Audio Review : The Young Elites by Marie Lu
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Narrated by Carla Corvo & Lannon Killea
Pages/Time : 355/10h09
Genre : YA, fantasy
Series : The Young Elites, book 1
My Rating : 4/5
About the Book :
Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation.
Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.
Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle…
My Thoughts :
There are few things more pleasant in a reader’s life than being surprised by a book!
I had previously read Marie Lu’s Legend series (I have reviews up for all of them : Legend, Prodigy and Champion) and really enjoyed my time with her characters and her world. Yet when The Young Elites first hit the shelves, I wasn’t convinced. It sounded appealing, but I didn’t see how it could stand out from all the other YA series featuring a super special character with extraordinary powers.
And I was wrong; I was so pleasantly surprised that, as soon as I finished it, I jumped right into the second novel in the series!
It’s quite simple : Adelina Amouteru makes the book. She’s not a typical character. She’s dark. Twisted. The abuse she suffered from her father left her broken and thirsty for revenge. She’s got a mean streak, too. The way she treated her sister when they were younger was far from nice and perfect. And as the story moves forward, the darkness insides her seems to grow. She’s trapped in a lose-lose situation, and while she can appreciate the things she has, her past is still what mostly shapes her. She’s clearly hungry for her power, and I liked the complexity it added to her already interesting character. I’m not sure if antihero is the exact word to describe her, but it’s certainly close.
The narrator also did a fantastic job with Adelina, and to me, it felt as though the narrator had a lot of fun with it. I felt all of Adelina’s emotions, from her most frightful times to these moments of dark hunger. There was something not only dark, but almost evil in Adelina. She’s clearly standing in between light and darkness, and thanks to the narration I constantly felt as though I was standing on the edge with her.
I will say that I did feel the story was a bit slow in parts. The book started well and ended up strong, but somewhere in the middle I felt as though it was a bit aimless. I think on paper I would have had a harder time keeping up with the book, so it was good I went with the audiobook. I also felt there were too many characters for me to keep track of, some of them having very little importance in the story.
All in all I had a good time with The Young Elites. This wasn’t the fantasy novel I had been expecting. I felt that the worldbuilding and the story were interesting, but not super original; Adelina however really brought something different to this world. And that last chapter/epilogue? Perfect. If you’ve enjoyed the book, this last bit will make you wish for the sequel a.s.a.p.!
Hmmm… I enjoyed Legend well enough but for some reason wasn’t all that eager to continue reading her so when the Young Ones and the Rose Society came out I noted it but didn’t feel that compelled to read them. But, I’m always up for reading from the pov of a good protagonist – you’ve re-kindled my interest in her!
I enjoyed Legend too, but in that way where I had fun reading it but forgot most of it once I closed the books. My favorite was the first of the trilogy, which made me a bit hesitant about the Young Elites at first, but I’m glad I did give it a chance. The story would be mostly ordinary if Adelina wasn’t interesting! It works well on audio for me because the narrator has a lot of fun with it, but I do wonder if on paper I’d enjoy it as much?