The Rose Society by Marie Lu - OPTIONAL

Lu, Marie  The Rose Society (Young Elites, #2), 395 pgs.  G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015.  $18.99  

Content: Language: PG (4 swears); Violence: PG-13; Mature Content: PG-13.   

Adelina has had a hard life with an abusive father and markings that make others shun her.  After she has learned that she has powers and how to use them, she tries to be what the other Elites wanted her to be, but they also end up shunning her.  Adelina decides that she will create her own group of power wielding Elites and they will take over the kingdom of Kenettra. What she doesn’t expect is that there are other kingdoms that want to take over and someone from her past will come back and challenge her for power.  

I wanted to like this book, but the main character is hard to like.  Adelina is a vengeful murderess who doesn’t ever consider others.  It’s like reading an entire book from the perspective of the villain, and she doesn’t have any redeeming qualities.  Spoiler alert-I also find it annoying when an author brings people back from the dead-it makes anything seem possible, and makes it hard to care what happens to everyone-because hey, if they die maybe they will come back later as well.  The violence is torture, threat of skinning alive and death.  There is some homosexual kissing as well.   

MS, HS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.