Book Review: Legend

Legend
Marie Lu

Genre: Dystopian
No. of pages: 305
Stars: 4.5 (out of 5)

Synopsis: 

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.

Thoughts:

This book was recommended to me by my friend Evelyn, and partially by my other friend, Carter.

I picked up the book, not really expecting anything huge.

I finished it in two days. (That's partially due to the fact that I am a very fast reader.)

The book was a little confusing at first as I tried to piece together who was who and what on earth they were doing and why. It took me a little bit, but I managed.

As I started reading, I started to get bored with one of the characters (June). She seemed to me like the usual dystopian girl in every single novel that is stuck on doing this with her life, growing up with the knowledge that this is this, and that is that. She seemed no different than any other character in any other book that I'd read before.

But then she changed.

Throughout the book she started changing her opinions, she began to learn that things were not quite as they seemed. The government was controlling things that people had no idea were controlled. (Cliche much? I was getting a big Matched vibe during that part.)

The thing I believe really made the book good was the character Day. He was the hero of this story. From the beginning to the end, his main concern was getting his family medication that could save them, taking risk after risk to try and get it.

The author did well to keep his background partially hidden to the reader throughout the story. She starts off by hinting that there's something special about Day's pendant that he always wears, but never tells us why it's so important until we reach the end.

There was definitely some major plot twists that hadn't even shown up as possibilities on my radar, and they hit me hard. Almost all of them were sad plot twists, and I nearly bawled my eyes out at a few of them. Be prepared.

The author did a nice job of describing things and painting the scene without going overboard and info dumping on us all. (Sort like in The Hunger Games.) I was able to picture what was happening and get a nice feel for it.

The reason that I ranked this book as high as I did was because I really connected with it. Not so much with the whole government-controlling-everything-and-sending-kids-to-school-to-learn-how-to-fight thing, but with the characters. They endured hardships, but they never stopped going. They felt intense, searing grief, but they didn't let it overwhelm them.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Yes, I would.