Silver Elite (Silver Elite, #1) by Dani Francis | Goodreads
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‼️ First Person Horrors into the Indoctrination Nation of the Military Industrial Complex ‼️
Note 1: Feel free to message questions on this review or privately. My socials are always open and I’m always free to talk. I am toying with the idea of making a video on this book.
Note 2: The Following is a long review. I have a physical book and when I get to interact with my book I tend to have a lot to say. It's a big reason I am saving up for an Ereader where I can write and annotate just like I can on physical books.
Note 3: Silver Elite deserves a fair chance. The perpetuation of the bad marketing did a disservice on social media cites against this book. I too was angry upon seeing it, but my anger was misplaced and I'm glad to have read this book on a neutral ground. At least, as neutral as one can be.
Welcome to the Second Chance Campaign for Silver Elite by Dani Francis.
Years ago atomic bombs fell from the sky. Amid chaos, a strange gas released separating humanity into two groups: Primes and Mods. Power only shifts through violence. For the last 25 years the Primes have ruled as a Military Dictatorship with an iron fist. Wren Darlington knows this all too well. From a young age, she has been trained to survive this world as one of the rare powerful Mods in existence. For 20 years, she has stayed alive with her Uncle Jim teaching her everything he knows. That all comes to an end when Uncle Jim is executed, and Wren is forced into military training. Her survival worked on the outside, but on the inside amongst the enemy will it be enough?
Silver Elite was a book that got pushed heavily through marketing on short form quick consumption platforms. Unfortunately, this advertisement did this book a disservice by aiming too broad. Dani Francis delivered exactly what she said she would, but there’s a little more to it than just that.
✨Non – Spoiler Section ✨
For years, I have grown up reading Dystopian novels. Novels I haven’t listed on here, as I try to keep my review pages consistent with current reads. Those include:
• 1984 by George Orwell, The Giver Series by Lois Lowry, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Shadow Children Series by Margret Haddix, Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, Gone Series by Michael Grant, Feed by M.T. Anderson, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, Lorien Legacies Series by Pittacus Lore
I could keep going, but I don’t want to lose you just yet. Especially since I had half a mind to write out the Dystopian movies and shows I consume regularly. Silver Elite fits into this genre perfectly. I was skeptical at first because of the marketing, but then I decided to give the book a chance. I was thoroughly surprised. The book starts at the cusp of war and shows us the dangers of indoctrination.
✨ Pacing ✨
The pacing of this book is rather good. It holds room for slower paced breathers that happen just enough to catch your breath before moving on. Most of it felt closer to medium pace, but it was enough that it didn’t bore me.
✨ Writing ✨
With most modern stories, I was expecting something a tinge lower leveled. Color me surprised when I opened this book to find a prose that was a bit more intricate. It wasn’t hard by any means, but it didn’t hand me anything either. I’m a person that loves it when an author can make me look something up. On top of that, it doesn’t explain things down. It expects its audience to know certain aspects or concepts.
✨ World – Building ✨
Many have spoken that this book does not dive into the world or world building. That it neglects to focus on the Dystopia aspect. That simply isn’t true. Nearly every single person is named and given something outside of their name the plot. Every single character in this book is a person not a prop. The world is solid in foundation and is built heavily through the entire book. It could bore some, but for me it was fascinating. There’s distinguished lingo, rules, behaviors. We get to see structure in the outside world and deep within the military aspect. We aren’t just told, but also shown. The world itself heavily draws from history and the horrors that it holds. It doesn’t exactly hold back either.
✨ Romance ✨
The romance was blown up to be such a huge part of this book. Many said that it took the forefront and the Dystopian took the background when that simply was not the case. If you are looking Romance, you are not going to get it until the last handful of chapters in the book. Even then that’s slightly pushing it. Even the spice itself encompasses maybe about 5%. There really isn’t an MMC (I just know one of you are going to come for me for this) as the focus is on Wren and what is happening to her.
✨ Dystopian ✨
Yes, this is a Dystopian and No the Dystopia does not take a backdrop to the story. I mean it literally spelled it out 3 times in the book exactly what was happening. This book absolutely is dissecting something – that something is the horrors of indoctrination. Francis very clearly knows the military incredibly well. Either she studied it, read a lot of military fiction, or she lived it. Most of this book is Wren struggling against that indoctrination. It escalates that to a grander scale. It begs the question of how much are you willing to risk? How much are you willing to take? Who are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good? If you don’t think that can’t happen over the course of 8 weeks, then maybe you should talk to people that lived it. The other aspect it hits heavily on is the growth and reproduction of unquestionable hatred. It brings to light and starts to examine subtly the horrors of governmental control and the lengths people will go to save their own skin. I was expecting this book to shove the Dystopia away, but it doesn’t.
✨ Deep Spoiler Review ✨
If you are still with me, then buckle up because now I’m going to get into a spoiler heavy review. This is where my rating is going to come in and a lot of counterparts will be given towards some negative reviews I have seen.
Starting off with my rating. I gave it a 4-star review. It’s a 3.75 but for once I rounded up because I’m just not set yet on giving it a 3.5-star review. For the most part this book felt heavily American leaning. Instances of the Cold War, American Labor / Internment Camps, World War 2 Ideology, Civil War, and parallels to current events range throughout the prose. Except, near the end, two instances popped up that made me side-eye.
At no point where we ever lead to believe or to know about a religious system in this world. It seemed as if there was none outside of perhaps a third group called the Faithful. Yet, at the end. Nearly less than 10 chapter left, we discover General Redden had outlawed God. A God we never heard about or knew about for 95% of this book. That made me question things. It still felt rather ingrained in history where dictatorship do such or have done such, but something about the way it was presented had me pausing. For that alone, I docked a half point.
The spice felt mmm at many parts. Cross is a toxic MMC that is almost never around. He adopts the female role we often see in some action novels. You know that trope where they are only there for the spice, to help along the Main Character, and they have some kind of power. His appearance in the book is very little. We don’t even get to really know him until the last 10% of the story. There is a reason I say this book is not a romance, but there is a very subplot romance plot happening. While some say Enemies to Lovers, it’s not. It’s Forbidden Lust Lust FWB Romance Blossoming. No actual romance is happening.
✨ Spoiler Heavy Counter Arguments ✨
“Sex doesn’t belong in Dystopia! Dystopia can have it but it HAS to have a reason”
• The human condition is reason enough, but if we want to go down this train then jump aboard. In this novel, Wren uses sex in two ways: Blow off Steam & Coping
o Wren sees the command soldiers as only good for sex. Living in a small “town” like Hamlett aka Ward Z means you grew up with those around you. Rather than settle for those she knows a bit too well, she opts to go for the Command Soldiers to blow off steam. Command Soldiers are only granted permission to leave their post 3 times a year. That means the chances of them returning is low and she won’t have to worry about seeing them around or worry about them pursing her.
o Coping. Many times, in this series we see Wren use sex as a coping mechanism. Something bad will happen and then boom she gets it on to distract herself from the awful emotions she feels. Kaine briefly makes out with her before stopping her. It’s clear he doesn’t want her to be with him in that state. Cross, however, fully encourages this toxic cycle and even does it himself.
• Romance shouldn’t be a consequence. In many Dystopian novels it’s not a consequence and the push for it to be for this book absolutely blows my mind, but if you want consequences. It’s there.
o Cross is the General (the military dictator over the continent) Redden’s son. Loving him means Wren will always have to be on guard. With Cross’s crazy brothers, she will never get rest. Cross himself is even questioned at how trustworthy he is.
o By the end of the book, we see something more. Cross is trustworthy, allegedly. His father is out of the picture due to having his mind shattered, and his brothers (who are noted as being worse than his father) are now in charge. Wren’s own mother, that she though for years was loyal to the uprising, was firmly against the uprising. Her own mother was a Loyalist and her father worked for the Command. They actively fought against the Modified.
For context: Mother – Modified // Father – Prime
• People are allowed to cope. To remove that from a story takes away things people do. Not to mention how common it is in the military to just get it on with someone, including the person you hate.
“Wren lusts after all the males in this book”
• Wren lusts after Cross. The rest of the men and even women are noted as being attractive to her, but she does not lust after them. Though, I will say the Cross lust does get a tad annoying, but after a few seconds of it and with him not in the room it goes away, and you almost forget Cross exists until he pops back up. Saying someone is attractive or good – looking does not equate to lust.
“It never touches the Dystopia!”
• I know I keep bringing this up, but it genuinely bothers me. It’s like I got a different copy of the book even though mine says First Edition.
• I think the reason people are saying this is because in other Dystopian they were able to be knee deep in the society. Here we see the society off and on, we are shown and told of the surveillance, we are taken through the looming fear. This book doesn’t do that. This book showcases the other side to Dystopian novels. We are thrusted into this world where Wren is FORCED to train in the military. She is being INDOCTRINATED and it clearly shows. Just when she is forgetting who she is, a bucket of ice water in the form a dead body is thrown on her. By the end that ice bucket is a pool she pushed into under the guise of betrayal.
o Tana was Wren’s best friend. Wren loved her. She never forgot her; she reminded us of her and tried to reach out to her when she safely could. However, the propaganda worked. The training worked. Over the book she actively reaches out less and less. This is showcasing what is happening to her. Though when we get to Tana it isn’t great. Ward Z is showing us just how awful the Command is. By the time we get to Tana again in the moment, that training, that indoctrination has such a tight hold on Wren that she doesn’t even realize it. She gave her friend’s father a choice that wasn’t really a choice. She became a Command Solider. She effectively became Cross. When she realizes it, it’s too little too late.
The World-Building is there. The Dystopia is there. But at the book states. Wren is nothing. She isn’t the missing piece, she isn’t the mechanic to get it going, she just simply a part in a machine that has already been working and doesn’t need her to continue working. This is NOT a book about a hero or some grand pawn that must be kept alive to keep the rebellion alive and to win!
Wren is a person living in a horrific world, surviving.
The book tells you this. It clearly spells out that the Rebellion has been happening and will continue to happen regardless of if she lives or dies.
I have a million more things to say, but this review is so long as it is and I know if I keep going it will become more than 20 pages. As stated, feel free to reach out. I’m always willing to talk.
Note 1: Feel free to message questions on this review or privately. My socials are always open and I’m always free to talk. I am toying with the idea of making a video on this book.
Note 2: The Following is a long review. I have a physical book and when I get to interact with my book I tend to have a lot to say. It's a big reason I am saving up for an Ereader where I can write and annotate just like I can on physical books.
Note 3: Silver Elite deserves a fair chance. The perpetuation of the bad marketing did a disservice on social media cites against this book. I too was angry upon seeing it, but my anger was misplaced and I'm glad to have read this book on a neutral ground. At least, as neutral as one can be.
Welcome to the Second Chance Campaign for Silver Elite by Dani Francis.
Years ago atomic bombs fell from the sky. Amid chaos, a strange gas released separating humanity into two groups: Primes and Mods. Power only shifts through violence. For the last 25 years the Primes have ruled as a Military Dictatorship with an iron fist. Wren Darlington knows this all too well. From a young age, she has been trained to survive this world as one of the rare powerful Mods in existence. For 20 years, she has stayed alive with her Uncle Jim teaching her everything he knows. That all comes to an end when Uncle Jim is executed, and Wren is forced into military training. Her survival worked on the outside, but on the inside amongst the enemy will it be enough?
Silver Elite was a book that got pushed heavily through marketing on short form quick consumption platforms. Unfortunately, this advertisement did this book a disservice by aiming too broad. Dani Francis delivered exactly what she said she would, but there’s a little more to it than just that.
✨Non – Spoiler Section ✨
For years, I have grown up reading Dystopian novels. Novels I haven’t listed on here, as I try to keep my review pages consistent with current reads. Those include:
• 1984 by George Orwell, The Giver Series by Lois Lowry, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Shadow Children Series by Margret Haddix, Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, Gone Series by Michael Grant, Feed by M.T. Anderson, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, Lorien Legacies Series by Pittacus Lore
I could keep going, but I don’t want to lose you just yet. Especially since I had half a mind to write out the Dystopian movies and shows I consume regularly. Silver Elite fits into this genre perfectly. I was skeptical at first because of the marketing, but then I decided to give the book a chance. I was thoroughly surprised. The book starts at the cusp of war and shows us the dangers of indoctrination.
✨ Pacing ✨
The pacing of this book is rather good. It holds room for slower paced breathers that happen just enough to catch your breath before moving on. Most of it felt closer to medium pace, but it was enough that it didn’t bore me.
✨ Writing ✨
With most modern stories, I was expecting something a tinge lower leveled. Color me surprised when I opened this book to find a prose that was a bit more intricate. It wasn’t hard by any means, but it didn’t hand me anything either. I’m a person that loves it when an author can make me look something up. On top of that, it doesn’t explain things down. It expects its audience to know certain aspects or concepts.
✨ World – Building ✨
Many have spoken that this book does not dive into the world or world building. That it neglects to focus on the Dystopia aspect. That simply isn’t true. Nearly every single person is named and given something outside of their name the plot. Every single character in this book is a person not a prop. The world is solid in foundation and is built heavily through the entire book. It could bore some, but for me it was fascinating. There’s distinguished lingo, rules, behaviors. We get to see structure in the outside world and deep within the military aspect. We aren’t just told, but also shown. The world itself heavily draws from history and the horrors that it holds. It doesn’t exactly hold back either.
✨ Romance ✨
The romance was blown up to be such a huge part of this book. Many said that it took the forefront and the Dystopian took the background when that simply was not the case. If you are looking Romance, you are not going to get it until the last handful of chapters in the book. Even then that’s slightly pushing it. Even the spice itself encompasses maybe about 5%. There really isn’t an MMC (I just know one of you are going to come for me for this) as the focus is on Wren and what is happening to her.
✨ Dystopian ✨
Yes, this is a Dystopian and No the Dystopia does not take a backdrop to the story. I mean it literally spelled it out 3 times in the book exactly what was happening. This book absolutely is dissecting something – that something is the horrors of indoctrination. Francis very clearly knows the military incredibly well. Either she studied it, read a lot of military fiction, or she lived it. Most of this book is Wren struggling against that indoctrination. It escalates that to a grander scale. It begs the question of how much are you willing to risk? How much are you willing to take? Who are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good? If you don’t think that can’t happen over the course of 8 weeks, then maybe you should talk to people that lived it. The other aspect it hits heavily on is the growth and reproduction of unquestionable hatred. It brings to light and starts to examine subtly the horrors of governmental control and the lengths people will go to save their own skin. I was expecting this book to shove the Dystopia away, but it doesn’t.
✨ Deep Spoiler Review ✨
If you are still with me, then buckle up because now I’m going to get into a spoiler heavy review. This is where my rating is going to come in and a lot of counterparts will be given towards some negative reviews I have seen.
Starting off with my rating. I gave it a 4-star review. It’s a 3.75 but for once I rounded up because I’m just not set yet on giving it a 3.5-star review. For the most part this book felt heavily American leaning. Instances of the Cold War, American Labor / Internment Camps, World War 2 Ideology, Civil War, and parallels to current events range throughout the prose. Except, near the end, two instances popped up that made me side-eye.
At no point where we ever lead to believe or to know about a religious system in this world. It seemed as if there was none outside of perhaps a third group called the Faithful. Yet, at the end. Nearly less than 10 chapter left, we discover General Redden had outlawed God. A God we never heard about or knew about for 95% of this book. That made me question things. It still felt rather ingrained in history where dictatorship do such or have done such, but something about the way it was presented had me pausing. For that alone, I docked a half point.
The spice felt mmm at many parts. Cross is a toxic MMC that is almost never around. He adopts the female role we often see in some action novels. You know that trope where they are only there for the spice, to help along the Main Character, and they have some kind of power. His appearance in the book is very little. We don’t even get to really know him until the last 10% of the story. There is a reason I say this book is not a romance, but there is a very subplot romance plot happening. While some say Enemies to Lovers, it’s not. It’s Forbidden Lust Lust FWB Romance Blossoming. No actual romance is happening.
✨ Spoiler Heavy Counter Arguments ✨
“Sex doesn’t belong in Dystopia! Dystopia can have it but it HAS to have a reason”
• The human condition is reason enough, but if we want to go down this train then jump aboard. In this novel, Wren uses sex in two ways: Blow off Steam & Coping
o Wren sees the command soldiers as only good for sex. Living in a small “town” like Hamlett aka Ward Z means you grew up with those around you. Rather than settle for those she knows a bit too well, she opts to go for the Command Soldiers to blow off steam. Command Soldiers are only granted permission to leave their post 3 times a year. That means the chances of them returning is low and she won’t have to worry about seeing them around or worry about them pursing her.
o Coping. Many times, in this series we see Wren use sex as a coping mechanism. Something bad will happen and then boom she gets it on to distract herself from the awful emotions she feels. Kaine briefly makes out with her before stopping her. It’s clear he doesn’t want her to be with him in that state. Cross, however, fully encourages this toxic cycle and even does it himself.
• Romance shouldn’t be a consequence. In many Dystopian novels it’s not a consequence and the push for it to be for this book absolutely blows my mind, but if you want consequences. It’s there.
o Cross is the General (the military dictator over the continent) Redden’s son. Loving him means Wren will always have to be on guard. With Cross’s crazy brothers, she will never get rest. Cross himself is even questioned at how trustworthy he is.
o By the end of the book, we see something more. Cross is trustworthy, allegedly. His father is out of the picture due to having his mind shattered, and his brothers (who are noted as being worse than his father) are now in charge. Wren’s own mother, that she though for years was loyal to the uprising, was firmly against the uprising. Her own mother was a Loyalist and her father worked for the Command. They actively fought against the Modified.
For context: Mother – Modified // Father – Prime
• People are allowed to cope. To remove that from a story takes away things people do. Not to mention how common it is in the military to just get it on with someone, including the person you hate.
“Wren lusts after all the males in this book”
• Wren lusts after Cross. The rest of the men and even women are noted as being attractive to her, but she does not lust after them. Though, I will say the Cross lust does get a tad annoying, but after a few seconds of it and with him not in the room it goes away, and you almost forget Cross exists until he pops back up. Saying someone is attractive or good – looking does not equate to lust.
“It never touches the Dystopia!”
• I know I keep bringing this up, but it genuinely bothers me. It’s like I got a different copy of the book even though mine says First Edition.
• I think the reason people are saying this is because in other Dystopian they were able to be knee deep in the society. Here we see the society off and on, we are shown and told of the surveillance, we are taken through the looming fear. This book doesn’t do that. This book showcases the other side to Dystopian novels. We are thrusted into this world where Wren is FORCED to train in the military. She is being INDOCTRINATED and it clearly shows. Just when she is forgetting who she is, a bucket of ice water in the form a dead body is thrown on her. By the end that ice bucket is a pool she pushed into under the guise of betrayal.
o Tana was Wren’s best friend. Wren loved her. She never forgot her; she reminded us of her and tried to reach out to her when she safely could. However, the propaganda worked. The training worked. Over the book she actively reaches out less and less. This is showcasing what is happening to her. Though when we get to Tana it isn’t great. Ward Z is showing us just how awful the Command is. By the time we get to Tana again in the moment, that training, that indoctrination has such a tight hold on Wren that she doesn’t even realize it. She gave her friend’s father a choice that wasn’t really a choice. She became a Command Solider. She effectively became Cross. When she realizes it, it’s too little too late.
The World-Building is there. The Dystopia is there. But at the book states. Wren is nothing. She isn’t the missing piece, she isn’t the mechanic to get it going, she just simply a part in a machine that has already been working and doesn’t need her to continue working. This is NOT a book about a hero or some grand pawn that must be kept alive to keep the rebellion alive and to win!
Wren is a person living in a horrific world, surviving.
The book tells you this. It clearly spells out that the Rebellion has been happening and will continue to happen regardless of if she lives or dies.
I have a million more things to say, but this review is so long as it is and I know if I keep going it will become more than 20 pages. As stated, feel free to reach out. I’m always willing to talk.
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