The Rose Society

Rose Society is a "Darth Vader"-like fall of a powerful hero. Adelina Amouteru had been cast out of the Young Elites due in part to the way she assisted in the leader's downfall. She worked to create her own group of outcast elites and mercenaries to fight back. She has voices that whisper in her head to seek power. These voices can sometimes overpower her natural, calm sister. She uses her power of illusion to help her accomplish tasks. She, along with her sister (who can "disable" elite powers) team up with Magiano who has the power to mimic the powers of other elites. They kill the night King and take some of his mercenaries, including Sergio (who controls storms) back to her homeland to prevent a foreign overthrow. After killing people, Adelina has uncontrolled hallucinations of past events and violence that cause her to lash out and lust after more power. They discover that the former Elites leader was to be brought back from the dead and bound to one of the Elites. She jumps in to have in bound to her. She eventually causes a great deal of destruction and assumes the shown. At first, I sympathized with a somewhat flawed heroine. However, as the novel progressed, the good became overpowered by the evil. This was a Darth Vader that we had followed as a Jedi hero, and never realized had swung to the dark side. There is still some good, but the "voices" overpower to make it bad. This "fall of a hero" provides something different in what is otherwise, an excessive load of formulaic romance and violence. (The girl must have a few competing love interests. There must be various levels of homosexual love interests. The "good guys" must assist the "bad guys" in killing each other, but rarely do it themselves. The "important" characters must remain alive and accidentally lead.) It is dark and gruesome, but better than the first book in the series.