A couple of months ago, a Goodread’s notification came in informing me that there was a new book by Marie Lu (Legend, anyone?) was coming out. The name of this new, fabulous book would be “The Young Elites.” I immediately went to my Library’s website and looked it up. It already had about 58 holds on it, but I made sure I was the 59th. After that, I eagerly awaited my turn.
I was not disappointed. Like Legend, The Young Elites addicted me from the very beginning. The book follows Adelina Amouteru, who was affected during the blood plague that swept her country a decade earlier. When infected, the blood plague turned her dark hair silver, her lashes pale, and left a horrific scar where her left eye should have been. Adelina, along with everybody else infected with the blood plague, had the name malfetto stamped onto them. In Kenettra (the country previously mentioned) Malfettos used to be pitied, but are now considered abominations and are thought to bring bad luck to the family.
When Adelina hears her father promise her as a mistress to an unknown man, she decides to run from home. While on the run, she hears of a group that Adelina thinks could help her - The Young Elites. The Young Elites are a group of Malfettos who have mysterious powers and are heavily hunted by the Inquisition Axis, the King’s law enforcement.
The Young Elites is action packed and filled with tension to the very last page. But while there was plenty of external conflict, the book was most centered around Adelina’s character development. Her father raised her to think she was a worthless monster, and throughout the whole book Adelina has to fight the influences that he left on her. I was often caught off guard because I did not have the slightest idea what Adelina was going to do, even while I was reading inside her head. She’s unpredictable and intimidating, and even though I was in a completely different universe than her I was afraid of her. At the same time you find that you are rooting for her, because you have hope that she can become something bigger than she has always been told she is.
Overall, I loved the book because I loved the characterization. I would have preferred to have a little bit more substance in the plot - as it seemed that there were only a few big events that led up to the ending point.
Calculated amount of stars:
Songs that remind me of this book: Monster by Imagine Dragons
I have big expectations for the second installment, and will be looking forward to reading it. Maybe, just maybe, it will bypass the expectations that Marie Lu set for herself with Legend ;)
