Silver Elite Is Bringing Bingeable Dystopian Fiction Back

The release of Suzanne Collins’s Sunrise on the Reaping probably should have been our first hint that we’re fully entering another era of peak dystopian fiction. Heck, what with a recession looming on the horizon and the return of dance-heavy pop anthems aimed at getting us through said potential economic downturn, it’s pretty much just the late 2000s all over again. But, to be clear, there a lot of exciting titles in this subgenre that have already hit shelves this year, from Neal Shusterman’s mental-health focused All Better Now to Ava Reid’s climate disaster-fueled Fable for the End of the World. And there are plenty more on the way—see also: Aisling Rawle’s The Compound, K.A. Linde’s The Robin on the Oak Throne, and Julie Soto’s Rose in Chains. But it’s Dani Francis’s Silver Elite that captures the best of what made this genre so popular in the first place, topped off with some very adult additions that make it feel all grown-up in a brand new way.

Yes, Francis’s debut will feel more than a little familiar to readers who have spent a lot of time in the worlds of dystopian YA thrillers like The Hunger Games or Divergent. Silver Elite is more mature in many ways, from violent on-page deaths and widespread systemic oppression to its spicy central romance between two characters on opposite sides of a marginalized group’s struggle for survival. And while some of its primary twists are almost painfully predictable—you’ll inevitably guess more than one or two well before the book tells you—Francis nevertheless manages to weave beats we’ve all seen before into a satisfyingly propulsive and wildly entertaining whole.

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Set in a dystopian future where a deadly biotoxin nearly wiped out the Earth’s population, humanity has been divided into two camps: Primes, seemingly normal humans who were immune to the toxin, or the Modified, who survived being exposed but developed powerful psychic gifts in response. Modified status often means life in a labor camp, at best, or even death, so many Mods live in secret, doing their best to hide their abilities from General Redden’s military. This is considerably harder than it sounds, since using their gifts comes with a tell: Their veins turn silver. (The group is disparagingly known as Silverbloods, among other offensive-sounding nicknames.)

Mod Wren Darlington has spent her life in hiding alongside her adoptive father. She’s had an easier time of it than most: Despite possessing an array of powerful gifts, some luck of genetics means that her veins do not glow as most Mods do, and her life in a rural outpost has been a relatively quiet one. But when her skills as a sharpshooter catch the attention of a visiting soldier, she finds herself conscripted into a program that helps train the Continent’s most elite fighters: The Silver Block unit. (Think Divergent’s Dauntless on steroids.) Thrust into close quarters with Primes who’ve been taught to hate Mods all their lives and painfully attracted to the commanding officer who also happens to be General Redden’s son, Wren has her hands full trying to stay undetected and find a way back to her old life.

But when the same Modified resistance movement that initially abandoned her to her fate reaches out to encourage her to gain access to a top tier special forces group known as the Silver Elite in order to spy for them, she’ll find herself caught between her fear of discovery and her reckless conviction that she can change the world for the better. As her training intensifies, Wren finds herself slowly building genuine bonds with the very Primes who hate her kind and falling for Redden’s son, Cross, despite her best efforts to convince herself she despises him and the danger he represents.

Unafraid to let her heroine be unlikeable and/or problematic, Francis fully leans in to Wren’s most obnoxious and selfish tendencies, from her reckless decision-making to her frequent and complete disregard for those impacted by her choices. The various missions and training protocols Wren must endure test her mental and physical abilities, and the constant threat of discovery adds a frisson of intriguing tension to every interaction she has, even those that otherwise might feel genuine.

Silver Block commander Cross feels pretty much destined to become BookTok’s latest dream man, given his handsome stature, sexual prowess, and family-related emotional damage. And don’t get me wrong, Francis writes some fairly sizzling banter for this pair. But it’s Silver Elite’s roster of supporting characters who help the story stand out, from risk-taking pseudo-secondary love interest Kaine to Cross’s absolutely unhinged younger brother Roe. As the candidates for Silver Block are slowly whittled down, the story takes increasingly wild turns, building up to a cliffhanger ending that will leave everyone yearning for more.

The story touches on issues ranging from toxic military culture and state-sponsored violence to propaganda, government surveillance, and discrimination, though it doesn’t go as deep or as darkly into these themes as some might wish. Yet, while the worldbuilding is broadly conceived it is nevertheless effective, perhaps because it still feels familiar, despite all the ways the Continent differs from the world we recognize.

It’s true: nothing about Silver Elite is reinventing the wheel. The bulk of its themes are deeply familiar, its character types those we’ve seen countless times before, and several of its big twists are heavily telegraphed throughout. Yet, the end result is something that manages to feel more like a fresh reinterpretation than a paint-by-numbers copy. But most of all? It’s fun. The breakneck pacing keeps the pages flying and even though some of the twists are predictable, the fallout from them is propulsive and delicious in a way that leaves readers eager to know what happens next. If this the kind of story that’s is pool reading for our current moment, we could certainly do a lot worse.

Silver Elite is available now wherever books are sold.

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter and Bluesky at @LacyMB