A review by theengineerisreading
Legend by Marie Lu

5.0

RATING: 4.5 stars

This is my third re-read of this book and now, I can finally finish the entire series since I got a copy of both Prodigy and Champion so, Marie Lu marathon it is again!

Even though it’s my third time to enter the world of the dystopic America where two warring sides — Republic and Colonies — dominate the most powerful country with more than 20 million populace, I can still find Legend a fresh and riveting read since it has a lot of flavors to offer than a typical fiction novel.

In this book, the main characters Daniel ‘Day’ Altan Wing, fifteen year old outcast-tagged-criminal who works in his own to protect his family against the cruelty of the Republic, and June Iparis, Republic’s teen prodigy who historically aced the Trial exam with perfect 1500 score and became the youngest soldier who became an official of the army forces, came across each other in the most unexpected way after June’s brother, Metias, was killed in an army operation where Day was primarily involved.

Fueled with hatred and rooting for revenge, June stepped up to lead the investigation and track the primary suspect that is Day. With the crossing of their path in a mob-infested Skiz fight in the outskirt of the Republic’s slum sector, Day and June will unknowingly embark on a journey of mystery, action, and revelation.

What I primarily loved about this book is the fact that it gave the bookish community a new flavor of dystopia by isolating itself in the stereotyped plots patterned in the likes of The Hunger Games and Divergent. I don’t have any tea about these two dystopian classics and I honestly loved both as well but it’s pretty evident that Legend is of a different bracket of dystopia aside from THG because the Legend’s storyline simply feasted on the main-character-versus-main character trope with an extra serving of clever twists and turns in the name of character-altering revelations.

Marie Lu, with this as her debut novel, still amazed me with the way she wrote every scene and if it’s not obvious, we’ll I’ll say it again that she is one of the best author of this generation.

I also want to highlight how emotional I was with everything that happened with John’s character in the conclusion because I know Marie dropped hints in previous chapters before the finale that there’ll be a massive expose involving one of the beloved character but I was still caught off guard when John made the sacrifice for Day.

Overall, I enjoyed the entirety of this book— the storyline, pacing, vibe— and I’m already starting Prodigy so that’s it for now. Ciao.

BEST QUOTE:
“Forever and ever, kid. Until you’re sick and tired of seeing me.”