Oh my!! I seriously loved this book....it's dark, gritty, and the main character is not the good heroine. Oh no she's the bad guy and I sorta love her :D

The Young Elites by Marie Lu is the first in a new dystopian, fantasy series about a group of young men and women who have special "gifts" granted to them from surviving the blood fever as children. Our main character, Adelina Amouteru, is arrested after accidentally killing her father one night when she was running away. On the day of her execution, she is saved by a group who call themselves the Dagger Society and like her have powers or magic from surviving the blood fever. The problem, Adelina didn't know she had powers until the night she killed her father. Now she has to learn how to use them and fast! Terren, leader of the Inquisition Axis, is hunting her and the Daggers down and he won't stop until they are all dead.

I love Adelina! She is a scary chick! All her life she's been told she's a disappoint by her father for being a malfetto (a child that survived the blood fever marked/scarred/changed). With the fever, her hair turned to silver and one of her eyes was removed. Some malfettos were rumored to have powers and because Adelina had none, her father ignored her, taunted her, provoked her, and abused her in attempts to bring powers to the surface. This is enough to break anyone! And for our Adelina it does. She is constantly haunted by her father's ghost, and her powers (when they finally surface) are fueled by fear. This takes her to some very dark places. She questions herself constantly, knowing that the pain she inflicts isn't right, but taking pleasure in causing it.



Then there's Terren. He is a powerful young man in a high position with the court. Terren is ruthless, but not cruel. And he finds Adelina fascinating. However he is obsessed with finding the Dagger Society and hunting down all malfettos to purge the country of them. But he's hiding a big secret. Honestly, I had figured out his secret early on, but I won't spoil it for you ;) Trust me you'll understand his character much better!

And finally Enzo, or the Reaper, leader of the Dagger Society, crowned prince, and rightful ruler of the country. He has his own obsession and plans to use Adelina to get it. Enzo plans to take his country back by force and help the malfettos, especially since he's one himself. He is ruthless, cunning, and driven, but with Adelina he finds himself enchanted and unable to focus.



The entire story centers around the Dagger Society taking back the kingdom and training Adelina how to use her unique powers. The author has created a whole new world and I'll admit that in the beginning I was more than a little lost. I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a futuristic world or a historical fiction. Then I realized it wasn't set on Earth at all...my bad. Once I realized this, the book flowed well and I was amazed at how intricately Adelina's character plays out. We see a broken girl at the beginning of the book who slowly progresses into a young woman with power and the ability to take on anyone. And she does!

Overall I thought the book was great! At times the flow lagged a bit, especially when Adelina would berate herself over her feelings. For the most part though, there was plenty of action and plot twists that I didn't see coming. And the ending...I'll admit I may have shed a few tears for our bad girl. Then the epilogue...eep! I can't wait for the next in this series to come out :D