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Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Legend by Marie Lu
Published by Razorbill


The United States is gone, along with its flooded coasts. North America's two warring nations, the western Republic and the eastern Colonies, have reached a breaking point. In the midst of this broken continent and dark new world are two teenagers who will go down in history....

Born into the slums of Los Angeles, fifteen-year old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. A mysterious boy with no recorded image or fingerprints. A boy who should no longer exist. A boy who watches over his family until one evening, when the plague patrols mark his family's door with an X--the sign of plague infection. A death sentence for any family too poor to afford the antidote. Desperate, Day has no choice; he must steal it.

Born to an elite family in Los Angeles' wealthy Ruby sector, fifteen-year old June is the Republic's most promising prodigy. A superintelligent girl destined for great things in the country's highest military circles. Obedient, passionate, and committed to her country--until the day her brother Metias is murdered while on patrol during a break-in at the plague hospital.

Only one person could be responsible.

Day.

And now it's June's mission to hunt him down.

The truth they'll uncover will become legend.


 Legend is set in future America. The world is very different from the one we know. People seems to be either very rich or very poor and a virus is spreaing through the country and killing people. The chapters alternate between the two main characters June and Day following their stories.

I will admit up until about 100 pages in I actually thought this might be a book I didn't finish. I was getting bored as nothing was happening and I found that the two voices in the book were not distinctive enough from each other which meant I got confused about who I was reading about. The main reason why I stuck with it was because I was stuck on a train with nothing else to read.

That said I am glad I stuck with it. The book hit a point where the two main characters stories merged and there was a twist thrown in that changed the whole story for me and made it really interesting.

The story from there on out threw up some really interesting ideas and so many questions were thrown up about the world the characters are living in which intrigued me.

So while I do not think this was that great a book I do think the series has the potential to be epic so it is one that I am keen to follow through to the end.

Comments

Amelia said…
I'm glad you ended up liking it!
This was one of my new favorite books, but I totally agree that the two voices sounded nearly identical.
I LOVED this book! I think it's interesting you thought the two voices were so similar because I thought they were really distinctive. It just goes to show that it all depends on the reader right? :)
Im glad you enjoyed this one but I really don't think it's for me... theres just something about it that I cant help thinking I wont like!
Unknown said…
I like this cover. It's much better than the original.

I'm planning to check out this series, but i may wait till it's done.
Interesting how you thought the voices were similar while I thought they were very distinct, if only because rich girl June and poor boy Day have very different priorities and life experiences that influence how they view the world. I thought this was among the better crop of YA dystopias. Love getting to hear the other side of opinion about this book-yay book blogging!