The Young Elites (2014)
The Young Elites is a 2014 abused children book written by Marie Lu.
A plague swept Kenettra a decade ago and left its child survivors marked, silver-haired, scarred, and shunned as malfetti. Adelina Amouteru carries a jagged scar where one eye used to be, and a father who calls her an abomination. Some survivors, though, came back with power. Marie Lu follows Adelina as she falls in with the Dagger Society, a hidden sect of gifted outcasts hunted by Teren Santoro's Inquisition Axis. This is a story told from the shadow side, where a wounded girl begins to learn exactly how much darkness she can hold, and how good it might feel to use it.
Quick answers
What is The Young Elites about?
A plague swept Kenettra a decade ago and left its child survivors marked, silver-haired, scarred, and shunned as malfetti. Adelina Amouteru carries a jagged scar where one eye used to be, and a father who calls her an abomination. Some survivors, though, came back with power. Marie Lu follows Adelina as she falls in with the Dagger Society, a hidden sect of gifted outcasts hunted by Teren Santoro's Inquisition Axis. This is a story told from the shadow side, where a wounded girl begins to learn exactly how much darkness she can hold, and how good it might feel to use it.
When was The Young Elites published?
The Young Elites was published in 2014.
Who made The Young Elites?
The Young Elites was written by Marie Lu.
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A few thoughts on The Young Elites
The Young Elites runs on Italian-Renaissance intrigue, so Assassin's Creed II Assassin's Creed II is the natural crossover, a hidden brotherhood moving through canal cities and courts. For the villain's-eye descent from wounded outsider to something harder and colder, the animated series Arcane traces a strikingly similar fall.
Gifted outcasts hunted by the very system that made them
Adelina survives a plague only to be hunted for the power it left behind, marked an abomination by the same world that made her one. These follow gifted outcasts caught in that trap. The Institute cages children for the powers it fears, Tokyo Ghoul and Six of Crows both turn branded outsiders into weapons the state can't fully control, and Arcane's undercity treats survival as its own dark craft.
Heroines who start choosing the villain's playbook
Adelina spends the book edging closer to becoming the monster her father called her, and Marie Lu never pulls that punch. Iron Widow lets its heroine embrace a killer reputation she never asked for, Children of Blood and Bone and its sequel watch Zelie's rage curdle with every loss, The Boys treats its powered cast as villains in hero costumes, and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle stares at what darkness costs.
Court intrigue among people with government-feared powers
The Inquisition Axis hunts malfettos like Adelina, turning every court scene into a negotiation with people who wish she didn't exist. Shadow and Bone gives its Grisha that same target from a state that depends on them, An Ember in the Ashes and its sequel pit an empire's fear of Scholars against its need for them, and The Gilded Ones builds a kingdom that fears the power it relies on.
Games where getting powerful costs you a piece of yourself
Adelina's power grows in direct proportion to how much of her old self she's willing to lose, and that trade shows up across these games too. BioShock and its sequel spend their entire runtime asking what modifying yourself for power actually costs, The Last of Us watches survival curdle into something uglier, and God of War never lets Kratos outrun the violence baked into his own strength.