Legend By Marie Lu

Legend by Marie Lu
Source:Borrowed
Pages:305
Buy:Amazon|Book Depository|Goodreads


I have had this on my tbr shelf since last year. To some this might not seem a lot but to me it is as I normally read a book I want to read straight away.I found this book to be an interesting and quick read. It was fast paced and everything I expected it to be and more.

This book is told in two different perspectives, one a boy named 'Day' who is a criminal who might not be the most dangerous but is the most wanted. Nobody seems to know the way he looks, which he uses to his advantage. The second viewpoint is of June,who is a girl who has a perfect trial score and is everyone's favourite little prodigy. She is very clever and we learn that she attends University and went their 4 years prior to everyone her age.

By the story being told by two different people, it gives you a wider range of their world and what is happening in it.I think this was an effective approach as you could see how both of them would weave into each others story-line and their thoughts and feeling about the matter at hand. I thought both of them had a distinct way of talking and I never got confused on who was talking.I always knew if it was 'Day' or June. Another good thing about this was that I did not find my self wanting to quickly read one perspective so I could go onto my favourite one. I found both perspectives to be quite interesting and enjoyable.

Spoilery Review

At the start of the book we learn that Day is a criminal and that he failed his trial at the age of 10. He has a family,in which only his older brother,John,knows he's alive. People who fail the trial are taken and their family's paid compensation. The children are then killed. We learn that America has been split up into Republics and colonies and the 'Day' lives on the Republic side. There is a major plague and his little brother,Eden has it.Although,'Day' is confused as a X,which is normally drawn on houses with the plague, is drawn but it has a third line across the middle.We also meet Tess who accompanies him.What I noticed was that 'Day' kept holding his pendant for comfort which I thought would have a significant meaning. He breaks into a hospital in order to get a cure for the plague.There he meets Captain Metias who tries to stop him. 'Day' throws a knife which hits Metias shoulder and then proceeds to escape.He also learns that he dropped his pendant somewhere.I think this was a great start to the book and that it introduced the main idea of the story,

June has just got excluded from school because she was scaling a wall 14 stories high. Her brother Metias has to go to the hospital to check up on it. She wants to go with him but he refuses. Thomas, another soldier, informs her that her brother is dead and she believes it was 'Day' who done it.She plans to avenge her brother's death. She is in disguise as a poor person, roaming ths streets and looking through the trash bins to survive.

This is where the two story-lines meet as he has to save her from a skiz fight, after she refuses to fight again after she wins and the crowd is after her. She then stays with 'Day' until she's better as she has a knife wound. He does not tell her his name and nor does she.

One thing I did not particularly like about this book was that i believed the romance was too quick. The book could have been a bit longer in order for the romance to be natural and not seem forced. As quick as it was, the quicker she turned on him. And how she found about him? By him reaching for a pendant that was not there. I do not find this quite believable although i understand that June and 'Day' are both very perceptive. She turns him in and Thomas kills his mother. At this point I suspected that Thomas had to have had something to do with Metias' murder as he followed every command without question. 

In the end, June helps 'Day' escape as she learns many secrets and also learns who the real killer was. She seeks the help of the patriots. I did not think that 'Day' would have a perfect trial score although I did think that he did not fail as he was so good on the streets and survived 5 years.

What upset me was that John sacrificed his life in order to save his brother, so that he could save Eden.I found this very heart wrenching and was quite affected by his death although we did not know him for long.

All in  all I think this book is 4-4.5/5 stars as some parts of this book were questionable and there were still questions left unanswered. Overall it was a great story and the writing was great.

I can't wait to read the second book Prodigy.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare Review

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Source:Borrowed
Pages:567
Buy:Amazon|Book Depository|Goodreads

Danger and betrayal, love and loss, secrets and enchantment are woven together in the breathtaking finale to the #1 New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices Trilogy, prequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

THE INFERNAL DEVICES WILL NEVER STOP COMING
 

A net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. Mortmain plans to use his Infernal Devices, an army of pitiless automatons, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan: he needs Tessa Gray.

Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain before he strikes. But when Mortmain abducts Tessa, the boys who lay equal claim to her heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, Will is as much in love with her as ever.

As those who love Tessa rally to rescue her from Mortmain’s clutches, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment, and the tangled threads of love and loss intertwine as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the very brink of destruction in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

My thoughts

I had waited a really long time to read this book and I really don’t know why. I loved the other two in the series and I knew that the last one had come out but I still didn’t read it. Because of this, this lead me to read a lot of spoilers about this book as I follow Cassandra Clare’s Twitter and Tumblr. But by me being spoiled, it made me want to read the story even more. It seemed that the book would be really interesting and that it would turn out better than the others. I was not disappointed!

In brief, I really loved this story and the characters. It seemed to me that it was a satisfying ending to the trilogy. The writing was magnificent and it seemed to flow really easily.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! BE WARNED!

 In the Prologue, we see Adele StarkWeather who is about to get her first rune marked on her. When the silent brothers are marking her, she is extreme pain.

When reading the prologue I did not understand what this had to do with the rest of the book but upon finishing the book, I realised the importance of it.

At the start of the book, you see Tessa trying on her wedding clothes when Jem comes in. Tessa has to hide as it is seen as bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding. I found this really cute and funny. Jem tells Charlotte that Gabriel Lightwood is downstairs.Everyone is informed and go to see what the fuss is about. Gabriel Lightwood calls his father a ‘worm’ which is quite funny and i thought that he finally realised that he was on the wrong side. Will seemed to be thinking the same and he said that it was great that he agreed with the others. Action was in the story right from the start and I really enjoyed reading it. It made me want to finish the story really quickly because normally when you read a book, the interesting part does not start until 100 or so pages in but in this the action was starting right from the start.

Throughout the book, I was left wondering what would happen next and how things would play out. One thing I really liked was the change in style. By this I mean is the letters that were written. We, as readers got to see and know things that others in the books did not know. For example, the readers knew about the back and forth between the consul and the council and we learnt early on that the Consul did not like Charlotte as much as she originally thought.

The songs that Bridget sang brought some humour into the story although she might not have been singing about happy events.It was fun to see the characters reactions to her depressing songs.

One thing I truly loved was that Will did not want to hurt his Parabatai, Jem, and that he kept his love for Tessa a secret. Not because he was selfish but because he truly cared about them both and that he wanted to see them both happy. He did not want to be the cause of their unhappiness. When Tessa was kidnapped and Jem ill, my heart went out for him. He couldn’t decide whether to stay with his Parabatai,or find Tessa which would be what Jem wanted. I cried when the emotional scene of Will leaving Jem to go and find Tessa.

When Jem returns as a silent brother i was shocked. Although, i knew that he was going to be one because of spoilers it still surprised me that he was fighting alongside them so quickly, like he was never ill at all. I felt the happiness that Will and Tessa must have felt.

When Tessa turned into the angel, and had all that fire surrounding her, that was the last thing i expected. That was a really good way to end the danger and kill mortmain.

The third person perspective was really effective as you were able to see their world from different view points and their was no biased view. Like the letters it gave you information that the characters did not know.

I feel like this is so long but that’s because I loved the story so much. It is definitely one of my favourites. The epilogue was so sweet and it seemed such a good way to give an insight to the lives of the others.

One more thing I forgot to mention was that I really like that Henry was appreciated in this book, especially by Magnus. I was devastated to learn that he was nearly dead and could never walk again. It was interesting to learn that he and Magnus were the ones that created the portal used in the Mortal instrument series.

Finishing thoughts

I really love this trilogy and it is definitely one of my favourites. I liked that all the characters had a solid relationship and i loved the mini love story for each of the characters in between the main plot, especially Gabriel’s and Cecily’s.I definitely recommend this book to others and it is quite worthy of 5/5 stars