Book Review :: Silver Elite by Dani Francis

Silver Elite by Dani Francis
ISBN: 059387546X
Series: Silver Elite #1
Published by Del Rey
on 6 May 2025
Genres: Dystopian, Romantasy
Pages: 516
Goodreads

Psychic gifts are a death sentence and there are rules to survival: Trust no one. Lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don’t fall for your greatest enemy.

TRUST NO ONE.
Wren Darlington has spent her whole life in hiding, honing her psychic abilities and aiding the rebel Uprising in small ways. On the Continent, being Modified means certain death—and Wren is one of the most powerful Mods in existence. When one careless mistake places her in the hands of the enemy and she’s forced to join Silver Block, their most elite training program, she’s finally handed the perfect opportunity to strike a devastating blow from inside their ranks.

LIE TO EVERYONE.
But training for Silver Block can be deadly, especially when you’re harboring dangerous secrets and living in close quarters with everyone who wants you dead.

AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T FALL FOR YOUR GREATEST ENEMY.
As the stakes grow ever higher, Wren must prove herself. But that’s easier said than done when your commanding officer is the ruthless and infuriatingly irresistible Cross Redden, who doesn’t miss anything when it comes to her. And as war rages between Mods like her and those who aim to destroy them, Wren must decide just how far she’s willing to go to protect herself . . . and how much of the Continent is worth saving.

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What is Silver Elite by Dani Francis about?

Silver Elite by Dani Francis is a dystopian novel with fantasy/romantasy vibes, too. It’s the story of Wren Darlington who is Modified.

On the Continent, being Modified is a death sentence, and Wren isn’t just Modified; she’s reeeeally powerful. She’s spent her life staying under the radar, quietly using her abilities to help the rebel Uprising where she can. Careful. Controlled. Until one mistake lands her straight in enemy hands. Dun dun dun!

But instead of killing her, they force her into Silver Block, the Continent’s most elite and dangerous training program.

“Maybe we can’t change the fundamental trajectory of our lives, but we can adjust the details along the way. It’s like navigating an ocean current. We can’t change its course, but we can choose which path to take as we flow along with it.”

It’s meant to turn recruits into weapons, but for Wren, it looks like something else entirely: a chance to tear the system apart from the inside. Yuuuus girl! We love that.

The problem is, though, that Silver Block training is brutal; the secrets she’s hiding could get her killed. Oh and she’s surrounded by people who would happily see her executed if they knew what she really was.

And then there’s Cross Redden, her commanding officer. You know how it goes, right?

He’s ruthless, sharp, and far too observant, which makes him the last person Wren should be falling for.

With war closing in, Wren has to decide how much she’s willing to risk, who she’s willing to betray, and whether saving herself is worth the cost of saving the Continent.

My thoughts on Silver Elite

Okay, so Silver Elite by Dani Francis was one of the books on Bookstagram and Booktok in 2025, and while I like to keep track of what the bookish people are chatting about online, I try not to get sucked into the hype of books.

Sometimes the hyped books I find have been over hyped, or they just haven’t been the write vibe for me.

But I 5-starred this book.

And if my 5-stars is your 1-star, then that’s totally fine. But man, I ate this book up.

“I would rather fight a cougar barehanded than subject myself to an uncomfortable exchange. Truly.”

I think part of my love for it was going back to that dystopian genre. 15 years ago (give or take), all we were reading was dystopian. Some of the hottest books were ones like The Hunger Games and Divergent, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield, Matched, The Lunar Chronicles … all really popular titles in the 2000-2010s.

And so we were surrounded by it. Possibly too much.

But then there was a drop off, and more books came out that weren’t dystopian … and in the last few years, the books I’ve read have been more romantasy, they’ve been fantasy, they have rarely been dystopian.

And that might be because I just haven’t discovered the dystopian books that have come out (if you have any faves that have dropped in the last 5 years or so, let me know!), but I was excited to read Silver Elite because it was taking me back to that dystopian vibe.

I didn’t know I was missing it until I started reading. It was almost nostalgic, but also had this romantasy kind of vibe to it. It was a great middle ground, and I sped through it.

Were there problems? Absolutely. Was the writing good? Hmmm hard to say, but erring on ‘not excellent, average, okay’. Were the characters well-written? Some of them were, and some of them were definitely not.

Was the whole dystopian thing not really fleshed out, and were there gaps in my knowledge as a reader to the world that I was thrown into? Yeah for sure.

Was the huge major twist the absolute first thing I called way back in the early chapters? 10000%. It was so obvious that when I got the ‘twist’ I was more like “okay Wren, hurry the flip up and work this out”.

Did I love it? Yeah. Yeah I did.

But not everyone did and there are some scathing reviews on Goodreads. So take my review with a grain of salt, just like you would any book review. You need to read a book and decide for yourself what you think of it.

I, however, am very much looking forward to the sequel, Broken Dove, which comes out in May 2026.

Have you read Silver Elite? What did you think?