Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

I feel like I have been so lucky to read so many amazing Romantasy novels lately, and Silver Elite is no exception! Wren truly is a badass main character, I loved watching her grow and the way she kept going through all the hardships she faced (and there were A LOT of those). I will admit, when I saw that the main love interest's name is CROSS, I did laugh a little. I think that the names for the MMCs keep getting crazier and crazier, BUT that being said I think it ended up fitting him surprisingly well and I absolutely adored him. Some of the plot twists I saw coming, and others I absolutely did not AT ALL; the last page of the book threw me for a loop in the best way possible! Dani Francis, this was an amazing debut and I truly can't wait to read more!!!

Arc review

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was done perfectly and I loved all the characters and the world was amazing to read about

The fantasy in this was what made me enjoy it more, I hasn’t read a dataset quite like this and I really loved reading about it

This book was so much fun! If you’re in the mood for a dystopian, this definitely hits the spot! There were definitely a few little plot twists I didn’t see coming! I can’t wait to see where book 2 goes!

This book would have benefited from being 100 pages shorter!! I think the author did a great job at writing complex characters! I would have loved to see the fmc using her powers more. She's strong , powerful and intelligent. The readers don't get to see it much. There were a few words that were used too often and the repetition sort of annoyed me!

My emotions! My mixed emotions!

This is the love child of dystopians I grew up on (the nostalgia hit hard and good) and the smutty romantasy that is oh-so-popular right now.

Silver Elite is set in a sort-of post-apocalyptic United States. The setting is intriguing, the opposing factions are compelling, and the prose is very easy to read. I finished this in a day and at no point did it feel like I was forcing myself to continue. There were interesting story elements around identity and loyalty as well as capitalism/contributing to society ("if you're not productive, you're destructive") that I wish had been explored more.

Our girl Wren, like many romantasy FMCs, is hotheaded and snarky and 20 years old, but honestly I didn't mind that. Her character worked even though she made some poor, shortsighted decisions.

What I did not enjoy, regrettably (since it's such a huge part of the book), was the romance. Our boy Cross is her commanding officer. That power imbalance is already a little icky to me, but since their relationship is initially 100% based on sexual attraction, it felt even ickier. Almost predatory on his end, particularly with some of their sexual "banter." Their first real conversation about anything personal takes place about 60% through, but it's very short and almost immediately followed by smut. Their first date is 80% of the way through. The blurb for this book is a little inaccurate: "a young woman must conceal her psychic powers—and her attraction to her handsome, infuriating commanding officer" ...girl she is all up on him immediately and constantly. Conceal what, where??

The relationship is very fuck-buddies-to-lovers (but again, between a new recruit and her CO, so not on equal footing). Then they throw around the L word at the end and I was like ...wha..? Was the sex really that good? But I suppose Cross "exudes a raw masculinity" that left her "mesmerized" so maybe it was??

I find romantasy as a genre almost dissonant sometimes because the settings are usually so dark (war, dystopias etc) but the characters are often more interested in sex than survival. I get that some people become hypersexual in stressful situations, but I'm asexual so... cannot relate, will never understand, side eye is permanent

But again, this was a quick and easy (and dirty) read with a decent cliffhanger, and the relationship between Wren and Cross did get more romantic towards the end after the unsurprising reveal. I'll be here for Book 2.

I took a break from reading at the end of 2024 to have a baby and this was the perfect book to start the year with.
Silver Elite is the first book in a new dystopian series, and I know it's still early but this may be my favorite 2025 read.

If you like Fourth Wing, Divergent, or The Hunger Games, you'll want to pick this one up.
I absolutely devoured this book. I finished it in a day. I couldn't put it down.
And now I'm left with the biggest book hangover, I'm sad it's over.
The writing was great and fast-paced, and the world-building made it easy to follow along and understand.
The characters were fleshed out and had character development. I even enjoyed getting to know all the side characters.
I felt betrayed not once but twice! And I didn't even see it coming.
So much tension, and angst, I didn't want this story to end and now I can't wait for the next book to see what happens.

You can expect:
Dystopian World
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Psychic Abilities
Forbidden Romance
Commanding Officer x Recruit
Enemies to Lovers
Rebellion/Uprising
High Stakes

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House World for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for providing me with a copy of Silver Elite. This book was absolutely fabulous and is one of my favourite reads in a long time. It reminds me of an adult version of Divergent and did not disappoint throughout. I was consistently wanting to pick this book up.

The characters were excellent and felt so complex and real and I loved that the romance aspects didn't take away from the story and each character felt necessary. The worldbuilding was also excellent and was so vivid, effortlessly creating a dystopian world where the characters have unique abilities that jump off the page.

If you love dystopian novels with politics, magic and action that is written for adults, this is a must read. I loved this so much.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read the digital arc of this book! I appreciate the opportunity.
It’s a mix of Fourth Wing, Divergent, Darkest Minds and The Hunger Games. Notice how a majority of the comparisons are 2012 dystopian novels. If you are looking for a spicy modern version of all of these combined, then you may like this book.
For me, this was a failed pizza delivery. You open your front door, and the pizza is face down on the ground. :( What I’m trying to say is that the author had something but delivery was not good.
My biggest complaints:
- Repetitive phrases such as “holy hellfuck!” (You can play a drinking game to it)
-Rehashing the same tropes: main character is good at everything, love interest is a mysterious edgy guy that’s just out of reach, main character has super duper special powers and is the only one that can do anything super special (except towards the end, surprise!), etc.
-The spice, especially the dialogue between the characters was REALLY awkward. It’s almost comedic and cringy at the same time.
-65% of this book is the main character purposely being useless. She purposely fails at everything to be forced out of the program (which for her situation, it doesn’t make sense) and it’s very aggravating. The author builds this OP main character just to have them fail for most of the book. If you’re going with the “they’re good at everything trope”, then commit!!!
-All character descriptions for the men are very muscle focused. There’s rarely a description that doesn’t have at least a paragraph dedicated to muscles. It was very annoying. It was around 25% of the way through that I was willing to accept a description of a stick figure.
- Very predictable
- Character logic was out the window. Narrative was in a similar predicament.

If this does not sound like an interesting read to you, then according to my Kindle, I have saved you from 7 hours of reading. I hope this helped.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC!!

First of all, if you like Fourth Wing, you will MOST DEFINITELY love this. But I have a hot take: I think this is better than Fourth Wing.

Yes, Wren is hotheaded and snarky, much like Violet, but surprisingly, she didn't bother me like Violet did. I do love the part where Jim (oh, Jim. My heart ached for him) schools her that recklessness isn't bravery, and she often reflects on her mistakes, which I admire. I could understand why she acted the way she did in certain situations, too, and while the prose isn't my thing, I found the worldbuilding very interesting and well-done. I really enjoyed the exploration of Prime and Mods, and some twists at the end knock it right out of the park. You can tell the author put a lot of thought into the plot.

In fact, I will absolutely not be surprised if this book blows up once it's released. It ticks most of the boxes that people love about Fourth Wing and perhaps Shatter Me. My only gripe is mainly about the romance because it ran too insta-lust for me and Cross isn't my type, but this is a me-problem and most readers are absolutely going to eat this up.

This was a super bingeable and fun read, and I'm very grateful I got to read this early! Would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who loves Fourth Wing or romantic dystopian fiction in general.

I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to hearing more about Wren (Dove) and the difficult decisions she will have to make. She’s a strong character with a big heart,

Silver Elite had a lot of action, military training, political intrigue, frustrating coercion and betrayal, grief, a romantic relationship and a cliff hanger!

There are always some books I’m reluctant to start because I’m afraid I won’t like it, and this is one such book. After finishing, I’m a little angry at myself that I didn’t start it sooner. This is a little bit of a dystopian novel where there are Mods and Primes, with the Mods having been modified by a virus, and the Primes being the ones not affected. From there it’s very similar to “our” world. I love the main characters Wren and Cross; they really seemed suited for each other. And their relationship progressed in a perfect fashion: not too fast, not too slow. I did guess at a few things, and there were a couple I was taken by surprise about. I’m also wondering about the end, and how that’s going to affect everything in the next book. My only real complaints are that the book could have been cut down by about 25% to make it more tight, and it seemed at times more of a YA book (which I don’t particularly like). Other than that, I’m so excited to read the next one. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

Fast dystopian romantesy…… I enjoyed it, easy read and some great angles in here with abilities…. Looking forward to book 2 and would be great to more depth and development on the politics….. thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thankyou Netgalley and @delrey for the arc in return for an honest review!

Silver Elite by @danifrancis
Releases: May 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WOW. Just WOW.

This book was amazing!

It reminded me of the Shatter Me series by Taheri Mafi!
A steamier, sexier Shatter Me with higher stakes and less clothes.
The tension, both romantic and not, was so well done. The betrayals left me reeling.
And the ending, oh my god the ending!

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Silver Elite is a concoction of practically everything I dislike in a book. While I usually love YA romantasies (and I know this book is a dystopian romance, but it still fits the mold), adult romantasies consistently miss the mark for me. I was hoping that because Silver Elite is dystopian it would offer a nice twist on the “romantasy” style, but nope.

If you’ve read any of the recent popular romantasies, you’ve essentially already read Silver Elite. It attempts to do something new with its psychic concept; I’ll give it that, but at its core, Silver Elite is yet another addition to the growing pile of SJM-inspired clones. I have no doubt this book will gain a massive following, and I don’t want to sound like a huge hater, but it’s disheartening that formulaic books like this continue to go viral, while more original books hardly get attention on the same scale. Every trending romantasy nowadays feels like a poorly written Feysand fanfiction, and Silver Elite is no exception. It’s like I’m reading about the same couple over and over again, but that couple wasn’t even that good to begin with.

Off the bat, the book feels like a checklist of overused tropes. And what a shame that is because with the concept of this book, it could have done something different. By page three, we’re introduced to a “growling” man who immediately tries to have sex with the main character. She hides from this character, and soon after, we’re introduced to another man who is described as "inconceivably attractive" and who Wren says she doesn't think she's "ever seen a better-looking human, male or female." Naturally, this man is now her enemy. She goes into his room without permission, and he’s the “asshole.” This kind of childish thinking we see countless times in different books between love interests is exactly why I’ve come to dislike the enemies to lovers trope. Of course, the book’s premise describes it as an enemies-to-lovers romance, but I'm still waiting for a good take on it.

Wren is a cardboard cutout of your standard sassy/stabby main character. Cross is the typical morally grey love interest. And of course, we have descriptions of how “big” and “tall” he is. The banter between these two feels so forced and made for BookTok. There’s frequent cursing and use of the words “male” and “female.” The writing is vague and simple and feels more for a younger audience than an adult, despite its themes. As other reviewers mentioned, there's moments between Wren and Cross that feel very questionable.

The romance, writing, characterization, and plot elements don’t offer anything we haven’t seen before, but I recognize I’m not exactly the target audience for this book. I would recommend Silver Elite as an alternative for fans of Fourth Wing/ACOTAR (or for people who liked those books but don’t support the authors). Understandably, what I disliked about this book might be what someone absolutely loves, and it seems like I'm in the minority for this one so far.

I could not get enough of this book! The storyline, the world setting, and the memorizing characters. The abilities, the romance, the world...really just ALL. OF. IT.

I know it's early in the year, heck it's barely begun but I daresay, this will be my most favorite read of the year. I just couldn't put it down and am so very sad it is over. I am still thinking about this book hours later and wondering how fast the author can write so the next book will be here.

I don't read this genre a lot, but I can see this genre, no, this series, becoming an all-time favorite and one I will definitely need to explore more of.

I can't say enough about this book, these characters, this world, heck, just the writing alone will draw you in and the characters and world will keep you there.

I really tried to savor this read but I couldn't help myself and read it all in almost one sitting. I am so sad it is over, and I am already on the edge of my seat, counting down the days until the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

This was a wild ride, in the best way possible! The action in this story never lets up, and it was wonderfully done.

A return in style to YA dystopias of a decade ago, "Silver Elite" was an absolute delight and masterfully done. The FMC and MMC were both very well written, and the tension and angst of their enemies-to-lovers relationship kept me on the edge of my seat. I read this book in ONE sitting because I simply could not put it down. There is plenty to love here: the characterization, the pace and action, the complex relationships among the characters, and twists that I did not always see coming. Truly, this is one of my favorites of 2025, and I'm already looking forward to the next.

Highly recommend!

Silver Elite by Dani Francis

When I was growing up – dystopian fantasy was the ‘it’ thing, and I am so glad to have read a new novel in this genre – Silver Elite.

Silver Elite ticked quite a number of boxes for me. Military, political intrigue, forbidden romance, secret identities, rebels, betrayal and an interesting magical system just to name a few. I lost sleep reading this book. The ending was great, and I am so excited to continue this series and see where things go.

I also enjoyed that while I was able to predict some plot points, others had me shocked. The character growth was done well, and I found I liked the protagonist, Wren, more as the story progressed on.

I did find this book slow to get going – but I am attributing that to the world building and explanation of magical systems before the story can progress. I also felt there was one to many love interests – I am hoping that this will serve a purpose later on in the books.

Looking forward to what comes next in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Worlds - Del Rey for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I honestly thought I had given up on ever finding a dystopian book that I would like again. I thought I had completely burned myself out of being able to enjoy the genre. Silver Elite might have just changed that!

I honestly loved the mash of other genres alongside the dystopian plot line. And the characters were excellent! I'm already upset that I have to wait until book two is released and this one hasn't even come out yet!

Silver Elite is book one in a thrilling new dystopian trilogy.

The world remains broken after a biotoxin nearly wiped out a majority of the population 150 years ago. Some were immune—Prime—while others developed psychic abilities—Modified. Now, the Continent is run by an oppressive rule seeking to destroy anyone who is Modified.

The story follows Wren—a Modified—who lives in hiding on a cattle ranch, pretending to be a Prime. A devastating consequence places Wren in the Continents military. She is ultimately forced to join the elite Silver Block where she meets the equally infuriating and handsome Cross Redden—her commanding officer. Wren now has two objectives: survive and become a spy for the Uprising while navigating the undeniable pull to Cross.

I am re-entering my dystopian era. This gave me all of the nostaglic dystopian vibes I used to read and love. The story kept a consistent pace with plenty of action-packed situations and high-stakes environment. There was a predictable plot twist, but I was rolling with it. I was mostly excited to see how it would all play out. The bleak and oppressive setting was easy to visualize. It paired well with the Primes' fear and hive-mind mentality regarding the Modified.

The MCs and side characters were morally ambiguous and compelling. Wren was determined, confident, and at times, sarcastic. She comes off as arrogant, but it worked for her character given how she was raised and what she endured. The epic chemistry between Wren and Cross paired with their back and forth banter had me kicking my feet with excitement. Cross was commanding and ruthless but something tells me he is a deeply-layered character and the payoff will be glorious.

Overall, I think this trilogy has the potential to be a huge success. I am looking forward to the next installment.

—𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 - 𝘋𝘦𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘺, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.—

I am unwell after finishing this book. My mind has been blown, and I fear I'm now going to be stuck in the worst of book hangovers. Feral over the characters, the world, the betrayals... UGH. I haven't read a dystopian book that I've truly enjoyed in a while, but this book takes the cake. It feels kind of like Divergent mixed with Fourth Wing. The last 50 pages had me reading with my heart in my throat, gasping and yelling at some points. While there was one big revel that felt very predictable, I was SHOCKED several times in the end. And then there's Wren and Cross. I'm weak. I'm swooning. I'm sobbing at how stupidly sweet they are together. Please read this and become just as obsessed. I will 1000% be continuing the series. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!