‘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, The Rose Society
Hey Booknerds!
As Christmas draws near, I’m continuing with my read of Marie Lu’s fantasy series The Young Elites and diving straight into a review for the second book The Rose Society. I plan to be devouring wintery reads by the end of this week, so I wanna have this whole trio wrapped up in a few days! But be warned guys, this post may contain SPOILERS!
The blurb reads:
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 the good within her.
But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?
Sometimes I find sequels to be a risky business. More than often they can feel dragged out and unexciting in comparison to the previous book, and I feel forced to endure them to reach the concluding arc. But in the case of The Rose Society, Marie Lu knocked it out of the park.
The stakes weren’t just raised.
They were shattered.
The book started shortly after the first, with Adelina and her sister on the hunt for other Elites to join her vengeful cause. But as she slowly added to her circle of supporters, her taste for wickedness and power began to surge. With every life she took, with every ounce of pain she inflicted, Adelina transformed into a shadow of her former self. And it was a delight to read.
Lu excelled in unravelling the troubled mind of her anti-hero through the vivid craft of her writing. Even when Adelina was at her darkest moment, I couldn’t help feel a tug of empathy towards her, her pain and fear resonating in beautifully woven words.
So much happened in this sequel – so much death – that it was almost impossible to rest for a second. The pacing was a relentless storm, yanking me through the chapters at rapid speed. As well as Adelina’s perspective, Lu delved deeper into the minds of Raffaele, the Beldish Queen, Maeve, and of course, my deliciously dark, Teren. Unlike the first book, these perspectives felt even more vital to the plot, expanding the world tenfold, and I thoroughly enjoyed each one.
By the middle of the story, the drama soared. With Maeve’s elite power at work, Adelina was able to resurrect Enzo and tether him to her in the mortal world via a bond. However by the end of the book, her unyielding desire for revenge had forced the Prince away, and in one of my favourites scenes in the series so far, she used their unearthly link to make him turn his fiery power against her enemies. Enzo ended up fleeing with Raffaele, but already I can sense that his connection with Adelina will have repercussions in the future.
The new Elites introduced in this novel were also a welcome delight. Sergio, the Rainmaker, seemed to spark a close connection with Violetta, whereas the mysterious Magiano was a relief of light in our anti-hero’s dangerous path. His joyous attitude and banter with Adelina, including THAT KISS under the stars, has me hoping that a relationship between the pair will be explored further before the series concludes.
The novel’s end saw Adelina manage to kill the Queen of Kenettra and gain control of the throne, but at a cost. Her ties with her sister were severed, her friends few and far between, and her power and illusions wildly out of control. Now that she’s in her darkest place yet, it’ll be interesting to see whether she can find a way out again. Or whether the wickedness of her actions will consume her.
Undeniably The Rose Society is the epitome of evil, and yet still a twisted pleasure to read. Marie Lu takes us to the darkest places in our minds, crafting this sharp, gritty book like Adelina crafts illusions. With a new threat hinted in the final chapters, I’ll be diving straight into the last book to end to end this hair-raising adventure.
Rating: 4/5⭐️
With love,
Brandon
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