Legend by Marie Lu

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.


Rating: 3/5 Stars

I had heard about the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu for quite some time now, but I hadn’t really thought of giving it a chance until the other day when I was bored and had nothing else to do.

You should know that some of my best book discoveries, (and my worst experiences let’s be honest) have happened when I was too bored and didn’t have anything else to read… I know I’m making it sound like this book sucked, it didn’t, really, but it also had a lot of the things that reminded me why I hadn’t tried a dystopia in a while.

June is a prodigy, at the age of ten she became the only one in history to get a perfect score in the Trials, the mandatory test that all people from the Republic have to take and that determine their future. Day is an outcast, because he failed his Trial the Republic tried to kill him and now he’s the most-wanted fugitive. These two complete opposite worlds collide when Day is accused of killing June’s brother, Metias, but when she goes undercover and finds Day she’ll discover that there are secrets regarding the Republic that could change everything she knows... you know, the typical dystopia with the evul government, etc.

I liked June, despite her being so borderline super-powerful by being perfect at the age of fifteen. She was capable and logical… until she fell in love with Day after knowing him for a few days… but I’ll get into that later. Her relationship with her brother was the one I liked the most though, and I was sad it was over so soon.

Day… well it’s kind of tricky really, because his voice was exactly the same as June, so much so that I sometimes had problems remembering whose chapter I was reading. And yet… I didn’t like him as a love interest for June. Maybe it was because he was too similar to her? I don’t know, but there was something about the guy that didn’t sit right with me.

The story is fast-paced and entertaining, it easily grabs you and makes you want to read until the end (I finished this book in a day). But it’s also a bit empty, we know nothing about the world except that there is the Republic, the evil government to defeat, that is at war with the Colonies… and pretty much nothing else. I was sad this was all we got to see, there was no world-building, but rather things were simply “because”.

I had problems with how young the characters were, I mean, they were fifteen-freaking-years old!

 

This is how a fifteen year old looks like. Really??? This is the most wanted fugitive and most promised officer, they are babies! I couldn’t take the novel serious after learning how young they were.

Nevertheless and despite the clichés and predictabilities, Marie Lu does manage to create an entertaining story that keeps the pages turning. I don’t feel very compelled to pick up the sequel though, but I’ll try to finish the trilogy nevertheless to see how it goes.