The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Book: The Young Elites
ISBN 13: 9780399167836
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.96
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stuffed animals 

         *Note: The last paragraph my or may not contain spoilers! You are warned!!!* 

       Whew! This is my fourth book that I've read since Friday and it's... Wednesday. I think. Isn't spring break wonderful? So YALL Fest is 2 weeks away and I'm going to meet a couple authors I haven't read all of their books yet. Marie Lu was one of them but now since I finished this one I can check her off the list. I want to read The Lunar Chronicles series before I go (Marissa Meyer) and I have the first book i'm getting signed. So yeah! I'm using spring break to get all of the reading done. 

          This is Marie Lu's fourth book so far came out late last year I think, and her Legend trilogy pretty much came out in rapid succession and I hear this book has a sequel coming in October.  My point being, she's pretty fast! I think she has a lot of potential and Legend got a lot of attention with rumors of a movie floating around. She isn't my favorite author right now but I think she's good. 

       My issue with Marie Lu is that her books, and characters especially feel very... rigid. What I mean by that is that they are all tough military people -Like June in Legend- There isn't a lot of jokes going on and they all act very formal. Which, granted is expected in high stakes kind of situations all of her books have that action, sci-fi, spy movie feel. But she's writing about teenagers and when I read them I always picture adults and teenagers are obviously very silly people! *starts strutting around the room in a chicken suit singing show tunes* 
       
       What I did like about this book was the unconventional approach. The protagonist, Adelina is more of an anti hero that an actual hero. She has the power to raise illusions and creepy demon-y things and kill people with her mind. Adelina was mistreated for many years by her father and holds a deep resentment inside of her but at the same time she's feeling guilty for being responsible for his death. She's sick of being used and being an outcast  and it's clear she wants revenge instead of offering forgiveness, all this is fueling the 'darkness' inside of her. It's pretty much the backstory of a comic book villain! Seriously, part of me expected batman to run in like ''Ay! Wassup? This isn't Kenettra it's Gotham city everybody!'' Or maybe not. But my point is clear!
      
          This book reminded me a lot of the Shatter Me series by Tehereh Mafi and the beginning. A young girl in a prison cell, who kills someone on accident. Someone who is fighting with the good and evil within them. Except Juliette runs from her power and Adelina runs straight into it. That would be an awesome crossover... if the two of them met! Who would win in a fight Juliette Ferrars vs Adelina Amouteru!? Lol sorry I nerded out for a second. 

     And the cliffhanger! Man! So... there's a woman who can bring people back from the dead. Aand... someone had died. Normally I would just come out and say who dies but someone accidentally spoiled it for me when I was still on chapter one and it ruined everything! My heart was broken! But hey! Are they going to bring him/her/it back? I hope so, because he/she/it was one of my favorites. ''The Rose Society'' book 2 is coming out on October 6th 2015 but I hear that's it's also subject to change. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! 

Thanks For Reading    -R