The Young Elites by Marie Lu

A new world. An oppressive leadership. A group searching for those with powers. The Young Elites is a clandestine group whose purpose is to remove the leadership currently in power. Enter Amerosa. A young girl with a past history of disfigurement, abuse, and death. Her powers, unknown to her, start emerging when she fears for her life, with terror and anger taking over. The Young Elites take Amerosa in, hoping to train her to cultivate, channel and control her powers. Yet something goes awry. Amerosa is fraught with anger and distrust. As she learns the strength of her power, and how to control it, she starts questioning the motives of the Young Elites, and everyone else that surrounds her. Amerosa starts going to a darker place, setting up the conflict that will play out in future volumes.

A fan of Lu's Legend series, I had enthusiasm going in, but this is a much darker series, in a world that I wasn't comfortable with. The protagonist, Amerosa, is not likable, and in fact becomes the anti-hero. Not sure if I'll finish this series, but it is sure to have its fans given the popularity of Legend
Reed Reads Rating: 2.5

The Storyteller by Aaron Starmer (The Riverman Trilogy #3)

Picture a 62 year-old man just finishing The Storyteller and unable to control his tears. The ending was satisfying, not particularly sad, so why all the tears?

First, a brilliantly written trilogy was coming to an end. Words, carefully chosen, provided me with many quotes worth saving. The last one I saved; "Because whether inspiration comes from an actual place or not doesn't matter if you don't choose to do something with it. And if you do choose to do something with it, the stories you create don't matter unless they make ripples in the world."  

Second, a trilogy that was brilliantly conceived was coming to an end. It was a story so imaginative, so other worldly, I was constantly in amazement that a singular person brought this story from his mind to paper. Not for one moment did I have any idea where this story was going, or how it would conclude. And if I was asked what the trilogy was about? Well its about storytelling, about imagination, but this passage really sums up its deeper meaning;

"...But when you're a kid, It's different. You lose something and then there's this hole inside of you and you want to fill that hole, but you don't have the experience or wisdom to do it. So you ask for answers. From the air, from the clouds, from the stars, from anyone who might listen. And when voices finally respond and promise that there's a place where you can get what you want, where your wishes can come true, then you go. You go to that magical place and you stay and you create and you try to heal. You fill that hole. Which can be brave. Which is important. But while you're there, you realize that what you want and what you need are two different things. And that's when you're done with the place, and you leave for good. But leaving for good means you forget the place even existed at all."

Third, I had the satisfaction of the end of a trilogy that answers questions but leaves others unanswered. That leaves characters in a satisfactory place, but not necessarily ideal. That left me exhausted because of the mental exercise such a convoluted plot put me through.

Thank you Aaron Starmer for writing a trilogy for the reader, that exercises the reader, that doesn't pander to convention or what is currently in vogue and for understanding the YA/middle audience and knowing how smart they really are.

Reed Reads Score: 5