The Rose Society

This book is so much better than the first one! I love seeing the chapters developing and Adelina's descent into madness and her forcing Teren even deeper into his madness because it is not all that common to see fucked up main characters in YA. The people here try and fail and become bad and don't automatically do everything right the first time or two around.

The Daggers frustrate me (in a good way) because not a single one of them ever gave Adelina a chance to fully explain herself, although Adelina is partially to blame for that for not outright explaining the situation with her sister in the first book.

I remain fascinated with this series and with Adelina. She can't fully control her powers and she loses more control after she kills. I'm not sure how I feel about "the voices." I can't decide if the author is suggesting mental illness or if this somehow ties to how all of the Elites seem to be changing--and dying--in ways specific to whatever power they have.

Violetta also fascinates me. She is loyal to her sister, but she is aware of Adelina's loss of control. I particularly liked how that played out at the ending of this book.

Bringing Enzo back from the dead was a horrible idea. Having him and Adelina tied together is a bit frightening. Especially when you consider what Violetta pointed out, that Enzo enhances the darkness in Adelina, show more while Magiano enhances the light. And of course I love the entire saga of "my love is dead, he's back from the dead but he's changed, we're tied together and if we aren't he dies again" with the side-order of how Adelina and Magiano had been getting close.

Teren is also a fascinating character, with his self-hatred and how he wants to kill all malfettos, except for the one's he considers useful to his cause. His relationship with Giulietta is fascinating, too, in a creepy sort of way.

This series captures me in an emotional and intellectual way. I highly recommend it. show less

This book is so much better than the first one! I love seeing the chapters developing and Adelina's descent into madness and her forcing Teren even deeper into his madness because it is not all that common to see fucked up main characters in YA. The people here try and fail and become bad and don't automatically do everything right the first time or two around.

The Daggers frustrate me (in a good way) because not a single one of them ever gave Adelina a chance to fully explain herself, although Adelina is partially to blame for that for not outright explaining the situation with her sister in the first book.

"Now, are you happy? Have you finally achieved all you set out to do? What will you do next, little assassin, with no one left to see you?"

yooooo............. Adelina is actually low-key terrifying, LMAOOOOOO. this girl deserves an award for being one of the most unhinged FMC on these streets.

listen, I love a fun morally grey character or a villain origin story, but this series is a f*cking TREAT. I have not read many books where the original story is following the villain from childhood to adult-ish (late teen-hood?) in the way that The Young Elites trilogy is.

Adelina gets more and more monstrous as the story goes on. it simultaneously has me wanting to cover my eyes, shake her to get some sense back into her, and cheer her show more on—LMAO.

the romantic subplot took a backseat (really, got thrown into the trunk) for this book, and while I did miss it, I did not entirely mind it not being there.

also, totally random thought (and slightly spoiler-y) but if I could compare to A Court of Wings and Ruin (Sarah J. Maas) for a moment: I am so happy that Marie Lu made us wait, build up tension, and put work in before bringing Enzo back to life. I always felt like Rhysand’s death and resurrection wasn’t very impactful, because it all happened in like 10 pages. I loved that we had to FEEL Enzo’s loss, witness the consequences of his death, see what people would act like without him, how the world shifted without him, THENNNNNN find a way to bring him back and go through the efforts of actually bringing him back.

plot: ★★★★☆
the plot could genuinely be summarized as, “girl becomes completely unhinged, makes it everyone else’s problem”.

writing/prose: ★★★★★
the writing is very fun. again, I still love the little segments at the top of each chapter. I feel like a broken record saying this, but reading from a villain POV is soooo fun.

pacing: ★★★★☆
like the first book, the pacing is pretty fast. most chapters have events happening, or big time scheming happening. I will say I was not very interested in Queen Maeve’s chapters. that was probably the only time reading felt slower to me.

romance: ★★☆☆☆
I was a little desperate for some romance in this book, not gonna lie. I literally went from begging Adelina to love Enzo, to Magiano, to Teren (LMAO, don’t look at me—they had huge enemies-to-lovers potential) like I just wanted SOMETHING sooo bad. so yes. it was lacking a little bit in this book, but I’m not that mad about it. it was still there, just not as much of a primary focus. Adelina too busy murdering everyone to have a boyfriend anyway.

characters: ★★★★★
the way I was rooting for Adelina, but also yelling at her like, “JUST BE NICE TO MAGIANO PLEEEAAASSSSEEEE STOP MAKING MY BOY SAD!!!!!!!!” like—girl. please.

but anyway, I am obsessed with having a main character that is just like... a straight up villain. Adelina is SO fun to read, even when I’m like “girl chill out”, another part of me is like “girl ruin them all”.

Magiano grew on me WAY faster than I expected him to. honestly, I did not expect to like him at all. I thought he was a little annoying when we first met him, but the more he tried to care for Adelina and tried to get her to let her in, the more I was like “MAGIANOOOOOOOOO”.

Violetta was also annoying me a little bit, like if you don’t join this murder spree rn...

also idk, I keep expecting Teren to become a bigger role in everything, but he’s just kinda always... there...

over-all: ★★★★★
I’m loving this series so far. idk what drugs Marie Lu is putting in here, but I’m not complaining. pop off, Adelina, rage forever. show less

Blog Review: https://trishadoeseverythingbutstudy2.wordpress.com/2021/05/05/april-2021-review...

I loved this!

I don't think I can convey how still shocked I am, a month after finishing this. The only reason I'm being able to force myself to write a review right now is because I'm starting Midnight Star tomorrow, and I would like to write this without the influence of that book.

This has to be the darkest book I've ever read. Not the darkest fanfic, though it is pretty close because I usually just close super dark stuff, but this was dark in the like addicting way, and not the what-the-f*ck-happened-to-this-I-don't-think-this-character-could-ever-be-like-this, because it is so completely believable, the way Adelina transforms, but not show more actually transforms because it was more or less always a part of her, into this intensely dark character who's losing her mind, but you can still see where she's coming from.

This has been the problem with each of these characters for me, I cant completely hate any of them because I can get behind their decisions and understand why they might be doing it, even if they shouldn't do it. I've not been able to completely hate any of these characters, even the ones who are supposed to be against Adelina, because like Adelina herself, they each have their struggles and characteristics that make them who they are.

Romance wise, I'm no longer shipping Adelina with Enzo, and neither am I very keen on Enzo as a character any more. I have no idea how I made this 180 on my previous stand on this, but I really love Magiano, okay?

One of my status updates literally says 'It's not a love triangle if one of them is dead, right?!', and like that one went wrong because they're dead, but they aren't. Trust me, no one is more confused on how to feel than me.

I hate Teren, but I don't hate Teren. I hate Raffaele, but I don't hate Raffaele. I don't even know what to feel about Enzo and Lucent and Maeve. God these books just strip me of my self-awareness.

Plot-wise, I'm just....do these books even have a concrete plot? Like usually I'm just floating through the books, focusing on the characters and their struggles, and the plot is just going on in the background for me. Which makes for amazing plot twists, but unfortunately no review fodder.

The way this ended, I'm just in shock. I need to know whether that was an illusion or not. Is Violetta okay? Is Magiano okay? I NEED ANSWERS (Thank God I'm starting the next one tomorrow, but I anticipate sad endings because none of this series has made me expect a happy ending for anyone here)

That revelation at the end about The Young Elites, being, obviously but not obviously, young, blew my mind. Like, that explains a lot. I just don't want anyone to die, but it seems like it's possible that everyone I like might be dead by the end of this series.

I loved Adelina's transition into this woman who has seen the worst this world has to offer and says I could have done even worse back to it. I do, but I'm also terrified by it, because it's so heartbreaking, and so different compared to usual books. I'm terrified of what she's becoming, but at the same time, I want to keep seeing how far Marie Lu can make her go before she breaks. Will she even break? I'd like to think she won't, but she probably has already.

I have no idea how Marie Lu can top this novel, but I can't wait to find out. I recommend this to anyone who read the first one, just keep in mind this get s darker. Like, way darker. Like the darkest shit you can think of. show less

I added this to my book list from my phone, and didn't want to try to type a review from same, so I'm coming back a couple of days later and trying to express my feelings about this book, which may lead to Much Fail.

When talking to people about 'The Young Elites', I often describe it as "X-Men in Renaissance Venice", which works. But, if I want to carry that metaphor over to this book, it still works, but it gets a little messy, because everyone is Magneto. Seriously, there are no purely "good" guys here. It's hard to root for anyone because they're all f**ked up and they all think they're doing the right things for the right reasons, but they're all also selfish and self-absorbed and it's easy to feel sorry for them, but impossible to show more cheer for them. And I love that. I love that there is no black-and-white. I love that this is a series being told primarily from the POV of a character who would, in almost any other YA fantasy, normally be considered the villain. This book is dark and it is often unpleasant and it is filled with characters who are so, so broken and it is all the more powerful for not turning away from or trying to soften the ugliness. I can't wait to read book three, but I hope with all my heart that there is no easy redemption and/or happily-ever-after for Adelina. If she does achieve some sort of redemption, she's going to have to work really hard to earn it. Really f**king hard. show less

This went up a star because of the ending. I love Adelina's character and how terrible she is. I love that she went from ambiguous morality to a character that is almost unambiguously bad - she hurts her sister, she kills her friends, she takes the throne. She kills and she is unflinchingly cruel about it, which is a nice break from the Good/Bad narrative most YA novels have. The ending really made this book, and I am looking forwards to the next installment of The Young Elites.