Monday, March 3, 2014

Book Review: LEGEND by Marie Lu

I normally keep my list of dystopian novels trimmed down to the basics: Hunger Games and Divergent. Since discovering BookTube, however, I've watched book reviews of tons of dystopian novels that everyone seems to love. Now I'm on a dystopian trilogy kick, so be prepared for lots of book reviews!

LEGEND is the first book in Marie Lu's Legend Trilogy. LEGEND takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles, part of the Republic. The story alternates between two points of view: June, the Republic's military prodigy, and Day, the Republic's most wanted criminal. When June's older brother is killed (not a spoiler, I promise, it's written right on the book's inside flap description) and Day is considered the prime suspect, June sets out to track him down and get revenge. Along the way, June discovers that some of the things she has grown up believing about the Republic aren't what she thought.

The book is action-packed, and I found myself flipping page after page, eager to see how these two characters' stories would converge. June and Day don't meet until a third of the way into the book, but I also enjoyed learning about their individual stories. There's a little romance, but mostly we see the protagonists' relationships with their families and the other people around them. I liked seeing Day's interactions with Tess, the younger girl he travels with. Even June's interactions with her strict (and pretty vicious) commander intrigued me.

One small thing that struck me as odd were the characters' ages. Both June and Day are said to be fifteen, but they sounded (at least to me) more like 17-18 year olds. Both their voices are very mature and they react rather calmly to intense situations. This might be because they've been forced to grow up fast (Day has been on the run for years and June earned the highest-ever score on her Trial, a test to measure military aptitude), but I wish Lu had made them a bit older. Then again, Harry Potter faced Voldemort at age eleven, so I guess I shouldn't judge based on age!

Overall, I really liked this book and am planning to buy PRODIGY, the sequel, soon! I've heard it's even better than LEGEND.

Have you read this series? What parts do you like about LEGEND? No spoilers about PRODIGY or CHAMPION (the third book), please!

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