The Young Elites (Young Elites, #1)

by Marie Lu

[ross91]

EDIT: I changed the rating from 4 to 3 stars because I realized that there were too many negative things to justify a rating that high. I still think it's quite enjoyable though, and it is by far my fav Marie Lu's book.


So... I was not a fan of the other Marie Lu's series (Legend) and I didn't expect a lot from this book. I am glad to say that I am pleasantly satisfied.
The Young Elites is not a perfect book, but overall it's entertaining and offers a refreshing plot and a very interesting main protagonist.

Firstly, lets focus on the bad things:
- the story, although peculiar and easily readable, was very rushed. Everything happened too fast and I couldn't really appreciate all the developments that were occurrings. I think this book would have been better with 150/200 additional pages.
- the descriptions are almost non-existing and this is sad, 'cause at first the setting reminded me of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, one of my fav books of all time, but the echoes stopped abruptly when I realized that the author wasn't going to expand the concept of the city of Kenettra any further than the usual gondolas and canals. So Kenettra remained nothing more than a Venice-wannabe city, with nothing else to offer and nothing interesting to elevate it from the usual two-dimensional YA setting (I don't wanna start ranting about YA and their usual alarming lack of details, BUT COME ON PEOPLE! Is it so difficult to use more than two phrases to describe a fictional city/character/society/politics/magic sistem?? This YA trend is unsettling and lazy and the main reason why I find it very difficult to like YA books).
- the main problem are the secondary characters: none of them stood out, they were all kinda bidimensional and interchangeable. They could have all died horribly and I couldn't have cared less.
- the Daggers' politics is nonesense and very scary. Basically it can be summed up with: "We have powers and we want to riot, but obvs we won't risk our lives to save other people affected with the plague but not lucky enough to have powers as well. And you know what? You have an awesome power but we don't like you very much and, honestly?, you are kinda scary and ... have I already told you that we don't like you? What do you mean 'why'? Well, because we don't know you very well, 'cause some rocks told us you have an inclination for Eeeevil and because of reasons. So yeah, you've got to die. Sorry-not-sorry!" REALLY????? Very Nazi-in-training.
- The romance, like everything else, seemed rushed. I liked it, but still... not very believable.

The good things:
- Although rushed, the events happening in this first book were entertaining and peculiar enough to have kept me interested from start to finish
- Adelina is a BAMF. Seriously, if you're looking for some kickass anti-heroine this book is for you. I really enjoyed to see through her eye, to read about her struggles between evil and good, rage and peace and I can't wait to see her development in the future books.
- The ending was very unexpected and refreshing to read I hope it won't be ruined by a future Enzo's resurrection. I liked him as a character and I was sad to see him die, but at the same time I think it's better to move on and use him as a martyr than to resurrect him just because you have loved him (and srsly?? after so little time??)
-the epilogue was so intriguing! I wanna know more about this Maeve... she seems cool!
- Teren seems promising. I hope to find out more about him in the future

Overall a cool book, I will definitely read the sequel.