Eugenia Fung 
New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu brings another heart-pounding action-filled novel The Rose Society, the second installment of trilogy The Young Elites, as anti-heroine Adelina Amouteru seeks to satisfy her thirst for revenge. For a review of the first book, please read it here before continuing, as this review contains spoilers.
The Rose Society follows our young anti-heroine in her own search for allies to help her fight the Nazi-like Inquisition Axis and monarchy. Right after the events from book one, Adelina finds herself traumatized and betrayed by those whom she trusted. Now she not only wants revenge on everyone who has wronged and shunned both her and her strange power, but she also wants to be Queen herself. However in order to achieve all that Adelina desires, she may have to throw everything else away including her sanity.
Book Two fully fleshes out what the series is truly about, a tale of madness. Adelina is pushed further into the depths of insanity, yet she grows more powerful. Her main enemy, Teren Santoro, the leader of the Inquisition Axis has always been shown as the mad character of the series, but as the story goes on, Adelina shares more in common with her enemy than she thinks. The book is also much darker than the first with new characters from the neighboring Kingdom of Beldain, Queen Maeve who has a sinister power over the dead and the mysterious elite Magiano entering the playing field. Adelina’s sister, Violetta also plays a more crucial role in Book Two, helping find other Elites and keeping Adelina’s powers in check. Despite Adelina’s wishes to find her own team of Elites, it’s difficult to tell who exactly is friend or foe with everyone fueled by their own selfish desires.
The Rose Society is a book filled with thrilling action from cover to cover. The second installment surpasses the first by more deeply venturing into the dark fantasy genre, inviting readers to witness a protagonist who decides to play the role of villain no matter what the consequences.
