26 April, 2016

REVIEW: THE ROSE SOCIETY by Marie Lu

Title: The Rose Society
Author: Marie Lu
Series: The Young Elites #2
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd UK
Source: Paperback
Pages: 448

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SYNOPSIS: Adelina Amouteru's heart is set on 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. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her.

But Adelina is no heroine. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends at 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?

So I read The Young Elites last year I really liked it. I had to wait quite some time to finally get to this book but here it is! I have to say I thought it wasn't as good as the first but it wasn't bad either.


THE WORLD: It's set in the same world as The Young Elites but we get to know a bit more about Kenettra and how different parts of this world treat the Malfettos differently.


CHARACTERS: The characters are mostly the same with Adelina, Violetta, and Raffaele as lead characters but we are also introduced to new Elites such as Maggiano and Maeve Jacqueline Kelly Corrigan, who is the queen of Beldain as you may have guessed because such name can only be royal and whose Elite power is bringing back people from the death. Guess who's back from the death at the end? some seconds to think 1... 2... 3... that's right! *wink wink*
In terms of development we get to see a strengthened sisterly bond between Adelina and Violetta which I really liked at the beginning and we see Adelina go down the dark path and make so many idiotic decisions lol it gets even annoyingly funny at some point. Raffaele tries to put his act together but meh I couldn't bring myself to care about him. Then we have Maggiano, who I simply do not like because he's a greedy sh*thead and then we have Maeve who I also found way too ambitious though I would like to know more about her... somehow reminds me of Winter from The Lunar Chronicles.
Oh! and let's not forget about Teren and Giulietta! They got what they deserved.

LOVE: There is not much focus on romance but there is a kind of (weird) love triangle going on... and I have the feeling is going to end in the pairing I don't like so buuuuhhhh.

PLUS-MINUS: I must say that I don't understand, and never will, how people give up to darkness so soon. Ya'll weak. I also have flaws and ambition and stuff but my morals stand higher. Adelina's morals are basically on the ground and lowering... yet people say she's a strong character (?) strong in terms of darkness I guess because otherwise I do not understand.
So the thing is that it is a plus because I still liked reading about Adelina's villain journey but at the same time I don't understand it and I somehow wish she would realize who she is. Acknowledge your weaknesses but don't let them overrule you, you know? :/

One more plus was the revelation at the end! What will happen now that this information is out?

OVERALL: 3.5-4 stars. Good but I'm not convinced. There is something missing though I cannot pinpoint what... more humanity? and something present which must be gone in the next book (that's the love triangle of course).


What did you guys think about THE ROSE SOCIETY?