Title: Legend (Legend - Book one)Author: Marie Lu
Edition: Kindle
Date read: February, 2013
Genre: Dystopia, Fantasy, YA
Rating: 8
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.
- Goodreads
My Review:
I had been looking at Legend for a few months now, but wasn't all sure if I really wanted to spend the 10$ to download it on my kindle and between homework and life I haven't had much time to read anything for fun in months anyhow. So this weekend when I finally came across some downtime I decided to try this book out and I am so glad that I did! It was just a lot of fun to read and full to the brim with action.
Legend is set in a future United States in the West, now know as the Republic, where they're warring against the colonies in the East. At fifteen, Day and June represent the lowest and the highest points of their society -- the most wanted criminal and the government's best soldier. In my own weird way I was kind of reminded of this Robin Hood/ Aladdin story. Day steals from the rich government to help the poor while June is the very top of society. After the death of her brother, Metias, the government uses June's anger and hunger for revenge to track down Day and bring him to 'justice', or so they tell her. June soon finds however that the perfect cause she was brought up to fight for may not be all it appears.
I had this love-wish-there-was-just-a-bit-more relationship with the characters. June was such a strong heroine for the story, even though there were moments when I found myself getting so frustrated with her narrow-mindedness though I completely see how it fit with the story. Day was wonderful and, unlike some other reviews I had read, I found his voice in the story to be quite realistic and masculine. He's ridiculously kind and in touch with the hardships of life as the poor of the Republic, though at times he tried to be more stoic than he really was though multiple of the scenes where he was trying to provide for his family did pull at my heartstrings. Tess was an awesome character, though she ended up being much more minor than I had thought she'd be. I also kind of felt hanging on if she really did have a crush on Day or not. At first I was actually feeling quite bad that Day didn't like her more than a little sister figure, though I do think Day and June are great together. Metias sort of bothered me at first though as the background information fell more into place I found myself liking him more and more even though he did die so early on in the story. I really wish Day's family would have been more in-depth however. I felt like there could have been more to their story than just a way of getting Day to cooperate,though I was shocked and quite taken by his mother's fate and his brother John's sacrifice, which I think was one of the points that made the novel so compelling to read. I itching to get my hands on the next novel in the series so I can find out what happened to his younger brother.
I was a little taken aback with Day and June's characters though, just because they were so young and yet so important to the government in their own ways. I'm not really sure I minded their "super-power" likeness and being so unstoppable in a sense, though I do see how it put a bit of a scratch in the story. I did however keep finding myself seeing them as being older than 15, especially because their thoughts sounded so much older and their relationship seemed so much older. I was also a bit unsure of how I felt with June being such a rule breaker in the very beginning and yet held so strongly to being unwaveringly loyal, though I did like the tension of the "Will she believe him? Will she help him?" part of the plot.
The romance part of the plot was rather muted, which I really thought worked well when considering Day and June's personalities. I did however, again, find myself having an issue with their ages and did wish they were older. I just feel like that would have helped the whole story out. I'm also not so sure I liked their instant love attraction with each other, I was really reminded of the whole Romeo and Juliet storyline, though I do admit I was routing for the Soul-mate factor the entire time so I can forgive the rushing into a relationship. I suppose I was just hoping for a novel where they have to become friends first and then maybe in the second installment they could be all proclaiming love....maybe I'm just old-fashioned like that though.
I really did enjoy this book though. It was a lovely, quick read that let me escape into this fun, fast-paced, action filled world where I didn't have to analyze what the author was trying to tell me or what strategies they were using and how I could write an essay on what rhetorical strategies the author was using...(can you tell I'm tired of AP. Eng. Comp. yet?)
I would definetly recommend this to anyone, and can't wait to read the second book, Prodigy, in the near future!
Favorite Quotes:
“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.”
