Review: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

I was able to get an ARC of this book through a trade with Emily at Falling for YA.  It was one that I was very excited to read.  Although so far I've only read Legend by Marie Lu, I really liked that one so much, that I just had to get ahold of this one.  Unfortunately I wasn't as blown away this time.  By the end of the book I was definitely drawn in enough that I'll have to read the next book to see what happens though. 

This is a fantasy story set in a world ten year after a horrible disease/plague has either killed or left with major scars.  The types of scars usually include things like hair colors, but can also be things such as losing an eye.  And some of the children who survived not only have strange markings, but also may have powers.  These children are called malfettos, and the king and queen want to rid the world of them.  They may not all have powers, but those that do could be a serious threat to the king and queen.  You see the prince is one, and he wants revenge on his sister who kept him from becoming king due to his new deformity/power.  His name is Enzo, and he is one with the strange powers.  In fact he calls himself and those he has gathered for his revenge, The Young Elites.  Adelina is truly the main character though.  She lost an eye and her hair turned silver.  She has a younger sister who seemed to have survived with no markings or any changes.  And so their father has always treated her younger sister, Violetta, much better.  Until one day Adelina hears a plan of her father's that she wants no part of, and so she tries to run away. But when her father catches her, her powers manifest and she kills him.  But in doing so, she is caught by the king and queen's Inquisitors and taken to be killed.  There she meets Teren, the head Inquisitor.  Teren is a malfetto himself, but his power is more well hidden. And he does the queen's bidding, as he is in love with her, and thinks she is in love with him. 

When the Young Elites save Adelina from her execution, she is taken back to their hideout where they will try to train her and see if she can be of use in their plans.  But she will not know if she is really being accepted, or if she must only do what is in her own, as well as her sister's best interest for themselves. 

The powers were definitely interesting.  The story itself had great detail and description.  I just don't know how I feel about the love story, seems almost forced to me unfortunately.  And really, I just don't know if I like Adelina that much, or even her sister towards the end of the book.  But there is enough left hanging, and characters that I do like, that I need to know what will happen next.

November is for Novellas Challenge #9: Life Before Legend (Legend #0.5) by Marie Lu

This was a fun way to see some of the things that made the characters the people they are in the book.

 Although I would love to have a book that tells how the country got to the state it is in.  You know, more than just the explanations we get in the books.  This novella is actually two stories.  One about Day's first kiss, which also happens to be June's first day at the Academy.  In Day's story we are learning what life was like for him shortly after he'd escaped from "failing" his exam.  He's living on the streets, mostly by stealing food when he can.  Well, he tries to set up a distraction to steal some cans of food from a shipment. But he's caught, by a girl a few years older than him.  It seems it is her father's shipment.  She offers him the chance to work to make up for trying to steal, and she promises to pay him with a can of food for each day he works.  Day grows to like working there, but he must not stay as he can't be found.  Finally after a big event causes trouble for the girl's father, he begins to see more the way he can fight, but still he must leave, and he does.  It is this big event that actually is the beginning of June's story.  June is on her way to the first day at the academy, but the traffic is held up because of a truck and something going on in the road in their way.  Once June gets there, of course she is much younger than the other students, and right away there is one big bully that picks on her.  But she stand up for herself, not by fighting, but by not backing down.  She still gets in trouble, but does gain respect from the other students who are pleased to see someone else deal with the bully.  But she sees right away she isn't going to make friends, the age difference is just too much between teenagers.
All in all, a fun look at some background stories.  Hey, you've got less than a week to join into my November is for Novellas Challenge yourself.  But, it's only 4 that you need to read, and I'm sure anyone can do that over Thanksgiving break, right?

Waiting on Wednesday: Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  I haven't participated since last October!  Wow!  But then the last few months have been pretty busy.  The book I've chosen this week is a sequel to a book that I can't believe took me so long to read!  I'd been seeing lots about Legend by Marie Lu on other blogs early last year.  And then I was lucky enough to get a copy when I was at BEA last summer, not autographed, but still. It sat on my TBR shelf until this fall, when it happened to be a nominee for my state's Library Association awards for middle grades, the Truman Award.  And then, I picked it up, and couldn't put it down!  I read it when I went to visit my sister in NYC in November.  And as I finished it, I have a good idea it might be in the top 3 of the students' choices from the final list for next year, if not the overall winner.  You can read my review of it HERE.  Anyway, without further ado, here is the blurb about Prodigy from Goodreads.com:  

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?



Sounds so good!  And, share with me, what book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

2013 Truman Possibility 16: Legend by Marie Lu

This is a book that I've seen bouncing around the Book  Blogosphere for awhile now.  I was very excited to get a copy of it at BEA this summer.  It's not signed, and I didn't get to meet the author unfortunately.   And I put it off reading until I got the list of the Truman possibilities and saw it was one of them.  And even then, I waited till about halfway through the books, because I had a good feeling I'd really like it, and I didn't know how many of the others I would like.  So I saved it for later.  And it was very good!  Now I'm eager to read on in the series.  I gave it a pretty high rating on Goodreads because I felt it was pretty original.  Yes, it was a dystopian, which there are many of.  But it had an interesting take on it.
We have two main characters that tell us the story.  First is Day, the most wanted criminal in the Republic.  From what I can tell, the Republic is basically California, or maybe all of the Western US coast, as its own nation that seceded from the United States, now called the Colonies.  So I'm guessing that Day is the Legend that the title refers to.  One reason I guess that is because the sequel is called Prodigy, which I'm assuming will refer to our other main character, June.  June is a prodigy, the only 10 year old to ever get a perfect score on the Trial.  So therefore June is now, 5 years later I believe, in the military school, of course as a prodigy, expected to move high up.
Day has become a criminal because when he took the Trial, even though he thought he did really well, he was told he failed, and so was supposed to be sent to a training camp.  But he wasn't.  He was taken away to a lab, where they experimented on him.  But he escaped.  Something considered really unusual for someone to escape from the "training camps".  And since that time, he has begun doing what he can to sabotage the Republic.  Really trying not to hurt anyone.  But when he finds out his family has the plague, he must find a way to get a cure.  So his next mission is to a hospital.  But he doesn't quite get out of it this time. Metias, June's older brother is there to stop him.  In order to get away, Day throws his knives at him, thinks he hits him in the shoulder, and gets away.  With injuries from dropping from the building.
June is woken up that same night, to come and identify her dead brother.  And she vows revenge on Day, doing whatever she can to help the Republic catch him.  Part of this ends up being going on an undercover mission to find him.  Which she does, and he ends up helping her when she gets injured.  At first she doesn't know Day is the Day, she doesn't know his name.  He and Tess are very careful not to say it.  But soon she figures it out.  And when she does, she knows she has to turn him in.  But she makes the soldiers, including her brother's friend Thomas, who she grew up with, promise not to hurt anyone in his family.  Again, this doesn't happen.  They kill his mother right in front of him.  June is so upset, and finally begins to see Thomas as not such a good friend.  She starts going through her brother's journals, and even finds things that lead her to believe Metias had also found something going on.
It is these mysteries, some of which June solves, that lead her to make her next decisions.  And lead to what happens to Day and his brother.  Great, great story.  One I didn't want to put down, and of course I was reading it with little time!  I will not be surprised if this is on the Truman final nominee list.