Icon and Inferno: Stars and Smoke, Book 2 by Marie Lu
The globally famous pop star is having a rough time. He misses that spy girl he met. An old girlfriend has reappeared. Somebody is writing a tell-all book about him. He is happy to be involved in a spy plot. He even gets a James Bond-esque special suit. There is a possible sploy to kill the US president. They want to protect him at a big gala after a big concert. There are various attempts on the lives of people as well as a song written to the "spy girl" performed in concert. The book takes a number of turns as double agents, CIA plots and others in place. The author even ties in references to her Warcross novel.
The ending then throws everything at us. The president gets killed. A soon-to-retire spy gets killed. Then here are plenty of stunts and fast action as well as sly moves. It feels like a PG-13 summer movie that just keeps throwing everything at us. The ending seemingly closes things out, but keeps the threads open for more books.
Skyhunter feels a lot like a Star Wars book, though it has nothing to do with that universe. There is a planet that is different after a federation comes through. People feel oppressed by the federation and some of the mind control. The main character doesn't talk. It is revealed that she screamed as a young child that led to her parents being found from hiding. The people fight ghosts. The federation controls them. They find a "superwarrior" that they are able to bring to their side. The federation has lost the ability to control him. He also has blood that can neutralize the ghosts. There seems to be hope of defeated the bad leader. But things don't quite pan out. It keeps things all set up for a sequel. The book is not horrible, but it does not feel original at all.
In Rebel, the characters are no older. America is working towards a more democratic state. The younger brother of the "hero" from the first three Legend books is now becoming a man of his own, ready to graduate from college. He is living the "good life" in Antarctica. However, he pines for the lower classes. He has a girlfriend in the "lower city". He joins with her to enter illegal drone races and ends up meeting up with a crime lord (who his brother is trying to hunt down.) The crime lord has potential as an interesting character. However, he is never fully developed. His actions seem somewhat bizarre. In the end, the heroes win and help bring about more equality of opportunity within Antarctica's "point system." 
The third young elites book moves into the realm of fantasy quest. Our main protagonist becomes an evil queen. She is half insane and rules by fear. She is driven to find her younger sister, while at the same time wanting her to suffer. The elites also gradually see their powers turn on them in weird ways. The team together to go to the world to save the world from the melding of immortal and mortal realms. In the process, they give up their powers. Some also die, but the evil queen is able to atone for herself by giving her daughter as sacrifice. It seems the fairly typical fantasy journey. There is a lot of world building that could still be done. However, the author is primarily focused on getting all the romance in place. Is it really that easy to guess the gender of the author by the predominance of romance?
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.
Young Elites is essentially the "Legend" series set in a fantastical medieval Venice. A disease had swept through the empire. All adults were killed. However, some children survived. They became the malfectos that were shunned by society. However, some of these survivors gained super powers and banned together as the young elites. Against that background, we follow the story of Adelina Amouteru. She is a burden on her father. When a business man offers to buy her as a mistress, her father agrees. She will have none of that, and runs away. Her father chases her, but then her powers come out and her father dies. She then finds the elites, including the crown prince. She falls in love, gits caught in political issues and just wonders what is going on. In the end, we get a glimpse of another matriarchal kingdom where the ruler has the power to bring people back from the dead. The premise is somewhat intriguing. What if something that caused people to be outcast also gave others special abilities? (I guess in some sense, plagues do that in granting immunity.) The backdrop is similar to Italy, but different enough to allow free exploration. Alas, the novel just feels too much like the legend books.
The conclusion to the Legend series is somewhat of a downer. It is filled with romance, action and suspense with various turns. Alas, the conclusion is somewhat unfulfilling. After all the build up, it seems to just be a cop out. We do find out more about the world at large. Each of the new states has a its own quirky existence. Antarctica is the most technologically advanced state we meet. Everyone has a chip embedded to see the "score" and "level" of people. Every good thing increases points. However, who defines what is good? Each of the post apocalyptic states has their own benefits and downfalls. None seem great by our standards.
In Prodigy, the author does a great job of alternating the narrative between June and Day. We get to understand each of their internal thoughts without bogging down the plot. This novel picks up where the previous left off. They are on the run after escaping Day's execution. They are trying to hook up with the underground "Patriot" movement. The patriot leader seems to be a little too embedded with the military, but they are left without any choice. The mission he has for them is to assassinate the leader of the Republic. However, they realize that the leader is actually one of their best hopes and eventually opt to save him. They later learn that the patriots leader has his own motives. The protagonists escape to the colonies before making a thrilling return to save the day.