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Book: “Silver Elite” by Dani Francis
Publishing Info: Del Rey, May 2025
Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: The world is divided. On the Continent, you’re either a Prime—immune to the biotoxin that nearly wiped out the Earth’s population 150 years ago—or a Modified, one who was enhanced by the toxin, developing powerful psychic gifts.
As conflict rages between the two sides, Wren Darlington lives in hiding. Occasionally running the odd op for the rebel Uprising against the Primes’ oppressive rule, she must keep a low profile. After all, if the enemy finds out that she is a Mod with a staggering four psychic abilities, she won’t just be sent to the labor camps. She’ll be executed—immediately and without trial.
When a careless mistake puts Wren in the crosshairs of the Continent’s military, she is taken captive and forced to join their most elite Silver Block. Unwittingly, they’ve handed her the perfect opportunity for the Uprising to strike a devastating blow from inside their ranks. That is, if she can keep her powers hidden, survive training, and prove herself to Cross Redden, her maddeningly cocky commanding officer.
Despite the explosive chemistry between them, Cross doesn’t trust her—even as he seems determined to destroy the remaining shreds of Wren’s self-control. Yet as the war between Primes and Mods escalates, and as Wren and Cross find themselves unable to stay away from each other, they must decide how far they’re willing to go for their secrets—and how much of the Continent is worth saving.
Review: While I love romance and romantasy, it’s always a breath of fresh air to wander into other genres. And while dystopian fiction had its day in the sun, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a title like this! However, my reading experience of this book was highly mixed. There were things I enjoyed for sure, but I also struggled to maintain interest at times.
Largely, I think this comes down to the balance between the romance and the dystopian aspects. This book promotes itself as slow-burn which I think is misleading. Perhaps I’m just a romance snob, but to me, slow-burn isn’t just “how far into the book does the sex scene happen” but instead refers to the slow development of interest/feelings which then leads to intimacy. Here, however, the book leans heavily into lust almost instantly, which very much turned off my slow-burn-loving heart.
It didn’t help that some of the “reveals” around the identity of one of the characters was telegraphed a mile away. I found that once I got further in the book and some of this information had come out, I was able to enjoy the romance more. That said, I never fully recovered from the instalust turn off, so by the end, the romance was solidly in the “meh” category. I also felt there were too many spicey scenes for my taste, leaning more heavily into the smut side of things, especially given some of the weaker aspects of the world-building as a whole.
The writing was approachable, but I also felt that it was a bit simplistic at times. The tone often didn’t seem to match the serious nature of the world that was being describing, coming across as far too unserious for the situations on hand. Similar to the reveals regarding characters, many of the plot points were very familiar. Again, this can be comforting for some readers who are more focused perhaps on the love story than the over-arching plot. But for me, it was a definite let down. Pacing-wise, however, it was fairly steady throughout. And readers who enjoy more straight-forward writing may be less put off by the writing style. For me, it came across as a bit too juvenile for an adult book.
This is a hard one to rate. I personally didn’t have a great time with it, as it felt very derivative and like something I had read many times before. That said, I also think it’s just the sort of story that will appeal to romantasy fans who are more interested in spice and the romantic plot line and who are looking for some more variety in their reading (after picking up the millionth dragon or Fae book). If the latter sounds like you, by all means, check this one out! But if you’re more interested in the world-building or the complexity of a dystopian novel, this might be a bit of a let down.
Rating 7: A bit too predictable in its plotting and its character reveals, but romantasy readers will likely still gobble this one up!
Reader’s Advisory:
“Silver Elite” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2025 Debut Novels.
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