Review: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

The Young Elites by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this. It took me a little while to get into the audio with the multiple narrators, but overall it was excellent.  It is mainly narrated from the perspective of main character Adelina Amouteru, a young girl who has survived a deadly illness, but has come out marked by the fever. Those marked are called malfetto and seen as bad luck by society. Some malfetto's though have developed supernatural powers as a result of the fever, Adelina to her knowledge does not possess any such powers, much to her father's dismay. Adelina's dark powers manefest when she is in grave danger and very scared, as fear feeds her. Adelina is saved by the rebel group The Young Elites, a group of malfettos with powers set on overthrowing the monarchy and providing a safe place for malfettos and other Young Elites to live without fear of persecution. Enzo, leader of The Young Elites, and the crown prince, quickly befriends Adelina, though his peers are cautious of her and her dark powers. The Elites agree to train Adelina, and she quickly is taken in by courtesan Rafaele. Rafaele is friend to the prince and wants to help Adelina hone her powers, as he feels they could also destroy her if she cannot contain them.

Out to destroy all malfetto's is Teren Santoro, a member of the king's elite guard. Teren and Rafaele are our other two narrators, and they provide an important perspective to the story. Teren needs Adelina to provide information to get to the Elites, so he kidnaps her sister. Adelina not knowing who to trust and how to keep her sister safe, she eventually gets tired of being used by everyone she's ever known, her father, Enzo, and Teren to mention a few she finally decides to take matters into her own hands. After some interesting plot twists, Adelina escapes Teren's clutches, however she decides to strike out on her own to find more malfettos like herself that have been discarded to fight Teren and the crown as she is no longer a welcome member of The Young Elites.

I am patiently waiting for my turn for the next book on audio at the library.  I'm trying to get better at reviewing audiobooks.  I've really loved most of the ones I've listened to this year, but it is really hard for me to write reviews of them when I don't have the book or ebook right in front of me.  It is hard to pull up passages, and get names and facts correct if you don't have the book.