The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Let me start off by saying, I have 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. And Adelina is clearly not in a good place at the end of this one.

Solid ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ and a half stars.