The Rose Society

Title: The Rose Society

Author: Marie Lu

First Published: 19th October, 2015

Series: The Young Elites #2

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 395

My Copy: Ebook

My Rating: 9/10

Goodreads Summary:

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?

Adelina is spiralling deeper and deeper into the darkness. She's also hearing voices, voices that tell her to continue down this path of bloodshed and victory, although it would mean losing all who she cares about. Sometimes, her way of thinking is what really shows that she's not the same Adelina we knew in The Young Elites, and she'll never be the same again.

Throughout the whole book, I continuously wonder why her sister Violetta continues to stick with Adelina and support her. Is their sister bond that strong? They didn't seem that close until the end of the first book. However, at the end of the book, we can see that Violetta truly cares for her sister, despite everything that had happened. In her fit of madness, Adelina tries to kill Violetta but failed. I guess that this was the final straw for Violetta. She left Adelina alone in the throne room and did not turn back, no matter how much Adelina called out for her. But will she really leave? Or will she stay by her sister's side? Maybe she'll team up with the Daggers in order to help Adelina!

We find out that the Elite's powers will be their own unbecoming. How ironic, really. We know Lucent will eventually crumble from the inside out, Enzo may burn to death, Sergio may dehydrate... What is definite is that Adelina's illusions will affect her as well, and she may die from these hallucinations. We've had a taste of these hallucinations; they strike deep into her fears, causing her to lash out and hurt others around her. Will she succumb to the madness? She's already begun...

Yay! Raffaele plays a larger role in this book than in the previous one. He's now the leader of the Daggers, working together with the Queen of Beldain, Maeve, in order to gain control of Kenettra. I was so excited when Raffaele had his own chapters. He's still a mysterious character and his backstory is still not fully explained yet. Although Raffaele's power isn't strong, it is quite powerful. He's like the peacekeeper of the Elites.

Enzo is back, thanks to Maeve. I think that it was clever of Adelina to impersonate Raffaele, so Maeve accidentally binds Enzo to Adelina instead of Raffaele. Maeve's power is quite dark, isn't it? However, bringing back Enzo had its consequences. He's not the same as he once was. Plus, Adelina can control him now. Since they are bound to one another, Adelina basically has power over Enzo and can make him do things. I think the scene that really broke my heart was when Adelina forced him to burn all the ships, nearly killing his friends. He was so upset and Raffaele had to calm him down. That is friendship.

Magiano and Sergio are the two new Elites in this book. Magiano has the ability to mimic other Elites and Sergio can control rain. He was mentioned in the first book - the boy they had to 'kill' because he failed to control his power. Well, he's back and he isn't happy with the Daggers. Thus, the reason why he joined Adelina's side. And Magiano? I think he has a crush on Adelina. Adelina doesn't like him back, but she's amused by his affections, so I guess that's the reason why she continues to lead him on a little bit.

Now that Adelina is the ruler of Kenettra, what will she do next? Continue conquering other lands? Hunt down the Daggers? I think that Adelina is the type of person who will not stop until she has had her revenge. And that revenge is on the Daggers, the people who 'betrayed' her. But is she satisfied with what she currently has? Maybe not. Her thirst for power may not be quenched until she has Kenettra and all neighbouring lands under her control, starting with Beldain.

What will happen in the third book? I can't wait to find out! Maybe Kenettra and Beldain will go war, due to their feuds. What will become of the Elites? The Rose Society? The Daggers? This was a great book and I loved every bit of it!

My Chosen Quote:

"It is better to have an enemy who will fight you in an open field than a lover who will kill you in your sleep."