I've been in a perpetual state of dazedness ever since I finished The Young Elites. Most everything about it was awesome; from the beginning it grabbed me. I still haven't finished Lu's other series, the Legend books, but reading this has inspired me to get back to it as soon as possible. I'm excited for more of her stories. The world-building has an olden times feel to it; I expected this to be a dystopian, but it's much more of a fantasy. There's magic and castles, not so much guns or technology. Though that surprised me, I had no problem accepting it. There's a beautiful map in the beginning that I frequently flipped back to over the course of the novel to gauge the where the characters were. After a terrible plague called the blood fever, many people died and the ones that didn't came out of it with some kind of mark or defect. Of the survivors (called malfettos), some have super powers that could really be any kind of ability. It's an interesting premise, and I was anxious to see what kind of talent the main character would have. 
 Adelina Amouteru is definitely an interesting protagonist. I would use that word very loosely because at times she's not exactly a shining example. In the beginning she's forced to kill her abusive father for trying to sell her off to some man to be a mistress, and I didn't blame her for that. In fact, I applauded her for running away and felt really bad for her terrible life. But there are times when she acts a bit strange and makes bad choices. For example, after her father dies, she doesn't bother to return to her house to get Violetta, her sister. He died very publicly where anyone could have looked out the window and seen, yet Adelina doesn't realize that the authorities would use her sister to find her. And unsurprisingly she is soon captured. She also has a power that thrives entirely on darkness, so when people around her are in pain or afraid, it gives her strength. At one point, she actually tortures another character so he's in incredible pain and she gets so much pleasure from it at the time it's a bit uncomfortable. Still, I enjoyed reading about her powers and her inner struggles, because she actually does want to be good. The fact that her power feeds on darkness is a real problem for someone who doesn't wish to be a villain, and honestly it's great conflict for this book and future installments in the series. 
 Her love interest, Enzo, is an interesting character. He's the Crown Prince intent on taking back his throne, and he has the ability to control fire. He leads the Young Elites, or the Daggers, and he takes quite an interest in Adelina after a while. It's compelling because as a romance develops between the two, it's never really made clear whether he was manipulating her or if he actually liked her. The romance was not a main focal point to the story at all, but rather a small subplot I really enjoyed. The twist that happened with Enzo towards the end was surprising because I honestly didn't expect it to happen. 
 Raffaele was a great side character - he reminded me of Cinna from The Hunger Games, so I immediately liked him. He's very kind and gentle; he helps Adelina with her powers and makeup (she's missing one eye, which is an interesting fact not mentioned in the synopsis). But at the same time he's sensible, and the harsh decision he made at the end of the book was heartbreaking after he was kind for so long. And the fact that's two lead male characters but no love triangle was awesome. Teren, the villain of the book, was pretty much a madman. He is completely set against his own kind, and at this point seems invisible. The pacing of the story was perfect, and the ending was insane. It was a lot darker than I expected to say the least. I look forward to picking up The Rose Society sometime this year. 
 4.5 stars