Suitabook

The Young Elites

Marie Lu

Reading: Consider reading together or checking in after intense scenes; the violence is described vividly, and the novel becomes grimmer later. Pause to discuss how the tone or your reactions are changing.
Themes: Belonging and rejection: Plague survivors marked as malfettos are feared and shunned; Adelina hopes the Young Elites may offer her a place to belong. The story places exclusion and the desire for belonging at the centre of Adelina’s situation, but that does not establish a single judgement about every group or response.
Power and moral choice: Adelina discovers powers that create terrifying illusions and later trains with the Young Elites; her actions become more troubling as the story darkens. The narrative makes room for sympathy with Adelina’s suffering while also showing her making harmful choices; her pain explains her motivations without automatically excusing her actions.
Worth knowing: The story includes an abusive father, a proposed transaction in which Adelina is offered as a mistress, imprisonment and execution threats, a death, vivid violence and brutal deaths. It grows grimmer towards the end.