I don't want to say this book is the consequence of our actions, but it feels like the overwhelming number of the same recycled plots and tropes migrating between genres has finally amalgamated into this mess of a story.

Silver Elite has become incredibly popular in the two weeks since its publication, mostly due to the controversy surrounding its promotion and the identity of the author. Before I officially move on to my "review," I want to quickly address some of those most debated points I've seen in the book community.

Is Silver Elite truly a dystopian novel?
No. It has a dystopian setting, but it lacks the social commentary of a proper dystopian novel, and the dystopian worldbuilding is weak in general. I'd be more inclined to label it as a plain romantasy or romanti-sci-fi (or whatever that genre would be considered). The dystopian aspect exists solely as an aesthetic setting for the story, and even then, I would consider it more of a futuristic military setting than a dystopian one.

Is Silver Elite really a Hunger Games for adults?
Also no. It shares more similarities with Divergent than The Hunger Games by a long shot (the only comparison I can make between Silver Elite and THG is the division of the country into more than 10 sectors). However, I feel that it's even closer to Fourth Wing than it is to Divergent. Probably over half the scenes and characters feel like they were directly copied and pasted from FW, which is definitely why it got so popular so quickly. But the relation to FW over Divergent is another reason why I would rather refer to it as a romantasy than a dystopian.

Was Silver Elite written by AI or a problematic author?
I do not believe that Silver Elite was entirely written by AI, mostly because I have seen editors and other people involved in the publishing industry confirm that Dani Francis is a real person. I've also heard that copyright laws would not allow this to happen. I won't accuse the author of using AI to assist the process of writing this novel - I think it is entirely possible, especially due to the heavy FW and Divergent influences - that the idea was created by a real person.
As for the identity of the author, I respect their wishes to remain anonymous, but I also understand readers' fears that they might be problematic. I don't pay enough attention to authors' writing styles to be able to accurately say I have any guesses on the author anyway, especially because the writing was extremely simple and could probably belong to a wide variety of authors. There are some points that the book makes that do feel a bit uncomfortable (which I'll get into in the next question), but in my reading of this, the author tried very hard to avoid discussing anything truly controversial - another reason why it's not really dystopian.

Does Silver Elite contain right-wing rhetoric?
This is a difficult question to answer because I found the messages in the book extremely inconsistent and contradictory. This section is going to be a bit essay-like, so I apologize in advance, but I gathered evidence while reading. I also don't have page numbers, but I do have percentages, and all of these quotes are in my Kindle highlights.
I've seen a lot of discourse regarding the discussion of labor camps in the novel, and I think it's a valid concern to raise. Wren initially hates labor camps, explicitly stating, "it always boils my blood how many of us are still held prisoner in the labor camps scattered throughout the wards" (4%). Later on, we see Cross (the love interest) being chastised by the Big Bad Government for being "too merciful" for sending people to labor camps instead of killing them, with his father telling him, "'You enjoy overcrowding our camps by sending the Aberrant there, recommending labor sentences over death to the Tribunal. But sometimes, son, death is the answer. Unlike you, Roe understands that'"(45%). So Wren sees labor camps as bad, but Cross sees them as merciful, and then by the end of the book, Wren agrees with him, using the excuse of "at least she’ll have a life" (72%) in reference to another character being sentenced to laboring away in a mine as a prison sentence. Usually, the things that dystopian books mean to criticize - in this case, potentially, labor camps - end up as a point of disagreement for the protagonist; Wren's decision to eventually "support" labor camps, even as an alternative to the death penalty, is questionable.

There are also a few other points of conversation where the book's leanings are overly vague. I'll share some of them below:
"The General claims that prior to the Last War, overpopulation was a serious problem" (5%) - reads in a way that suggests that overpopulation was not actually a problem (the word claims implies, to me, a level of duplicity in a statement)

"Maybe the Faithful have the right idea after all with those Old Era beliefs. At least back then there’d been some semblance of privacy, of freedom. You could live a life far from civilization if you chose. A harder life, certainly, but that’s the thing about freedom, isn’t it? There’s always a price to pay for it. The Faithful are free…to live in the shadows. To decamp at a moment’s notice and find another home on the fringes. To fend off starvation and be hunted by the Command" (17%) - there are repeated references to the "Faithful," who appear to be some outskirts group of minor rebels that only want to live their lives without government interference. This in itself isn't weird, but the idea of traditionalists and the name "Faithful" (which implies religion, something outlawed by the Big Bad Government) seems to be aligned a bit with conservative victimhood, in my reading, at least.
But also: "'Do you ever feel bad for them?' I can’t stop the question from slipping out. 'The Faithful?' 'What do you mean?' I tap the screen to project the photograph. 'These people…They just want to be left alone. Sometimes I wonder if it’s fair for us to impose the General’s idea of society on them.' Kaine frowns, considering my words. 'That’s not for us to decide. Our duty is to follow orders.' 'They’re just trying to live free.' 'They’re stealing from the Company'” (70%) - which suggests that the Faithful are freeloaders, something that conservative ideology is highly against.

"I can’t count the number of messages Uncle Jim received on his comm from my teachers, reporting me for not paying attention in class or disappearing from the schoolhouse altogether. I don’t do well chained to a desk" (18%) - there are several instances of Wren explaining that she is intelligent but doesn't perform well in school. This is, again, not inherently right-wing rhetoric nor anti-intellectual in nature. However, Wren always assumes that a) she is the only person in the world to exist like this, and b) that the fault is in education as a whole and not specifically the educational system. She also says that she doesn't really try to learn (“'I already told you, I’m not good at the classroom stuff. It’s too hard.' It’s actually very easy when you’re not trying" [31%].) This is a theme that is reiterated many, many times throughout the story, and it never actually addresses the root of the problem (lack of academic accommodations) and always just looks down at intellectualism. Additionally, this is kind of reinforced through the actions of the only academic character at the end of the book (for sake of spoilers, I will not share it here). More quotes about education include: "'That’s all my brothers and I ever heard growing up, how humanity destroyed itself. Letting chaos reign. Encouraging learned helplessness. Kids were in school until their twenties. Adults, too. All these pathetic assholes wasting time, wasting resources. If you’re not productive, you’re destructive'” (34%) & "I’m an intelligent person. Observant. Strategic. I’ve got an excellent memory—I can take one look at the north pasture on my ranch and tell you if one blade of grass is out of place. But force me to memorize codes and coordinates and military jargon, and it all bleeds together into one boring jumble. I’ve never been good at staring at screens" (36%).

"As a society, we housed millions of criminals. Clothed them, fed them. Cold-blooded killers and child rapists living better lives than most free people. Even the ones who were sentenced to death were allowed to live for decades past their sentences. They ate three square meals a day while those who hadn’t killed or raped anyone could barely afford to eat. Evil pilfering rare resources from innocent citizens'" (33%) - this reads like it supports the death penalty

"For someone who outlaws God, his God complex sure is big enough. He thinks he’s the only one who can lead the people" (86%) - the Big Bad Government is against religion, which sounds a bit like a projection of white Christian nationalist victimhood fears

Also, just the actions/dialogue of Cross is extremely icky at times, like him suggesting that he would've had sex with Wren the moment he saw her (“'Perfect,' he rasps. 'I wanted this from the second you were underneath me at the inn.' He grinds himself against me. I can feel every inch of him. 'Should’ve taken you then'”[60%]), which feels a bit rape-y. I'll go into more detail in my official review, but he gives me a very icky feeling.

What did the marketing of Silver Elite get wrong?
It's not dystopian; it's romantasy. It's not "The Hunger Games for adults"; it's just a spicy plot in a vaguely futuristic setting. The author may be a best-seller, but the book is very copy/paste, and the style is quite simple. Also - this might be something that bothered me alone - but the screenshots of the Edelweiss advertisements claimed that this had a love triangle, and it definitely does not. Just another way the marketing is full of lies.
So, whether or not you want to read it is up to you (fans of FW and Divergent might enjoy it), but I recommend reading it for the vibes and not for any criticisms of society.

OFFICIAL REVIEW (TL;DR)
This is now my most annotated (on Kindle) book of all time, and I don't think any of those annotations had anything nice to say.


Silver Elite is the newest BookTok phenomenon, and it's very clear why: it's a blatant rip-off of Fourth Wing and Divergent. It's popular for a reason, namely the recycling of popular tropes like enemies-to-lovers, commander's son, secret identities, forbidden romance, etc. I would consider it more of a romantasy than a dystopian, given its lack of proper societal criticism and commentary, and the "dystopian" aesthetic is more just plainly futuristic than anything specific. I think it is fully possible for a "spicy dystopian" to be a well-executed story, but I think it still needs to address social commentary (preferably, if it must be spicy, something regarding purity culture or sexuality), and this book failed to do so.

Wren is a Mod: she can read minds, transmit her thoughts, and manipulate the actions of others, among other powers. After her uncle is executed for past allegiance to a rebellion, she is given the choice of joining the Silver Block - an elite military block - or spending the rest of her life in prison, and reluctantly agrees to put up with the brooding commander if it means earning her freedom. Because the plot is so trope-y, it's extremely predictable, in my opinion. One of the plot twists I called within the first few chapters, although I was a bit hesitant in believing it due to one tiny detail. Another plot twist I didn't guess completely, but was mostly correct, and the third I also guessed very early on. This could be because I read a lot of stories in this genre, but I've seen them so many times that I'd like to see some more nuance. Additionally, I found the plot to be a bit slow at times. Wren spends the first half of the story trying to flunk out of the program, and is only kept there because Cross finds her attractive (I'm assuming, because otherwise why put up with her for that long and not put a bullet in her head). There's a relatively low sense of danger because Wren never leaves the compound, and given her plot armor in the form of Cross's horniness, the question of whether she'll pass the Silver Block is answered relatively early on. Do I think there's potential for a more interesting sequel? Maybe? It seems like a pretty generic rebellion story: magic people are too strong, so the normal people kill them off, but some of them still live in secret and are constantly being hunted down. If the next book clarifies the vague themes of this one, it would be a vast improvement, but I doubt that's likely to happen.

I also couldn't connect to any of the characters. Wren is supposed to be empowering and super cool, but she's extremely cocky, overestimates her value (despite her failure to follow orders at any given time), and also achieves most of her accomplishments by sleeping with Cross. She's also a cowgirl...and I couldn't take that or her chosen expletive ("hellf*ck") seriously. Cross creeps me out. Sorry, not sorry; any guy who says "oh, I should've slept with you when I first saw you" is kind of weird. His only personality is being horny but mysterious, and there was literally no backstory or arc to his character. He existed solely as a thing for Wren to have sex with and to advance her plot. Kaine is a copy of Ridoc (which is why he was the only character I could stand, and just barely), and Lyddie and Tana are your token female best friends who get tossed aside the moment a man comes along. Ivy and Xavier are the only characters who I think have the potential to be interesting; Ivy reminds me of Evangeline from Red Queen, and Xavier is just Bodhi from FW with more tragedy. If I continue the series, they'll be the only characters I'm invested in. The rest of the side characters are almost explicit copies of the FW cast.

Silver Elite is the newest addition to the ever-growing collection of "dystopian" literature that appeals to readers because of its familiarity with tropes from the genre, but provides very little actual substance in terms of critique.

1.5/5

Abby Spice Guide:
pg 345 - pg 350
pg 422
pg 446