Legend by Marie Lu

DystopianYoung Adult

Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend, #1
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Imprint of Penguin)
Published: November 29th, 2011
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♡

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.Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

My Review:

Legend is, according to it’s author, inspired by Les Misérables — a more modern day version of course. I really haven’t read or seen Les Misérables so I can’t really compare that as much. But it’s about a girl and a boy from two very different worlds whose paths cross and intertwine until finally their paths merge.

This was a good story and I got through it pretty quickly (which is always a good sign for me). The beginning was a bit slow, but once you got into the meat of the book it started to get more and more interesting. With attempted prison escapes, government conspiracies, and everything in between it’s bound to be fast paced, which is how I like my books. So that was really good.

What I didn’t like was that this book swaps between June and Day’s point-of-views, which isn’t so bad and I actually like in some books. But the problem is that BOTH of their POV’s are in the first-person. If it wasn’t for there being a different colored font for Day than for June, then it would’ve been hard to keep track of whose head we were inside. But the font variation did help in that sense. However, the gold font used for Day was at times hard on the eyes. This entire aspect I found to be kind of distracting throughout the book. I think it would’ve been better just do them both from the third-person.

But aside from that it was a pretty good book. Some of it was a little too much military inspired for my tastes. I love a dystopian that has government conspiracies. But at times I just wasn’t digging the whole military aspect of it. Despite that though discovering some of the conspiracies and terrible things going on inside the government they think are the good guys was definitely interesting to see unfold.

Overall though, it got super interesting near the end there and made for a great lee-way into the next book. I can’t wait to see what happens. It was a fast-paced dystopian with lots of questions and mysteries to ponder but not enough to make you tear your hair out with wondering the answers (which can be good or bad, depending on your preference lol).

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