elites.

2. Adelina Amouteru. Adelina -freakin- Amouteru. Don't let her regal name fool you because this girl has gone through hell and back, losing her mother to the Blood Fever and having to spend her whole life answering to her abusive and sadistic father's beck and call. Because of her harsh experiences, there is a great darkness inside Adelina that threatens to consume her and will not hesitate to kill. Adelina isn't the typical heroine protagonist- she's clearly drawn to evil and darkness, and her heart calls out for vengeance no matter what the means, but there's this tiny spark in her that tries to control the darkness. She's pretty bad-ass if I do say so myself.

“I am Adelina Amouteru. I belong to no one. On this night, I swear to you that I will rise above everything you've ever taught me. I will become a force that this world has never known. I will come into such power that none will dare hurt me again.”

3. The Dagger Society. When the Inquisition held Adelina at the stake for the murder of her father, a group of Young Elites whisked in and saved her. Basically the X-Men of their world, The Dagger Society dedicate their lives to reinstating the rights of the malfettos and overthrowing the king and queen. Led by a sword-fighting fire wielder named Enzo Valenciano, the group sees murder as a means to an end and will kill anyone who gets in their way. I loved reading about them and their different abilities- there's Ezio with his ability to control fire, a male courtesan who can sense the abilities of other malfettos, a windwalker who can control air, a girl who can steal the will of any animal, a boy who can bend any object to his will, and one of the greatest fighters the world has ever seen.

Adelina trains to become on of the Daggers and this opens up whole different worlds for her, and in turn for us. Through the society, I was whisked to a world with flying manta rays in the sky, a beautiful pleasure court, underground tunnels, and devious plots.

4. The plot and world-building. Marie Lu packed everything into this book: darkness, family, magic, powers, action-packed swordfights, sexy romance, deception, betrayal; most of the plot is centered around political intrigue packed with a lot of players. I never knew what was going to happen next and I couldn't stop turning the pages. She weaved a whole new seamless world to perfectly back all of it up, too. I learned something new about their world as the story progresses, and it opens up a lot of roads leading to places outside Adelina's kingdom- places I can't wait to read more of.

5. The epilogue. THAT EPILOGUE. THAT SNEAKY SNEAKY CLIFF HANGER EPILOGUE. I can't say much without spoiling, but it's definitely a massive game-changer! A few hints? Princess. Different Kingdom. Prince. Underworld. Confused? I am too! And I need book two right this instant!

So yup, those are the five things that instantly made me Marie Lu's slave. Anything for book two. ANYTHING. Kidding aside, or not-so-kidding aside, The Young Elites isn't perfect, but it's a definite must-read for people looking for a dark fantasy with political intrigue and a fast paced adrenaline-filled plot.

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

En el Kitten Book Club ha habido libros buenos, malos, entretenidos, libros que me han dejado shockeada en obsesión. Y luego está The Young Elites, libro que no dejo de visitar el tag en tumblr, libro que pienso cada cinco minutos, libro que su secuela se publica no lo suficientemente rápido y ¡estoy muriendo de ansias!

Marie Lu es una de esas escritoras que veo siempre, sus libros siempre me los han recomendado, no tengo idea porqué no la había leído antes, porque si bien es una escritora conocida y la veo bastante, no es en manera intrusiva. Esas cosas locas de lector, supongo, cuando tienes el libro toda la vida, pero no lo lees hasta unos minutos antes de morir. Espero no morir en las próximas semanas, necesito leer The Rose Society, sino volveré y los asustaré a todos.

THE YOUNG ELITES

Hay una cosa bastante curiosa que me pasó cuando armaba la reseña: ¡Hay un montón de versiones de la sinopsis! La que está en GoodReads es larguísima, estos editores, la verdad.

¿Te gustan los superpoderes? A mí me encantan, siempre he sentido que he nacido para tenerlos y luego dominar el mundo. A lo Magnetto. Si hubiera vivido en el mundo de The Young Elites, Kenetra, estaría muy muerta. Ya que la enfermedad que atacó a todos solo dejó sobrevivir a los niños. Ser adulto es un problema, hasta en los libros te hacen bullying. Entonces, los niños que sobrevivieron, algunos desarrollaron poderes sobre naturales. Y como el ser humano no confía en las cosas que no conoce y su reacción automática es destruir, los Malfettos, así se llaman los niños que sobrevivieron la fiebre y salieron marcados, son cazados.

Sinceramente pensé que el libro me duraría una semana, ni idea porqué. Pero resulta que tuve que obligarme para dejar de leer. A duras penas mi lectura me duró dos días. MUY POCO. NECESITO MÁS. The Young Elites es de esos pocos libros que necesito releer inmediatamente luego de terminarlos. Soy un poco obsesiva, la verdad.

MALFETTOS

Ya había leído antes que Marie Lu era una escritora que diversificaba a sus personajes, lo que básicamente significa que no nos pone 90% personajes blancos y uno por ahí de color como para variar. Oh, no. No sé si porque los nombres de los protagonistas son medio italianos pero todos tenían la piel tostada o muy oscura y bonita... - Creo que uno de los personajes blancos fue Teren, uno de los villanos.

El único personaje que no me obsesionó en el libro fue Violetta, pero eso fue al inicio, luego la muchacha gana un poco de puntos de interés, sólo que es spoiler y no te digo más.

Cuando terminé de leer el libro, antes de leer los agradecimientos (porque leo los agradecimientos, me gusta, tengo la esperanza algún día aparecer ahí), estaba: “Nunca me había sentido tan conectada con un personaje, Adelina es la mejor protagonista, la adoro, nos parecemos tanto” y luego viene la escritora y dice: “Me gustó escribir desde el punto de vista del villano, que está inspirado en Darth Vader btw”. Me dió un poco de cosa parecerme tanto a una villana.

Ténganme miedo porque una vez consiga poderes, domino al mundo.

ADELINA AMAOTERU

Necesito hacer un apartado especial para ella. I ♥ her. Es malvada, pero en serio malvada.

Leer desde el punto de vista de Adelina y luego leer los otras perspectivas, me hizo sentir como si el terror de una persona ansiosa fuera puesto en un libro. Todas esas preguntas y pensamientos que no podemos sacar de nuestra cabeza: “¿Qué tal si no les caigo bien? ¿Qué tal si me odian? No puedo confiar en nadie, nadie me querrá nunca. Debo destruirlos y hacerlos sufrir”, están representados en el libro. Quizá esté leyendo mucho entre líneas, sólo que si vives con esas ideas todo el día en tu cabeza y lees el libro, quizá me entiendas.

SI TE DA PEREZA LEER MI LARGUÍSIMO FANGIRLEO

Amé el libro, me gustaría resaltar algo criticable o qué cambiaría, peor no tengo D; Estuve leyendo algunas reseñas sobre el libro y vi que en una de ellas decía que Adelina llora mucho, soy completamente sincera cuando digo que no lo noté. Odio a los personajes que se la pasan llorando, a mí misma no me verás llorar de verdad, por lo que tiendo a notar cuando un personaje se pasa de llorón, pero no con Adelina. Sentí que sus llantos estuvieron en punto (?) No sé, quizá estuve tan consumida en la historia que no noté sus defectos.

LÉELO. Ahora me iré a fastidiar a todo el que conozca para que lea The Young Elites.

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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!

This book is definitely one of my favorite reads this year. It has everything I love: an amazing heroine, grey characters, unpredictable twists, and a plot that doesn't get overshadowed by romance.

Our heroine, Adelina, kicks ass. For me, it's very easy to relate to her and her thoughts—both the lighter and darker ones. She's been abused, ignored, shoved aside for all her life, and it's refreshing to see her embracing her bitter hatred and anger instead of denying them to stay on the good side. Even when she explodes and screws up, a part of her still thinks that her victims deserve what they got for hurting her. As Marie Lu herself wrote:

“I realized the problem was that I didn't want to tell a hero's journey; I wanted to tell a villain's.”

I still can't get over Enzo's death though, and I think the mourning period will last for a while. ;___;

So many expectations. So much disappointment.
I absolutely loved June and Day, through the good and the bad, (from Legend trilogy) and pre ordered The young elites months ago. So I was sad to realize that Adelina wasn't gonna cut it for me. Nor did Enzo, and sadly, not even Rafaelle. Or all the poor youngsters (the malfettos) whose strange fevers also left them with supernatural mortal powers, besides some sort of deformity or marking. It reminded me of X-men, without Hugh Jackman's redeeming qualities. Well, I am lying. I kinda, sort of liked Genna (or was it Gemma? apparently I didn't like her so much then) a bit.
Considering they were such vulnerable characters, so ready to be loved (I am very partial to angst and teenage rebels, must confess), I think the fact that I couldn't find it in my heart to cheer for any of them was very revealing.
I hope Marie Lu has some other attempt at dark characters stored somewhere - or maybe befriends Tahereh Mafi and revisits Juliet and Warner, my favorite anti heroes in YA so far.

OMG :O
¿Qué acabo de leer? O sea estoy en shock :O
Al principio cuando empecé este libro me enganchó mucho y me leí 200 páginas de un tirón pero conforme iba avanzando me di cuenta de que no avanzaba en cuanto a trama, solo avanzaba en hojas y todo me parecía lo mismo, tenía la sensación de que los personajes no crecían y que la autora daba vueltas sobre lo mismo, pero las últimas páginas (en este caso capítulos) han sido un no parar de leer una bomba tras otra y un ¡ay no!, WTF? y :O constantes, la verdad es que yo pensaba darle menos nota pero ese PLOT TWIST del final me ha matado XO y me ha hecho cambiar de opinión XD
Marie Lu no te voy a perdonar jamás lo que has hecho al final T.T