Title:  Rose Society
Author: MArie Lu
Publisher/Year: Penguin Young Readers Group 10/13/15
Length:  291 pages
Series:  Young Elites #2

Overview

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all.

Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her.

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?

My Thoughts

I love that this series is so different from Legend – and it’s dark.  I feel like while others by Ms Lu were optimistic, this one is just dark and foreboding.  Like the summary above says, we’re rejoined with Adelina after she’s been cast out of the Daggers, and her world is upside down.  Teren has killed Enzo, the prince of Kenettra and not only was he a royal, he and Adelina had something developing – a great bond that was torn.  It’s because of illusions and poor judgement calls and betrayal that led to his death and murder, and well now Adelina is left to figure out how she can gain a following and power to overthrow her once friends and avenge everything that’s ever been done.

Where we go on this 2nd installment is on a path of power and fear.  As the summary also says, Adelina’s powers are getting stronger – she knows what she’s capable of and the voices that are dark and fearsome in her head are really bringing her into her own.  Is it a good thing?  well i don’t know – i feel like there are moments throughout this story where you want to believe that she’s really after giving malfettos a better life – that she wants everyone who’s suffered to be able to be free, ye i think that as the story progresses, we see that she’s power hungry and she’s really after something for herself.

The way that this story is told is that each chapter is from a character’s point of view.  some get several in a row, but really what we have are Adelina, Raffaele, Maeve and a few others – showing what they are going through at a given time.

As everyone knows, there are more folks out there with powers as a result of the Blood Fever and Adelina is looking to gather some of her own to create her own army to overthrow the royals.  She’s found several that have amazing powers, some that have been cast out by The Daggers, and in turn she creates The Rose Society.  Along side her, her sister Violetta stands – with her own power that’s gradually getting stronger.  It’s a twist at the end – something that Violetta discovers that really turns things badly, and i think that it’s safe to say that where we usually end up on a cliff at the end of an installment wondering what’s next, it’s safe to say that Adelina and Violetta are in a bad place – and i wonder who’s going to end up alive, and on which side.

We see a new romance develop in a sense between Adelina and Magiano, another Elite, however it’s the raising of Enzo from the underworld that complicates things again.  While he was brought back from the dead and there’s a bond between him and Adelina since he’s tied to her to stay alive, there’s a darkness there that makes things that much worse.  He learns what happened when he was killed and that puts him against Adelina. There are several others that die, and several others that are changing alliances.

Personally, i can’t wait to see what happens.  We know that Adelina is power hungry and gets what she wants, but what’s the sacrifice especially when everyone turns their back on her.  I wonder if there’s hope for any romance for anyone here, and i wonder if the little bit of information that Violetta found will come true.  It would be a shame but it’s valid.

So on that note, enjoy this sci fy esque series – and have a great weekend!