The Young Elites

A series allows readers to spend more time with characters and settings they enjoy. Most series include an overarching conflict as a common thread throughout its installments. Harry Potter faces many foes, for example, as he grows up across a seven-part series, but his overarching conflict with his biggest adversary Voldemort touches each novel and culminates in an ultimate showdown in the last book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). The series format serves fantasies set in wholly built worlds (e.g., Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle or George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series especially well; readers invest time in learning the societies, geography, creatures, laws, magical systems, and other aspects of the setting, so continuing one’s immersion in that world throughout several books can be a fulfilling return on their investment.

These traits are true of The Young Elites series. Though Kenettra echoes a Renaissance setting for visual imagery, mood, and language, ultimately the world-building of the series invites a strong investment in its fantasy creatures, magic, power struggles, and relationships.