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.